Finding The Right Cat Breed For You

MSN ^ | November 10,2002 | teve Duno

[rightwingreligiousfanatic]

We got these from the Humane Society and haven't been sorry for a single minute. And we didn't do any "homework" before deciding....

Thanks for giving me an excuse to post this..... ;^)

[LibertyGirl77]

< shrill >

Oh my goodness, your kitties are soooooooooooooooooooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute! :)

</ shrill >

[strela]

But I think if I were going to buy a purebred cat, it'd be a British Shorthair. They just look really robust, with a pleasing roundness to their face and a stocky build, and I've read that they have laid-back, friendly personalities.

Mine is all that, in spades. He'll let anyone pet him, and is so mellow that it hurts to watch him sometimes.

[Nea Wood]

Anyone have knowledge or experience with Siberian cats? I understand they are nonallergenic for most people. I've always wanted a cat, but had given up hope of having one due to allergies. I'm single and live in an apartment.

[GovernmentShrinker]

No one should be catless on account of allergies, unless it's the really life-threatening kind. I'm allergic to my kitties (and a gazillion other things), but antihistamines, a steroid nasal spray (Nasalcort), and remembering not to stick my fingers in my eyes without washing them first, do the trick. Also, many people's allergies become milder after a lot of exposure.

If you really can't deal with the symptoms, try one of those hairless Sphinx thingies -- they don't exactly LOOK like cats, but they ACT like cats, and they technically speaking ARE cats, so they're a decent substitute for the real furry thing. They're also easy to bathe, to remove the dander which is what really causes the allergic symptoms (the fur is just a super-efficient storage system for the dander!).

[balrog666]

Nice cats.

Those highly inbred things-descended-from-cats give me the creeps.

[RosieCotton]

OK, everyone else is doing it! My babies:

Not the best picture of 'em since they have those beautiful baby blues shut...

I have one more now - an older girl that needed a new home. She's in my lap now!

[Yardstick]

Yep, that sounds like my kind of cat.

[NYCVirago]

Millions of unwanted pets are euthanized every year, all while the money-hungry breeders of "purebred", "pedigreed" animals (who are often neither, despite their "papers") deliberately produce more and more of them, and stage shows and other publicity designed to make people think they have to have a designated "breed" when they choose a pet. The whole thing is sick and fraud-ridden -- please don't feed the system.

I was hoping somebody would say something like this. If people insist on getting a purebred, they should check into a rescued animal, as opposed to one from a kitty mill.

[GovernmentShrinker]

They should also know that a huge percentage of "purebreds" aren't. A DNA study was done a couple of years ago on a sample of AKC-registered dogs. I can't remember the exact results, but a really massive percentage didn't have the parents their papers said they did. In addition, there have been many documented cases or registered "purebreds" who were simply not the breed their papers said they were -- they passed the eyeball test as small puppies, but as they got a bit bigger, it became clear to the naked eye that they were at least half some other breed.

Your point is absolutely correct -- if that dog at the shelter looks sort of like a golden retriever, it is just as likely to be "purebred" as the $800 puppy "with AKC papers" that the local pet store or "breeder" is selling. And many of the "breeders" who purport to be selling dogs born at their own homes to their own pets, are actually perpetrating the "see, this is his mom right here on our sofa" scam, when what they are selling is puppies they buy from brokers, who buy them from the horrific "mills". So avoiding pet stores and obvious mills will not steer the buyer clear of this organized crime industry.

The whole thing is absolute, unmitigated fraud. These registry groups don't make the slightest effort to verify the animals' parentage -- they just collect fees for mailing papers to virtually any breeder who asks for them, including breeders which have been legally shut down by state officials for cruelty and other violations.