Introduction to Understanding
Different Cat Breeds

What makes different cat breeds? Lots of practice! Just kitting...oh my. I'm cracking myself up!

A cat breed is a grouping of animals within the same species that are fairly similar in size, appearance, personality and other traits. The results are kittens who are like the parents in most respects.

Over many generations, the traits become “set in,” meaning that certain traits – fur length, color, eye set, behavior and personality – consistently appear within each litter. The babies are like the parents in most respects.

Simply stated, mate a Siamese cat breed to a Siamese you get Siamese babies...and a houseful of chatter boxes.  

If you breed a Siamese to a Ragdoll you don't really have any idea what the predominant traits will be.  Therefore don't know what your little ones will look like.  Perhaps more important, you don't know what breeds' predominant personality you kitten will inherit.

The litter is no longer purebred, but more along different cat breeds in domestic cats.

For example, Norwegian Forest cat breeders practice selective breeding by careful selection of the male and female. Their goal is to increase the likelihood of desirable traits appearing in the litter of kittens. They are also trying to eliminate or reduce undesirable traits in the offspring.

Different cat breeders try to bring out the best physical and behavioral characteristics of their cat breed by breeding cats with those dominant traits.

Paperwork

They are speaking of a documented family tree of the cat family. It is the registration paper that a cat registry has issued for your cat. 

In the past, registries relied on the clerical skills and accuracy of the breeder. Today, science has given us a new validation tool for verifying a kitten's Mom and Pop. Its called DNA testing. This is a mapping of the gene structure of your cat back to the gene structure of her parents and grandparents.

If you choose to go the purebred route, you are spending money to insure you get the traits of that particular breed. The registration papers and pedigree can help you kitten answer Who's Your Daddy?”

However, paperwork won't tell you if the kitten was handled properly during it most critical development stages nor does it tell you if there are heredity problems with that cat's family tree. You still need to evaluate the breeder and quality of her cats.

A brave and gentle cat breed...

My adopted mother cat, Ms Dee, is a Domestic longhair resembling a Shaded Silver Persian. She is easy - going with her humans. Her former family had children with whom she was most gentle.

When we met, I saw her defend all of her kittens against a monstrous Doberman. Up she poofed and let him have a left hook in his nose. Away howling he ran tail-between-the-legs!

This is not to say that Ms. Dee wouldn't get along with dogs. In fact the previous family had a small dog. The point I'm trying to make is that this diminutive, normally good natured cat didn't back down to a dog 10 times her size.

She never scratched the children. This gentle nature is a reliable trait of the Persian breed.