What's the deal with pure breed cats?

[Adina P]

For some random reason Clark is looking at photos of Maine Coon cats on his computer right now.  No we're not getting a cat any time soon.  But I am curious about breeds with cats.  I understand buying dogs from a breeder, but is there any reason to buy a cat from a breeder vs. adopting a random cute cat from the pound?  Do pure breed cats have a slew of health issues depending on breed?  Are cat breeders as likely to be BYBs as dog breeders or is the climate different in catdom?  What knowledge or insight do my doodle peeps have on this topic?

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Me too!

[F, Calla & Luca]

The Devon Rex are soft and fluffy compared the Sphinx. Many years ago I went to a Sphinx cattery since I wanted a pet. I couldn't manage a dog with my life then and I'm allergic to cats. Never have I felt, never mind seen anything so strange. Needless to say I remained petless for many years.

[Jolene, Sassparilla & Josie]

OMG that SIberian looks like my Popcorn Kitty.  We were told at the pet store (owned by a friend at the time) she was a persian tabby mix.  I don't have individual pictures but here's a layout I did of her.  She's quickly approaching 20 and we are now on borrowed time.  She has an array of health issues that we are addressing one at a time but the clincher is the mammory tumor that won't stop weeping/bleeding (it's growing and stretching the skin). Vet quoted $2000 plus for surgery and at her age would probably not survive!  She absolutely HATES everyone but me so I'm the only one with an aching heart right now.  She's deaf and partially blind, I think she only sees images but boy does that nose work.  She smells me when I get home and follows me around the house until I'm sitting then jumps in my lap.  She tolerates these two dogs but our last one she bullied, used to bait her upstairs then not let her come down, funniest thing to watch.

I'm captivated by this conversation.  First time I realized there were actual cat breeds and breeders was at the pet expo last year.  Silly me thought all cats came from BYB or private homes, local paper (Pennysaver) was always free to good home so that's where we shopped! 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

She is beautiful. 

[Jolene, Sassparilla & Josie]

Thank you.  She is quite the love (to me).  You should see my bed at night; two dogs and this cat!  Popcorn loves to spoon when we sleep.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Ditto.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Awww....so pretty! And wow!  20!  You're doing something right!  Our oldest is 15...moves a bit slower, but basically in good health.

[Jolene, Sassparilla & Josie]

Thanks, I think the key antidote is spoiled and lots of love! lol  Her first vet visit ever was last year.  In three days she went totally blind (so I thought) but now I think she can see shadows, if not, she knows the floorplan of the house?  I think it threw her off too, poor thing was walking into walls, chairs, trashcans, anything in her way?  They couldn't find why she up and lost her sight so abruptly, but after a full check up and blood workup, we walked away with a pretty clean bill of health. 

Other than the typical aging lumps and bumps her thyroid was slightly elevated but not enough to medicate.  Up until about age 14 we were just doing the annual vaccinations with our cities mobile vaccinations. Since that appt with the vision problem she has a growth on her nipple that keeps growing to the point the skin is stretched and it just bleeds/oozes.  She has arthritis in her low back but takes it like a tropper.  She plops over as she's walking then looks around and sits a while like she meant to do that then gets up and takes her next few steps.  She still jumps up and down from high places even though I have made "box" steps for her?

Christmas we went to Oregon and she came along (awesome traveler).  Well I'm guesing the winding roads upset her tummy causing diarrea and when we got home she had ick and litter all over herself so we bathed her and thus started the nightmare!  There was a wad in her tail I couldn't get out so I thought I would just cut away the clumped hair - well I cut her!  Much to my horror I took a huge chunck of skin with the hair (the whole was the size of a quarter), we saw bone and other innards we shouldn't have seen, odd thing there was NO blood and she didn't whimper, yelp, flinch, nothing when I cut it??????  During the bath we also discovered the tumor (it was hidden under all her hair).  We knew the tumor was there but the hair acted as a bandage and stopped the oozing/bleeding?  So bathing removed the dried blood and opened that up too.  Vet couldn' take her that day so we pinched the skin together added some gauze and taped up the tail and put a piece of gauze and tape around the tumor and waited till morning.

Well god bless cats.  They removed the gauze/tape from the tail and it was already fusing itself together (they used a different word) and there was a little blood so the vet thought I was nuts (but he didn't see what I did the day before).  His focus at this point was the tumor and that quote he gave me! They wrapped her up and sent her home.  Four days later she developed labored breathing I for sure thought it was pneumonia from the winter bath, okay we are sunny so cal but still the nights get cold.  Back to vet they did xrays and left lung full of fluid and a darker shadow they think is a mass?  Arthritis was confirmed and they sent me home with meds within two day she is doing great again.  She has most of her nine lives so fingers crossed we can get the tumor to stop bleeding and enjoy our time together.  We go back again for a tail check on Saturday.  They said to let nature take its course and it will continue to create new flesh and heal on its own.  We are just checking to make sure no infection occurs along the way.  In the meantime I'm putting those puppy pee pads to use and avoiding litter near that tail area.  She has a huge cage we used when traveling so she spends her days there and comes out when I get home.  She seems to really like the cage too, in the mornings after we get up she heads straight to it.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Adina,

Get a big, fat cat.  Males are much more mellow and less temperamental.  Just my opinion.  Fat cats are mousers.   Long, lean breeds tend to be hyper and like to jump.

No, that is not a professional evaluation. Just my opinion

If you don't like things on the furniture ( and you don't) good luck to you!  LOL

[Adina P]

Cats are sort of meant for furniture.  I know there's no way around that and I really don't mind cats on furniture.  They are A) small (relative to my dogs) and B) won't be stepping foot outside, rolling in dirt and dragging mud in on their paws. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Yep

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

When I first read your response, I read it as "cats are sort of mean for furniture" and that made perfect sense to me, lol. For me, the worst part of having a cat was not cleaning the litter box, not the getting up on counters, shelves, etc, not the cat hair all over everything,  but the fact that I could not own any leather or even vinyl furniture, and legs and arms of all of my upholstered fabric furniture had varying degrees of shredding and tears. My cat did not take to scratching posts, maybe there is some way to teach them when they are young but i was an inexperienced cat owner and didn't know any way to stop it. 

I also had to replace my screens on my sliding doors with heavy duty ones, because the cat would actually climb up the screen when the doors were open.