Maine Coons have the habit of sniffing out every single item brought into a house. If they take a fancy to it...they remove it from view (like your keychain attached to a rabbit’s foot or a sunglass container). Once they stand on the balcony, you can observe them making the rounds and sniffing in all directions.
This would also be the last cat on Earth that you’d want to drag the cat travel container out for a trip to the vet. This breed can tear you up with the claws...which they normally never show you for 99-percent of the time (being overly friendly). Once that cat container is brought out...the claws come out in anticipation of the trip.
Yep, I had one and that is how he was, my vet was terrified of him. Hated to see us coming. LOL!
I’ve had two Maine Coons, both former strays. You’re not kidding about the “cat carrier” comment...they got to know *all* the sounds one could make (even just tapping on it) and would take off and hide if they heard ANY of them. Even if you were just moving it to get at something else...BOOM, they were gone!