Maukku – king of the jungle.

Mauno’s breeder called him Lumo. For some reason it dit not stick. Mauno had and still has massive paws so he was eventually named after late president of Finland who had big hands.

The special features of the Birman cat are the white “gloves” and “gauntlets”. The white plantar markings on the hind paws, which end in a point, are called gauntlets. They shall be even on both soles and shall end, if possible, in the centre of the metatarsal bones.

Since Maukku is a lilac tabby point (a dilute color of blue) his pigmentation developed slowly.

Maukku had to wear a cone after his castration – he was his normal happy self in two days. Purebred kittens are qualified in three categories: pet, breeding or show quality. Mauno was sold as a pet since he has had issues with his too narrow tear canals all his life; the excessive eye secretion needs to be removed on daily basis. Thankfully it does not bother Mauno at all.

Maukku takes his outings seriously. He is very mobile outdoors, often mistaken for a small dog. It is rare to get a photo of him sitting still. He also starts to move towards me if I crouch down to get a good angle.

The paw means it’s time for a short break a.k.a playtime!

Perks of being a cat owner: falling asleep under a warm purring blanket of fur.

In Mauno’s book it is totally OK to suddenly cling to a persons foot – especially if the target is handling any kind of food.

He was so light to carry back then. Maukku is newer allowed to walk out of the front door – I always carry him out so he would not get any escape ideas. However, he walks back home and into our apartment on his own little paws so incase he ever flees he knows his way back home.

Mauno got a cat tree. It had to be robust, compact and pretty enough. But most of all robust. We ended up with Catmax that is known to last from cat generation to another. Also always a pleasure to support a Finnish small business. Mauno was extremely happy and spends a lot of time up on on his post.