Windwalker Wonder

Windwalker Maine Coon cats

Wonder

^ Wonder, five weeks old

^ Wonder, eight weeks old

^ Wonder, eight months old.

Judge awards Wonder "Best Cat" which made him a Supreme Grand Champion

Hotflash

^ Hotflash, Wonder's mother, one year old

Wonder and Jeff

^ Jeff and Wonder at the TICA International show in Hannover, Germany

^ Wonder was less impressed by it all, but we were impressed by how well he did competing with 85 Maine Coon cats.

Windwalker Wonder eight and a half years old

Wonder at eight-and-a-half, much bulkier than when he was when he was two, below.

Above, Wonder is two years old.

Windwalker Wonder 8 1/2

Above, Wonder is eight-and-a-half years old.

Windwalker Wonder ten years old all rights reserved

^ Above and below, Wonder is 10-and-a-half years old (January 2016).

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Wonder goes to Germany

In August 2006, Wonder went to the International Cat Show in Germany. He flew in the cabin, in a soft-sided carrier under the seat in front of us, from Sacramento to Amsterdam, and from there we drove to Hannover, Germany. He competed against 160 cats, 85 of which were Maine Coons. To even be considered as Best, Second or Third Best of Breed, Wonder first had to beat the other Maine Coon cats in the Tabby Division.

There were 19 Brown Classic Tabbies like him, and 35 Maine Coon tabbies of every color - blue, brown or red. If he made Best of the Tabby Division, (which he did with six of the twelve judges at the show), he then competed against all the Maine Coon cats of all colors, solids and "with whites," to be named First, Second or Third of Breed.

At the end of the show, Wonder was one of the Top Ten Cats, of 160 cats of all breeds.

Actually, Maine Coon cats have competed at cat shows for many years. They are the oldest breed of cats in the U.S., believed to have evolved from cats on ships that stopped in Maine for new masts or repairs in the 1600s. The cats that survived the cold winters on the docks and the farms were those with shaggy coats, bushy tails, big ears, (to hear the owls coming), big eyes and big bodies.

By the 1800s, farmers in Maine were taking their cats to the County Fairs for competitions. It seems that Maine was isolated enough that the cats developed a distinctive look that could be established as a breed in the two cat pedigree registries.