Ahhh! I too, could go on. I agree with everyone and everything posted before me. I have both dogs and cats. I cannot deny that many of the "pure" breeds are beautiful with terific individual characteristics. In a perfect world, with no homeless pets, I would love to own many of them. But the most beautiful cats and dogs I have known are of God's creation! The "All American." Not created by humans for selfish need or preference! Especially when that results in animals with deformities and a propensity toward illness. I am a nurse who also works with dogs and cats every day and from a strictly medical point of view, I am appalled at the condition of some of the persians. Serious chronic nasal and eye infections, respiratory distress. For what? Some selfish individual's idea of beauty, or what will sell best? If you look in the literature, you can see what a persian of 20 years ago looked like, versus today. They had beautiful, "normal" shaped heads and features. How sad. Toooo many poor abandoned and abused beautiful creatures looking for homes. I could never buy an animal knowing that one dog or cat on "death row" could have been saved. The only "pure bred" animal I ever owned is my lab Star, who was a gift from a friend who bred her bitch only once. Star happened to born on the day, almost to the second, that my precious lab x Jing crossed to the Rainbow Bridge. They thought the coincidence was too prophetic and gave her to me as a gift. Even if you love purebreds, check out one of the dozens of purebred rescue sites. You can't believe how many homeless, abused, discarded labs on death row there are out there! I am sure this applys to many breeds of cats and dogs. I recently read of a puppy mill that is attempting to "create" an all white daschund with disasterous results: blind, deaf, body deformities. I say, "Save a life; adopt a pet!"