The whole “purebred” thing always seems weird to me, “purebred” royal families aren’t pretty but full of genetic defects, why should it be an better with cats or dogs.
Nearly every cat I ever had was once a stray and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.
You don’t to have a pet cat
The cat chooses you as their pet
Honestly it’s always something magical when a cat decides ah yes you are my human. It’s like the dark souls version of getting a dog. And thusly cats in a way are the peak of loyalty because no one else can win a cats favor.
I was at cat lounge/rescue/adoption place in my area recently (not to adopt, just to pet the cats) and one of the cats, a maybe ~7mo female tabby with a slightly fucked up ear named Maggie, after spending most of the time I was there hiding in a corner, decided she liked me, came up to me, sat down on my lap, and refused to budge. One of the staff members came up to say “hey man you’re at your time limit, but I can see you’re in a situation here so just… whenever is chill”
Hmm two possible reasons come to mind. First, purebred in terms of cats and dogs not necessarily meaning genetic defects. Second, having a defined breed gives the judges something to rate against.
I once was looking to get a cat and found the goofiest looking idiot on Craigslist. Turns out, it was a purebred Exotic Shorthair that was surrendered to a shelter because it didn’t look fucked-up enough (it could still kind of breathe through its nose). New owners wanted to recoup costs because they adopted another cat that was “more playful” and the exotic was getting eye-goop on their white carpets. A wonderful standard for purebreeds!
I changed his name from “Luigi” to “Waluigi”, and he was best best buddy for many many years.
Wait, so I can take my cat somewhere and have them scratch someone else besides me?
People know about cat breeds?
Orange and non-orange
Random breeds are better than pedigree stuff.
We could just have that. A contest where you bring your cat, they get to play around for an afternoon, and the only outcome from the judge is “yep, that’s a cat”.