I like purebred cats, most of them are gorgeous, but my cat is just a stray kitten that showed up on my porch one day.

Nope. I have a domestic shorthair (orange and white fat male) and a beautiful domestic longhair girl kitty. Both "mutts" but they have great dispositions!

i think we own a purebred cat ... he resembles a maine coon. however, he was a rescue so we're not really sure. when we adopted him he was in bad shape - bone thin and his coat was slight. but, as we nursed him back to health, he's bulked up and his coat is think and beautiful now. amazing what a little love and food can do.

nope my cat was a stray that's a domestic shorthair. but growing up i always had siamese cats and my parents still have one.

We have three cats -- all rescues from the Maryland SPCA. Sometimes the shelter does get in purebreds (like Rally's situation). Last week there were two beautiful Himilyans. IMO, it's so much better to adopt a rescue than to pay thousands of dollars for a pet

omg brittanyk, my cat looks just like yours!!

No, mine's a pound kitty, and with so many cats being euthanized in shelters, I could never get a purebred cat unless it was a rescue. My selfishness in getting a purebred anything means some poor baby gets put down when I could give it a great home.

For all I know, I may have a purebred cat! To the best of my knowledge though, they are all just your ordinary mixes. Every cat I've owned has been a rescue.

Nope, mine are just poor little rescued orphans.

I have two cats - a Himalayan who knows she is gorgeous and a brown tabby who knows he is trouble. The Himalayan is the only pure bred cat I have ever owned and I rescued her from a family who's newest child was allergic to her. All of my cats have been rescues.

Both of mine, brother and sister, are definitely Domestic Shorthairs with potentially a little Siamese mixed in. Or so the vet thinks! Definitely not purebred.

Neither of my cats are purebred - both came from the SF SPCA and they don't resemble any of the breeds on that site.

I'm a raging Himi and Persian fan! My first two were Himis---a stunning Seal Point and what I believe was a Seal Lynx Point. My third was a breathtaking Shaded Silver Persian. Unfortunately, while they gave me many years of joy, they have since passed on. The Current Occupant is a purebred Black Smoke Peke Faced Persian boy named Oliver. All four of my babies were shelter rescues, though. The only was to go as far as I am concerned!

shelter kitties are the only i will ever and do own.

I have a maincoon but it was rescued after a friend of mine was living with this other girl who had the cat but never took care of it. My friend had to move and couldn't take the kitty with her so she told me I had to take it or she would take it to the pound because the other girl abandoned it when she moved out. I couldn't let her go to the pound!

My cat came from a friend of a friend whose cat had kittens. Her mom was a tortoiseshell; her dad must've been some type of tabby, cause she's definitely got some tabby striping going on as well.

I have a purebred siamese I found in the trash 3yrs ago..She was living in the dumpster area of my apt building and I've loved her ever since.. She's happy

Nope unless b*tch is a breed of cat. My girls are from the same litter and one is long hair and looks like a black version of their burmese mom. While Chloe is short hair black with black tiger stripes.

Their mom was an outdoor cat and she was a HO. She had litter after litter with whomever.

Both of my cats are strays that I didn't even adopt from the pound. My first cat ran into my house over ten years ago, and she simply stayed with us. She's a domestic medium hair, and is about thirteen now. I found my second in a trash can outside of the store where I worked last May (it's been almost a year now!) when she was just a kitten. She couldn't have been more than eight weeks old. She's a domestic short hair and is black so it looks like she came straight out of a movie about witches.

Gadget isn't any where near a purebred but I know Penny is part Siamese. She has the markings but isn't built like one.
On another note - I just had a conversation with a friend who has only owned purebreds. He thinks that purebred cats are smarter than those that aren't. Hence why Penny is a million times smarter than Gadget.

ahh sweetpea, I would have to argue with that...Most purebreds are inbred and overbred...

My siamese is dumbest cat I have ever encountered.. She has the memory of a goldfish .. and her vacant expression speaks volumes..

