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I love Maine Coon cats (I have 2 purebred sisters of this breed and they are "the dogs of the cat world"). I am also heavily involved in animal rescue and placement, and work the the local and national humane societies which make a difference for so many companion animals who would otherwise live short, brutal lives of abuse or abandonment. Personally, we have 8 more cats living with us - rescues of abuse or near starvation and abandonment. And sadly, THOUSANDS more companion animals are born each year than can be found homes for - so their fate, even while still mere babies, is likely to be death by lethal injection at an overpopulated "it's not my problem" animal shelter. PLEASE, PLEASE get your pets neutered or spayed. In a recent study, it was determined that every man, woman, and child in the U.S. would have to take ownership of 8 companion animals each, if the shelters could find homes for all that show up in a given year. In addition to our two wonderfull Maine Coons, as I said, we have 8 other rescued cats. All of these just wandered onto our property; starving, sick, abused, afraid. There was even one little fella we took in who survived being thrown out of a car moving at a high speed -- a gleeful act, just for fun, of course. Well, from the thin, limping and hopping little guy with abraded foot pads, a stuffy nose and runny eyes, he is now one of our many blessed delights. All of our cats have different personalities, but people who only own one or two cats never get to see all the fun antics of a cat colony like we have. Oh, by the way, we have leather furniture, and none of them scratch on it; instead they have a cat tree, and two 36 inch tall scratching posts (the short ones won't do because cats want to stretch UP when they scratch). And the smooth texture of our furniture discourages them, knock on wood, from having their way with it as they would cloth furniture.
Well, I don't know if ownership of so many cats is a hobby or not. I do have an addiction to precious stones and quality diamond jewelry. I've made a hobby of studying the 4 C's of diamonds - it's just fascinating to me when you have an opportunity to compare super high quality museum grade stones with the ones sold at the mall. There is a world of difference, and using the 10X loupe I bought myself, I was able to tell my son's new wife the most likely color grade and clarity grade applied to her new diamond as listed on her GIA certificate. While I was a bit off, it wasn't by much, and prior to this I was in the dark about diamond quality - one looked pretty much like the next to me then. No more! Just part of my perfectionist nature as a person with 1 finalized and 2 nearly finished graduate degrees. Don't think it's because I'm a smarty-pants. No, I just have attention deficit problems and become attracted to something new before finishing something else if not careful. But, in the end the study efforts worked together to build my career and compliment my disparate skills to meld somewhat cohesively into something of worth and use in spite of myself and my multi-tasking quirks, so it wasn't really all for naught. But I digress...and the dishes are still in the kitchen sink having not yet moved themselves through my sheer force of will into the dishwasher as I'd bid them to do hours ago. Sigh. Guess I'll just have to go do it myself ...again.
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