I first saw "Jolie" (now "Zhara" Jolie) on the Petfinder website. She stole my heart immediately, but she fit the profile of the cat we didn't want (young, long-haired). Nonetheless, when I went to look at cats at the Animal Spirit pet store in Cambridge, MA, she adopted me - not the other way around. She reached out to me with her paws and stared me straight in the eye, purring the whole time.
I ran home (literally) to get money and a carrying cage, worried that someone would adopt her before I could get back!
Come to find out, Maine Coon cats, while long-haired, don't really shed that much. And conveniently, they shed it clumps. You can simply pick up the hair.
Zhara is the softest, warmest, most loving cat ever, and she is very happy with her two moms (Jess and Jill) and her brother "Bobo" (Bogart), who we also adopted.