Whereas my other cat..Who is a mix breed I do believe is secretly plotting to take over the world.. she's uber smart

We have a certified and registered purebred Maine Coon. He's the best cat we've ever owned. We contacted the breeder when the Mama cat was pregnant and then we picked him from the litter at birth. We'd had non purebred cats before and they were lovely, but my hubby had always wanted a Maine Coon, so when our other cats passed away we looked into getting his Maine Coon.

I have two cats. One is a "sorta" breed cat. Someone was getting rid of their cat and we took him in. He is a Devon Rex - American Shorthair. The Rexes periodically get bred to Shorthairs so as not to get too in-bred; they keep the ones that look like Rexes and get rid of the others. Nice.
My other one is straight from the rescue.
There are some beautiful pure-breeds out there, but with all the poor homeless animals out there, I just can't justify more breeding just so I can get one particular looking cat.

I love that so many here have rescued their cats! But I do think that the unadressed issue is people not researching a breed and not taking the animal's needs into consideration.

I have rescued four Himis and Persians in my life, all due to individuals and families that didn't care or didn't take the time involved to research the breed and what it takes to keep them healthy. Persians don't wake up looking like the Fancy Feast cat! They are very high maintenance. At minimum, you must spend 15 minutes per day on grooming, without fail, not to mention regular bathings and blow-outs. I cry when I see all the crated shelter Persians shaved down to a lion cut because the previous owner didn't do his or her breed research.

My best advice is to do some research into a breed you are considering. Once you find a breed that suits your lifestyle and vice versa, take a look at Petfinder.com. They will direct you to plenty of cats and dogs in your area, purebred or not, and all rescues, that are so worthy of a wonderful home.

My boyfriend and I have a purebred Abyssinian cat. They are so beautiful and have such great personalities. Our little cat just turned 1 a few weeks ago and he's such a big part of our lives. We take him out for walks, with us on vacations (he's so great in the car), and for quick trips. He follows me everywhere and always wants to know what I'm up to. He'll run around the house for hours, attack our feet, and always loves to get to the highest point in the house as possible since Abys love being up high. They're very intelligent and energetic cats and are almost dog-like, but definitely not as high-maintenance, so he was perfect for our lifestyle. We plan on getting a playmate and sibling for Osiris soon, and we'll definitely be looking to adopt this time. This is kind of a play on what fuzzles said above, but with us having a purebred cat, we were much more attentive to his needs and knew that he was more suited to our lifestyle. We knew what kind of health issues he could possibly be at risk for and knew his personality traits and what he would generally like and dislike. I agree that adopting is a wonderful thing to do. I don't think that it's shameful if you don't adopt though.

I don't think I've ever owned a Purebred. I'm an absolute cat-a-holic, though! I LOVE cats!

I have a bengal and he is amazing. I'm completely ruined on "regular" cats forever

I've only had one purebred , a Ragdoll, but she was kidnapped ---ahem, rescued--from her previous owners who didn't care for her.

Now I have 3 cats. Buffy and Xander are both from the shelter. Aimee, is the offspring of my Ragdoll and a grey American Shorthair. She has the grey tabby markings and the features and build of a Ragdoll. She is quite possibly the smarted cat in the world.

Unlike myself, who can't spell "smartest".

nope, my cats were both strays - one adopted from the humane society and another that a co-worker found under his deck abandoned.

there are so many strays and cats that need adopted that i would feel terrible going out of my way to get a purebred, unless i wanted to show or something like that...

no purebred for me, I have a black and white shorthair... who was once a stray and now a very loving little kitten to his mommy

Tonkinese aren't exotic cats. Tonkinese is just a breed. Exotic cats are breeds like Bengal, Savannah, Pixie Bob, etc. They are cats that have--relatively speaking--recently been domesticated from their wild ancestors. If a Tonkinese is exotic, then every breed is exotic, since they are all from the wild.

Although I'd like to help out pets at animal shelters, I have always wanted a Maine Coon. I am going to [what I assume is] a breeder on Wednesday to get one.

I really liked this post. Can I copy it to my site? Thank you in advance.

Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for posting. I’ll definitely be coming back

I have a Tonkinese however she isn't pure breed and im hopping she turns out like the breed description( she is only a kitten )