Picture of two Maine Coons looking through the window at America

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The Maine Coon is the American cat. It is America's constribution to the world of fancy, purebred cats and what a contribution. Americans are rightly proud of the Maine Coon. Strange name though. But it has stuck so strange names are good. No one quite knows where the 'Coon' part of the name comes from, by the way. A Capt Coon perhaps.

Picture of two Maine Coons looking through the window at America
Picture of two Maine Coons looking through the window at America. Photo: Reddit.

Photo: The Maine Coons are "My girls Mojito (silver) and Amaretto (orange)."

What I like about this picture from a Reddit user (I don't know their name) is that it provides citizens of the world who don't live in America a feel for what it's like for an iconic American cat to live in America. To look out the window at a part of America. For me it is quite evocative of the American way of life. They are watching cat television. I expect them to be FT indoor cats.

There is a lot of space in the country and this comes across in the photo. In Europe urban and suburban areas are far more densely populated. It seems to me that it would be okay for these cats to go outside. It looks safe but it is not really. There are coyotes across all of America and they like to eat domestic cats.

Maine Coons should only go out on a leash in my opinion. There is an argument that all domestic cats in the USA should be inside all the time if there is a threat from coyotes. Then around 60% or more (up to 80% apparently) domestic cats in America are full-time indoor cats even if there is less chance of being hit by a vehicle on the road. It is because of predators and crazy people who hate cats and who like to shoot at them.

There are more guns in America than there are people. They have to be used sometime. And you can't go around shooting people so cats are sometimes in the firing line.

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