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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. They are also trying to
eliminate or reduce undesirable traits in the offspring.
Paperwork
You may hear the work
‘papers’ used when speaking with a purebred breeder. They are not
inviting you to “roll-your-own”. 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, it 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 family tree. You still need to evaluate the breeder and quality of her
cats.
Ok, I’m going out on a
limb here, but I’m very confident when I say that cats have become the
most popular domestic pet, and not without good reason. They are
fastidiously clean, spending sometime too much time washing, washing,
washing. Just look at their coats. Do you see us schmeared with manure
or mud like those sheep chasing canines. Of course not.
Well, maybe a little smelly stuff from the garden.
However, not all cat
breeds are suited to every environment and every household.
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 us kits 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 here 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.
We've pulled together a
cat
breed info guidebook showing the different cat breeds, cat
breed pictures and temperament profiles. It’s a
never ending effort of love. If you can’t find your favorite breed, get
us up to speed by posting a profile page and hopefully a picture to go
along with it!
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Lots
of practice! Just kitting...oh my. I’m cracking myself up!
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