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| Name: |
Arwen
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Age: |
Fifteen years old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Maine Coon
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| Home: |
Bramhall, Cheshire, UK
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Arwen is a Maine Coon tortoiseshell with white chest and paws. Arwen is her cat fancy name and she is usually known here more affectionately as Sweetie Pie or just Sweets. She was born in a litter of six, and we bought her and her brother Tom all those years ago. As a kitten and a young cat, Arwen was very quiet, almost withdrawn and somewhat overshadowed by her more assertive brother. However, she was the brighter of the pair and found ways to confound Tom over food, territory and especially getting attention. In these later years, Arwen has become much more vocal, and she and I now have long conversations about everything under the Sun, particularly the state of the weather, the provision of adequate food supplies, and the degree of comfort to be provided.
When younger, Arwen, like all Maine Coon cats, displayed some dog-like behaviour: notably she would fetch and carry small objects (and hide them from Tom). She also had two other traits unusual in other cats. First, she would hang over stairs, chairs, the ironing board, and window ledges. If you've ever seen a photograph of a leopard in a tree lying along a branch with legs and tail dangling down then you have the idea of how Arwen would hang. The second thing she did and still loves is to be chased. She will stand in our hall and meow like crazy. That is the sign that I have to chase her. I go to grab her and off she races upstairs, pausing only to make sure I'm in pursuit. After two flights, she runs into one of our bedrooms and throws herself onto a bed, still meowing, rolls over and gets her reward of a tummy tickle.
Arwen is aging now and she has some arthritis in her back legs, and a worrying intermittent bronchitic cough. But, she eats well, likes to go out for short strolls around the garden, and occasionally chases a squirrel. So, she's still pretty fit for her age.
Also, very sadly we lost our dear beloved Tom a few months ago to cancer. Ever since then Arwen seems to have been a bit lost in spirits, and this photograph may give a hint of that melancholy.
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