Breed, Sex, and How Many Cats?

Posted by Jeanne on February 4, 2009

Deluxe cats need more care, not because they’re necessarily more tender, but simply to keep them deluxe. Longhairs need constant grooming. Siamese kittens grow slowly and take watching. All purebreds require some exercise and yet probably shouldn’t be allowed to roam the neighborhood to fight with or get pregnant by some low-brow. In short, you have to want a fancy cat and know you want it.

As between male and female, there’s no choice if you intend having the cat neutered. Otherwise, the tom can be a nuisance with his yowling, fighting, urine-spraying, and other manifestations of the sex urge. And, of course, the female will present you every so often with kittens. At the same time, if you like cats, you may want to permit yourself the pleasure of raising a litter or two.

How many cats to have is perhaps academic. As indicated, unless you take steps, you’ll eventually have a surplus anyway. But assuming it is a matter of your choice, it might be well to consider how many you’d enjoy having around. Several are no more trouble than one if they’ve been kittens together. (Strange adults thrown together may be a different story.) But one is definitely less than several if you’re the kind who dislikes reading the paper standing up because there’s a cat in every chair.

Choosing a Cat

Posted by Jeanne on February 3, 2009

There are many ways of acquiring a cat, and most of them happen to most people long before they ever think of going out and getting a cat in the proper manner.

The cat is a prolific creature, no question about it, and people who have cats to begin with soon have extra cats. Few things in life are free, but kittens are one of them. A cat owner may even insist on paying you a fee to take a kitten off his hands!

This turn of events does not qualify, however, as choosing a cat for you. Nor does adopting a stray that comes to the door or returning from the country vacation with one of the farmer’s cats or helplessly accepting the bedraggled kitten found and brought home by one of your children.

Picking a cat assumes you have none and intend to keep it that way until you find the cat for you.

This means decisions: Breed? Male or female? And, perhaps, how many?

Essentially, a cat does not ask for much, certainly not more than adult humans can provide. If you are prepared to feed, water, and house it, and let it live normally enough to stay fit (and take it to a good vet when it’s ailing), you rate having a cat – a Domestic Shorthair, anyway.