I own two purebred abyssinians from a reputable breeder and I can't believe how a few people here are acting towards purebred cats, reputable breeders, and people who did their homework and bought their cats from reputable breeders. This in a cat BREEDS area! I agree that any extremity which produces health problems in purebred cats should not be perpetuated. I also agree that kitty mills and backyard breeders should be eliminated. However, ALL BREEDERS are bad? Everyone should get their cats from a shelter or no where else? Please. For some people being able to better predict a cats personality is a GOOD THING.


Frankly when I went to look for my abys after dealing with four "domestic" cats (when I lived at my parents) in a row that were aggressive and anti-social. My first DMH cat was absolutely wonderful but these four weren't. I wasn't about to go and look for another cat in a shelter that would turn out to be the same way because of poor genetics and/or improper early socialization.

Now to answer the latest anti-purebred post:


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I agree with you all. I can't believe how people are breeding cats and dogs to have all kinds of problems just to make them look a
certain way!
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I agree 100%. A good breeder should not breed any animal if it has health problems or if it is going to produce animals with health problems. My breeder went back five generations and check for health problem and any inbreeding.

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I can't figure out who is worse: the breeders or the people who support the breeders by buying purebred cats and dogs.<BR>
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It looks like you're talking about the same thing here - breeders who have no regard for the health of their animals - but no you are talking about ALL breeders as is evident below...

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I can believe the statistic that 25% of homeless cats are purebred
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NO 25% of homeless CATS are NOT purebred. 25% of ANIMALS in shelters are purebred. This figure includes dogs and cats (not sure about other animals). When you ask a person what kind of dog they have usually you ask about the breed, but when you ask a person what type of cat they have usually it's something more like: What color is your cat? What gender is it? That's because only about 3% of cats are purebred. Most of them are run of the mill cats. So the number of purebred cats in shelters is more like 2-3% or so. My guess is that only 0.02% of those cats are from reputable breeders who have clauses in their papers that prohibit giving the cat back to anyone but the breeder should the incident arrive that getting rid of the cat is necessary.

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I don't think these people who give them up were properly educated in what they would be getting into.
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I was educated about my cats that's for sure. I studied abys for 8 years and extensively for 2 years before getting mine. But yes you're probably right. A person who dumps ANY animal at a shelter probably was not properly prepared to deal with that animal.

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Purebred cats and dogs can have all kinds of problems, especially as they age and
people don't always recognize that.
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No they don't and I agree, purebred animals (especially dogs) CAN HAVE HEALTH problems. But animals from reputable breeders who test and screen for health rarely do. I'm not going to say it doesn't happen because it does but it's probably just as or less common then in a "mutt" animal. I don't understand how personality "problems" which are usually evident if anyone studies a breed are problems at all.

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It also isn't always realized that purebreds can tend to be hyper
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Not all purebreds are "hyper"! Only certain breeds generally are.

My cats can be "hyper" and what I mean by this is that they are extremely active they bounce off of walls etc, I don't mean that they are high-strung (meaning tense, nervous, or easily upset) or anything.

My cats are very active but then they are abys, that is part of their breed description. I knew what I was getting into when I got them. I like them being "hyper". It makes them really fun to be around. Now if you don't want your stuff wrecked don't get an aby, if you don't want a cat that will walk on the counters don't get in aby, if you're not prepared to play with your cat for at least 45 minutes a day don't get an aby. People should study their breed of choice before they go and buy a purebred animal.

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and have weird personality/behavioral traits.
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So what? Isn't that normally a good thing? I like the fact that my cat, Cairo, attacks broccoli for example. My cats have strange quirks but don't all cats? Purebred or not?

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I'm not saying that purebreds are awful
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Well it certainly sounds like you're saying that. It sounds to me like you were saying "mutt" animals are completely BETTER then purebred animals. I would NEVER say that purebreds were BETTER then shelter animals its just that I didn't want to gamble again when getting my next cat.

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and don't deserve to be loved,
but I whole-heartedly agree with the comment about how we should stop breeding and take care of the cats and dogs that are already here.
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Well that is your opinion and you are honestly free to it. However it looks like you are trying to tell OTHER PEOPLE what to do.

I for one am so sick of having people say "Your cats are inferior, you are a bad person, you're selfish, you should feel ashamed that you supported an evil breeder instead of adopting a shelter cat" and even "You hate cats"

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My husband and I make it a point to only obtain cats from the local Humane Society.
And we also feel the need to adopt the older cats that are there.
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Well that's good and it is your choice, but not everyone will choose to take this route and that is their right. It does not make them a bad person.

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We have two beautiful cats as a result: Cindy, the white and orange tabby who just is so loving and adoring of us; and Sibyl, a beautiful, allsilvery grey cat who has such personality and spirit.
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It's good that you have run into such good luck with shelter animals because I have run into nothing of the sort. Four out of five cats being anti-social and aggressive. These cats were from two rescues and three from people who didn't bother to get their cats spayed. The rescue cats are the worst in the aggressive and anti-social regard, one we adopted because she was going to get her head blown off with a gun by her "loving" owners and the other we adopted from the SPCA as a kitten.

In my opinion people who don't bother to get their cats spayed because "it's too expensive" or because they can "always find homes" are the true culprits NOT the reputable breeders.

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All animals deserve to be loved!
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Well I pretty much agree with you there.

[This message has been edited by trisnic (edited December 10, 2000).]