This is Arien, named after Tolkien's Maia of the sun. I adopted Arien along with one of her brothers (they were a litter of two boys and two girls) from our local shelter almost two years ago. They are my first cats, and, since I've heard that there is a notable difference in behaviour between male and female cats, I decided I wanted both. I believe I took them in the same day they were separated from their mother, as they hadn't yet been put up for adoption on the homepage yet, despite being available already. On the way home, Arien fell asleep inside their basket, and she was hesitant to explore her new surroundings at first.
I decided to leave the kittens by themselves and went about my usual routine. After a while, I met Arien in the hall, and crouched down so I wouldn't be so big and scary. She sat up on her hindlegs and reached for my face with her front paws. So I bent down, and she kissed my nose. I thought I'd die of cuteness.
Arien is extremely loving and caring, she'll lick whatever part of me she can reach, gives kisses and rubs against me. She loves everyone who comes in the door, and she has a shoe/feet fetish.
Since I am essentially their mum, I can do whatever I want - massage their paws, rub their bellies, touch their ears, take food away from them or them away from the food and essentially order them around. We do get into arguments occasionally, but I've won every fight so far. Arien also follows commands such as "no," "stop," "down," "out" and "ow." Recently, she's developed a habit of protesting whenever I want her to do something, but she does it in the end.
The kittens were introduced to me as European Long Hair (ELH), but turned out to be part Maine Coon later on - like most Maine Coon, they don't meow, Arien in particular prefers to chirp and trill or even make a strange 'croaking" sound where she meows almost without sound. Maine Coon are very dog-like and can be trained, we are currently practising walking on a leash. They are very well-equipped to withstand the cold - they've got 'snowshoes" on their paws, fluffy trousers on their hind legs and their tails are long enough to wrap around their front paws. I don't know if this is a cat thing or a Maine Coon-thing, but the fur on the backside of their hind legs grows the other way.
Arien is a grey tabby (we call that 'tiger" in German) with white on her legs and belly. The stripes are most pronounced on her hind legs, and she's got bits of brown fur on her face, belly and around the base of her tail, making it appear thinner than it actually is. Some of the pads on her paws are bi-coloured. She also has markings on her face remindming me of a cheetah, and often looks very unhappy and sad. Her fur is incredibly silky.
Here is her Christmas video with her brother.
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