The "Semi-Weekly" Maine

They look so innocent, but looks can be deceiving. :-)

Things have been insane around here, really nuts, and so I have not had the chance to take the time to report what is happening with the babies. They are well, very healthy and growing like weeds. Star is up to 9.5 lbs at almost 9 months of age and is very regal, more about her shortly. Cosmo turns 5 months today and weighs in at over 7lbs. This means that he has gained over 2.5 lbs in the 8 weeks we have had them. I think that is good for Maine Coons, but I am not sure. Michele says that their weights look good and if she says so I believe her, she is always right :-)

Star seems to have recovered completely from her leap, though her once high pitched "chirp" is still not quite right. The vet could find nothing to indicate a real problem so I am not sure if she swallowed part of a toy which irritated her throat or what, but she seems to be in better voice this week than last.

Now about the "false pregnancy" that the emergency vet mentioned. There was no false pregnancy, she was not in heat when she was spayed. Cosmo has been sneaking in some "nursing," probably for a few weeks unbeknownst to us. He must have caught her right before she was spayed and now it's a matter of her "drying up". After she does, now that she has been spayed, she will no longer produce milk and will reject him.

Why he did this is unknown, to me at least. I know he was weaned correctly. He gets more attention and love than he probably needs, and so why he sought "comfort" in this way is a mystery to me. This begs the question as to why Star would let him? She is a very compliant cat, she has always deferred to him by giving him her toys when he comes barreling into the room. She'll also let him eat her food (unless *I* catch him that is) so I suppose that's just her personality. I hope she changes, a bit.

We have to to make sure that he no longer nurses in order to get her milk to dry up. This is OK if one or both us has the time to watch them like hawks (he is very sneaky) but when we can't we have to put them in separate parts of the house, or close one off in a room. I HATE this because I got two of them so they could be companions when we can't be there. This has defeated the whole purpose of what we thought was such a great idea, and I am so depressed!

Michele says this will end soon (2-3 weeks) and that things will go back to normal. Also our vet, Dr. Derby, thinks that Cosmo's burgeoning hormones have caused him to want to do "something" with Star, but since he is not sure about mating the next best thing is nursing. Really, I thought I knew cats, after all I have had them for over 50 years. Seems after all that I KNOW NOTHING >sigh<