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ThoughtIKnewYa (original poster member #18449) posted at 11:04 PM on Saturday, September 21st, 2013
Interesting, cat. 
These cats were born feral in the middle of SC (swamplands), but they had so many similarities to the Maine Coon, we call them Carolina Coons. Last year, the temps reached 112 degrees in the summer with a heat index of 120. I don't know how these cats got there, but they really struggled in the heat. We got about 50 cats off of the property while we were there. I kept three: Two are the huge, fuzzy kind and one is just a 'normal' cat. I'm thankful for the experiences we had there, but I'm glad we moved back to our home town and live in a 'normal' neighborhood now.
ThoughtIKnewYa (original poster member #18449) posted at 5:10 AM on Sunday, September 22nd, 2013
More pics from tonight.
Gordy:
And Tootie:
Catwoman ( member #1330) posted at 5:13 AM on Sunday, September 22nd, 2013
They are very "typey" and I would guess they have a lot of Maine Coon in them. The Maine Coon is a popular breed these days, and someone's intact male could have romanced his way through the local feral population.
I adopted a former feral who was very typey and obviously had a lot of Maine Coon in him.
Cat
[This message edited by Catwoman at 11:13 PM, September 21st (Saturday)]
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inhishands55 ( member #9454) posted at 5:38 AM on Sunday, September 22nd, 2013
Thanks for the beautiful pictures..I never get enough of seeing these big beautiful babies of yours....
Were these cats from around Manning??? I know of someone who had a lot of swampland and just sold it...She lost a lot of her cats recently to snakes, because of all the rain they had...The snakes came out in droves...Just wondering...
ThoughtIKnewYa (original poster member #18449) posted at 5:52 AM on Sunday, September 22nd, 2013
My H's family is from ME and his grandmother had a Maine Coon, so we were familiar with the breed.
I'm from the Carolinas, so I was STUNNED to see these 'domestic longhairs' born feral here. I had never seen that before. They were always domestic shorthairs- really compact cats with short hair. Easier to keep cool that way, I guess.
They are such beautiful, sweet cats that it was difficult to decide to discontinue the breed. I've always been an indoor cat, spay/neuter kind-of person, though. And I can't deal with the numbers of cats that are put down every day...
We did everything we could to help them, including having as many as 25 kittens INSIDE at one time. 
ThoughtIKnewYa (original poster member #18449) posted at 6:05 AM on Sunday, September 22nd, 2013
inhishands,
It was really close, in Sumter. The guy who lived in our house had been a hoarder. He hoarded cats outside, too, and didn't fix them. Before we moved in, the new owner of the property had spent three years clearing the cats from the property. The first cat we saw there was Kiki, Tootie's mom, and they just came in droves after that! Kiki is the domestic shorthair, "normal" cat that we still have.
Here she is:
So, we believe that Gordy and Tootie are half-brothers on the daddy side and cousins on the mother side.
We had our battles with the heat, snakes, owls, and raccoon taking the cats. It was so heartbreaking, at times. 
Where are you now??
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