Cheers! He's a Coonie! Maine Coon.
He's a little too "oriental" (as they say) for the breed, but nevertheless reached the dizzying heights of Imperial Grand Champion during his show days. Coonies are the dogs of the cat world - they growl, the sit near you, not on you, they follow you around, they'll walk on leads, they like swimming and the play fetch!
Yeah, Siberian Forest and Norwegian Forest are very similar in looks. Reading between all the myth and bullshit about the breed, they are from Maine and there was a Norwegian Captain (named Coon) who kept cats about ship to keep the rats down. Upon landing in Maine, no doubt some of these cats disembarked ... coming from Norway, they were possibly/probably what modern Norwegian Forest cats were ... which is probably a pretty generic breed across the more northern parts of the world.[/QUOT
Great looking cat. I'm sure it's a sweet heart. Sounds like it's an entertainer, too, and fun to be around. And a champ to boot. Wow!
Have no idea what Norwegian cats are like but is seems the traits of our cats are similar. Take away the growling and what you describe is our Lefty. Must admit I bought our cat because I always had giant dog breeds and liked the idea of a large cat. Didn't know about the big personality part, though. I think I'm starting to appear like the crazy cat ladies on the internet so better stop before I ask about exchanging cat food recipes that contain rabbit. Thanks for the lovely pictures.