About a decade ago....my wife and I decided to acquire new cats, and would go the extreme...getting Maine Coon cats. If you've never seen this type....they are the 'giants' of cat breeds and will remind you of a Lynx. So my bits of advice.
1. Everything must be smelled upon entry into the house. Scent is a big deal. If they are attached to something...meaning they must seek it out daily for some reason....no matter where you put it in an apartment, they will hunt this down. In this case, they will find it, and bring it to the middle of some room....just to let you know they found it.
2. They try awful hard not to hurt you. In the case of the male....he'd never want to harm you, but if you peeving him a bit...he'd nibble on you....letting you know he was disturbed. As for the female....claws could be shown, and in the case of my wife....two visits to the local emergency room were required (stiches).
3. They 'patrol' when not sleeping or playing. I mean that in the literal sense....just like a big cat....they circle the apartment. They prefer high places, and it's engrained in their head....always seek the highest point.
4. These are cats that you need to comb a good bit, and help relieve them of winter hair each spring. As you vacuum each week....you might be shocked how much hair you find that has been shed.
5. This is a cat who wants to look down upon a 'kingdom' and observe everything going on. Sitting from a balcony level....they might readily spend two or three hours a day....just observing.
I should note....the male didn't make it past eight years of life (he was an obsessive dry-cat-food consumer, and his kidneys failed early over this habit). The female? Health-wise, it wouldn't shock me if she goes to 15 or 16 years.
Around kids.....they probably have no issues. Around bratty kids....they probably will demonstrate their claws.
