[FreeManWhoCan]

I was going to get a new cat and was looking for a large one. The largest I found was the Maine Coon Cat. Is that the largest?

[GeronL]

The Maine Coon Cat is the largest 'domestic' cat, but you might be able to get a Bobcat or something if you spend enough money and are sneaky.

[packrat35]

[rintense]

Outside of cross breeds of domestic and wild, yes. Norwegian Forest Cats are also very large.

[GeronL]

www.maine-coon-cat-club.com

www.mainecoonalliance.org

These cats are BIG

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I was going to get a new cat and was looking for a large one. The largest I found was the Maine Coon Cat. Is that the largest?

Maine Coons are big and very natural looking cats - I think they're gorgeous and they're also very laid-back - not needy and clingy like a lot of cats. Also, apparently, prone to heart disease - my 3 yr old Maine Coon dropped dead one day, much to my family's distress and that of his sister, who spent a week meowing and looking for him.

[libstripper]

Some cougars can be domesticated. Just don't sue me if your attempt at cougar domestication fails and you ent up starring in "The Courgar's Revenge" by Claude Balls.

[teenyelliott]

Maine Coons are really big, but so are Ragdolls.

Both get to around twenty pounds =/-, and both are great cats, but you can NEVER let a Ragdoll outside.

[BUDDYCAT]

Maine Coons are referred to as the "Gently Giants". I have had cats all my life and I am the proud owner of one. She is the sweetest cat I have ever had. My husband (a converted cat "liker") claims he has never seen an animal that loves its owner so much. She follows me everywhere. Runs to the bedroom when she sees me going to bed for the night. She is 20 pounds of enjoyment.

[Lx]

Maine Coons are big although I don't know if they're the biggest but they are the biggest I've seen. If you do get a cat, please get one from a rescue shelter or the local pound. It's obscene how many animals are put down every day.

[U S Army EOD]

How many cats would you like to have?????

[meowmeow]

My parents have a Maine Coon and she is enormous - and feels like a fur covered concrete block. Maine Coons - at least the few I've known - tend to be one-person cats. They don't like to cuddle but they like to hang out with their person. My parents' kitty actually goes to bed when they do and gets up when they do.

Not like my little 4am alarm clocks:

[RouxStir]

"Is that the largest?" Largest is a Savannah Cat. But they are hybrids that have some exotic cat blood. And they are too expensive to use as mousers ( $4000 to $10000 ).

[pbmaltzman]

Some other large breeds: Siberian; Norwegian Forest Cat; Ragdoll; Ragamuffin. Female Maine Coons are medium to large; male Maine Coons can be extremely large... over 20 pounds, almost the size of a medium-size dog.

If you don't want to spend the money for a purebred, find a rescue cat (from either a private organization or a shelter) who is a Maine Coon/Norwegian Forest Cat/etc. mixed breed. You can save a life for usually well under $100. Purebred kittens are likely to cost you $400 and up (mostly up).