Maine Coons in Shelters: My Thoughts

I've never had a purebred Maine Coon. All of the ones I've adopted throughout my life have been shelter cats, and I can't help but notice that there seem to be an awful lot of them when I visit local shelters or do volunteer work. Now I know there are way too many homeless cats to begin with, but I see a lot of MC mixes, as well as a lot of Siamese. Often the MC's are not recognized as such and just labeled "longhair". All of my experience with these cats tells me that prospective owners should know what kind of cat they are adopting, and that they need to understand the breed temperament and health issues- which can still cause problems purebred or not. My mom lost her MC mix to ongoing thyroid disease and cardiomyopathy a year ago. Furthermore, all of my MC's have been very bonded to me and seem to want human contact more than the average cat. Mandy will stage protests on my laptop, laying down and not moving until I lavish her with attention. Every MC I've known has been like this, perhaps this kind of behavior is overwhelming or confusing to people? We often hear of cats being "solitary" animals but this is simply not true!

On another note, I wonder where all these MC mixes are coming from. Are owners of purebreds not fixing their cats and letting them out to breed with others? Are they letting their MC's go because they don't understand them? There was a problem with a Savannah breeder in my area who was letting her cats loose, and a few "F2-3's" turned up at a shelter after being found in a nearby neighborhood. Perhaps its a regional problem, but all I know is there is NO shortage of MC mixes in my local shelters, and after adopting five of them over the last 15 years I'm just starting to wonder what's going wrong.

Thoughts?

I live in the UK - there are so few strays here, I am amazed! but of course the shelters are overrun.
I am French, so my family lives in France, and really, by comparison it is incredible how uncaring and irresponsible French people are. In the space of 2 weeks I was there last time, 2 kittens were abandonned in my Mum's area! it's a small town, not perticularly rural, no reason why it should be more there than anywhere else.... I found it shameful.
Anyway, on to MC's - what I do not understand - other than how anyone would own an animal and not take care of them - is why, having paid so much for a cat, anyone would want to leave them to their own device.... I mean there are irresponsible people everywhere, but surely that would be an incentive to take really good care...

There's a gigantic all-white MC that sometimes shows up in our back yard. It runs like the wind when it sees people, but looks otherwise well fed so I'm not sure what his deal is. Strays and ferals are so numerous here that the neighborhood watch program did a trapping campaign a few years ago to try to reduce their numbers. Of course it did not work and there are just as many cats now, if not more. My orange tabby is an indoor/outdoor cat and got his butt kicked by one of the ferals last spring. The other cats are strictly indoors, and the only reason I allow Sampson out is because he needs to have his "space" and do "male cat things", otherwise he does them in the house. He's fixed but that's never a guarantee...I tried letting Mandy out a few times, and she really cries to go when its snowing for some reason. But she does not stay near the house and climbs the fence, the trees, and who knows what else, so I don't trust her. The stray dog problem in my town is just as bad, and the dog warden makes regular visits here because they always seems to find their way into my yard.
Point is, spay and neuter your pets people!!!

As Alekto says, I can't understand why people spend so much on a pedigree animal, then let it run wild. You wouldn't buy a £500 cycle and leave it on the footpath for someone to steal, so why do the same with a pet? Unfortunately, one of my kittens from this year is currently missing as the owner decided to let him out during the day and she now believes he was stolen as there has been no sign of incident or injury. I do prefer my kittens to go to indoor homes, but appreciate that I can't guarantee that will always be the case and people change their minds. A friend has fostered three MCs in the last year, two she adopted and the other hopefully she will be able to keep.

It is such a shame when a pet is discarded when owners' circumstances change, rescue homes are overrun with abandoned dogs and cats. Why can't people take a little more care?