Thursday, January 14, 2010

Persian Cats

In rescue, every dog we get is identified by its breed. If we don’t know what breed it is, we guess. The most popular breed guesses are Shepherd, Lab, and Pit Bull Terrier mixes. But we never just say “mixed breed” without including at least one identified breed. That’s because if we want to identify them on PetFinder.com or other adoption websites, they usually require a breed category to place them into.

Cats are different. The majority of cats are identified simply as “Domestic Short Hair” or “Domestic Long Hair”, which I believe is another way of saying they don’t have any specific identifiable breed. And other than my one experience with some Pixie Bob/Desert Lynx cats, which turned out to look just like Domestic Short Hair cats, I have never fostered any type of purebred cats.


So I was excited when a friend fostered a purebred Persian cat. This cat definitely does not look like the majority of the cats we see. I have to admit I am not exactly a fan of the Persian look – but it was interesting to see a cat that looked so different from the rest.




Babette is a seven year old Persian cat. It was no surprise that she was adopted almost immediately after being placed on the PetFinder.com website. Persians are the number one cat breed in popularity, according to the Cat Fancier’s Association.  Persians are one of the oldest cat breeds, and they are known for their easy-going personalities.  I'll have to take their word for it, since in my brief encounter with Babette the only thing she ever did was glare at me. 

2 comments:

Amy & the house of cats said...

I have to say that at least in the pictures Babette looks like a cutie but I know persians can be tempermental. So glaring kind of makes sense to me. I kind of like that they have a name for regular old cats like domestic shorthair because it sounds a bit fancier (all 4 of mine are domestic shorthairs).

JulieB said...

I am owned by 3 Domestic Shorthairs and 2 Domestic Longhairs. I'm guessing that one of may be a Maine Coon mix because he's huge and has long hair and toe tufts, but that's just a guess. I like to refer to them as my "mutt" kitties. :) Persians are so funny! Most look like they are mad at the world, but they tend to be fairly docile critters.