Spring 2012 Kittens available now! Four males, four females.
Click on "The Fang Gang" (left) to follow new photos as we add them.
Welcome! KatTails is a cattery in the making in Des Moines, Iowa. Although we exhibited a Maine Coon --Fred-- as a household pet in the early '90s, several years passed before Fred's successor, Mandy, joined us in 2006. It was our quest for a quality Maine Coon that lead us to Psycatics. Like potato chips, we couldn't have just one. We returned to Lorelei Cauffman at Psycatics to find a male. We got Willow instead. Lorelei co-owns with us and is our mentor. Willow is our first true "show cat." Thank you Lorelei! Meet The Maine Coon Cat A native of the state of Maine, the Maine Coon has been recognized as a pure variety for well over a hundred years. It was very popular as a working cat, but also excelled on the show bench. A Maine Coon took Best in Show at Madison Square Gardens, New York, in 1895, and another won top awards for neutered cats. Legends abound to explain the origin of the breed, including the story that the cats resulted from a liaison between a farm cat and a raccoon, and another that the cats of Marie Antoinette were smuggled out of France and made landfall on the shores of Maine. It seems more likely, however, that Angora cats were brought here as trade goods, and the breed became naturally established, being totally at home in the coastal environment. These are large social cats who get along well with children, dogs and other cats.  GRAND CHAMPION Psycatics Pussy Willow  | Willow's show career Willow loved shows from kittenhood, quickly earning a ranking of 20th best kitten in the North Central Region. As an adult, she had earned a Quad Champion rating by the time she first came into season as an adult and insisted on mating. After her first litter last winter, she regained her girlish figure and coat and enjoyed going to shows as much as she had when she was a kitten. Willow successfully completed her run for Grand Champion in Neenah, Wisconsin in September, 2010. If you examine feline pedigrees, you will find that female Grand Champions are comparatively rare. Besides having to compete directly against the larger males, they need time to come back into show form, which leaves a small window for showing before they again come into season. Obviously, we're proud that Willow was up to the challenge. Shortly after "Granding," Willow insisted on repeating her highly successful mating last autumn with Grand Champion TaiJi Hu, just before he moved to his new home in France. We're expecting another beautiful litter this year. For pictures of TaiJi, click on the Willow's Paramour link at the left.   The photos with the brown background are Willow's original "show pictures," taken when she initially became a champion and before her first litter in the winter of 2009 (she was a year and a half old). The photos with the green background were taken in the fall of 2010 to record and celebrate her earning her Grand Champion title. To see more photos, view the kittens we have for sale,
and learn about our prices and policies, just click and explore the
links listed on the left.
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