I Taught My Maine Coon Kitten a Common Dog Trick and Instantly Regretted It

I had always wanted a Maine Coon. I had rescue or second-hand cats my entire life and I am a firm believer in adopting shelter pets. But finding a Maine Coon in a rescue or shelter is near impossible, and because she loves me and is a huge believer in ethical breeding my sister gifted me a Maine Coon for my birthday. In addition to a long list of care instructions she told me that these cats need to be both physically and mentally stimulated because they are incredibly smart and get bored easily. And then start climbing the curtains.

So I taught my Maine Coon, named Meatball, to fetch.

This was a bad idea.

Meatball is a champ at fetching, even though you can't really tell from this video because when he retrieves his Mousie ( and all of his toys, whether it's a ball or a bird that he fetches are called 'Mousie' so as not to confuse him) he usually has to do some weird tour of the entire house and make everything an obstacle course before he brings me his Mousie to throw again. You try filming that!

He caught on to this game very quickly, and he is always dropping his Mousie on my laptop or at my feet to toss for him. Big fun, right? Wrong. Because in addition to this being his favorite day time game it's also his favorite game to play at 2 in the morning. So I'll be happily honk shoo mimiming away and Meatball will drop Mousie on my face. For me to throw for him. Now, only people who have had a Maine Coon kitten will understand this, because these cats have gigantic feet and paws. And when they want attention, they will use these paws to either grab your face or your hand. Sometimes with just their paws. Or sometimes with their nails out while they purr like a freight train and make biscuits on your head.

BUT.. that's not the worst part of the 2 am Throw Mousie game. No sireee. Because another thing Maine Coons love is playing with their water. I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Sometimes it's not only Playing Mousie when I'm dead asleep, it's Playing Mousie with his nasty, soggy mousie that he has first tried to drown in his water dish. So I get thwaked in the face with a gross wet toy.

I love Meatball more than life. He's the best gift I have ever received and this cat brings me ridiculous amounts of joy every day. He's incredibly smart, and it took him no time at all to learn how to fetch. Now I just have to focus on teaching him how we only Play Mousie during the hours of 7 am to 8 pm. It wouldn't surprise me if he couldn't be taught that trick too.

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