UK cat adopters-purchasers prefer purebred pedigree cats these days

Cats Protection is one of the UK's premier cat rescue organisations entirely based on foster caring. And they are able to tell us that there has been a surge in the purchase of purebred cats over moggies. I normally refer to "adopting" cats but you have to purchase a purebred cat. Obviously it's an adoption as well but it is also a big and quite expensive purchase which might amount to several thousand pounds and more.

Taylor Swift and her Ragdoll Benjamin Button. She is the world's biggest influencer and has enormous powers to change the attitudes of today's young and old alike. Image: her Instagram pages.

And according to Cats Protection, on their website, based upon a report from the charity Cats and Their Stats, 45% of all cats acquired between March 2023 and March 2024 in the UK were pedigree or purebred cats at 715,000 while non-purebred cats i.e. moggies amounted to 685,000. The remainder they say are made up with "cross-breed cats". I believe that's a reference to hybrid cats such as the wildcat hybrids.

They tell us that this is the first time that pedigree cats have overtaken moggies and it's a "complete reversal from three years ago when an estimated 715,000 moggy cats and 490,000 pedigrees were purchased respectively (51% and 35%).

They suggest that the surge in purchasing a purebred cats may be due to the influence of social media with many celebrities flaunting their latest acquisitions. My mind immediately turns to Taylor Swift and her beautiful cats which are, as I recall, a Ragdoll cat and two Scottish Fold cats (see below). She influences many millions of people. It would not surprise me if she alone had changed the attitudes of people wishing to adopt a cat.

I have always argued - and this is entirely my opinion - that high-profile celebrities like Taylor Swift have a duty to adopt healthy cats and the Scottish Fold is not a healthy cat. I believe that she is doing the public a disservice although I don't want to criticise her. There is a big argument that the Scottish Fold should not have been created as a purebred cat in the first place because of its inherited health problems (it is 'torture breeding').

Cats Protection wisely tell us - and of course I agree - that either the influencers and celebrities are unaware of the hidden health risks of some breeds with extreme characteristics and/or the buying public is often unaware of the health risks of some breeds with extreme characteristics. Or they don't care! 😎😉

It's important that the purchasing public of purebred cats to their homework. Some cat breeds are healthier than others. And with an inherently unhealthy fancy cat you take on the expense of veterinary treatments. And you take on the expense of pet healthcare. I'm talking here of what can be the heavy expense of looking after a purebred cat which should be budgeted in when considering adopting a purebred cat. There has been a high number of abandonments of purebred cats to shelters post-Covid.

A good example about inherited diseases will be a recent infographic I created on the extreme-bred Persian cat with the flat-face. This contemporary Persian cat has, as I recall, 14 inherited diseases. Or at least potential inherited diseases. It's important that each person who wants to adopt a purebred cat does their homework and this website has a lot of articles on the inherited diseases of purebred cats which can be accessed and found using the search facility at the side of the page.

Taylor Swift's cats:

Taylor Swift has three famous cats:

1. Meredith Grey – a Scottish Fold, named after the character from Grey's Anatomy.
2. Olivia Benson – another Scottish Fold, named after the character from Law & Order: SVU.
3. Benjamin Button – a Ragdoll cat, whom she adopted after filming the ME! music video in 2019.

Her cats are often featured in her social media posts and have become quite well-known among her fans!

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

Reason why a non-pedigree cat is called a moggie in an infographic

Click on the infographic to see it fill the screen if you are viewing on a cell phone.

Infographic by MikeB.

The source is the book Catlore by Dr Desmond Morris. Here is some information about him as he deserves it. The information was compiled by an AI computer searching the internet.

Desmond John Morris, born on January 24, 1928, is an English zoologist, ethologist, and surrealist painter. His multifaceted career spans various domains, making him a fascinating figure. Let’s delve into the details:

Early Life and Education:

• Morris was born in Purton, Wiltshire, to Marjorie (née Hunt) and children’s fiction author Harry Morris.
• His interest in natural history and writing blossomed during his time in Swindon.
• He attended Dauntsey’s School, a boarding school in Wiltshire.
• After serving in the British Army for national service, he pursued fine arts and zoology at the University of Birmingham.
• In 1951, he embarked on a doctorate at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, focusing on animal behavior.

Career Highlights:

• Curator of Mammals at London Zoo: He held this position after leaving his role as the host of Granada TV’s Zoo Time.
• Research Fellow at the University of Oxford: His research centered on the reproductive behavior of birds.
• Television Presenter: He scripted and hosted over 500 episodes of Zoo Time and 100 episodes of Life in the Animal World for BBC2.
• Surrealist Artist: Morris’s artistic endeavors included directing surrealist films and exhibiting paintings and drawings created by common chimpanzees.
• Author: His most renowned work is the 1967 book The Naked Ape, which delves into human sociobiology.
• Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer: In 1964, he delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on Animal Behavior.

Notable Works:

• The Naked Ape: This ground-breaking book explores human behaviour from an evolutionary perspective.
• Zoo Time: His television programs, including Zoo Time, brought zoology to a wider audience.
• Surrealist Art: Morris’s artistic expression extended beyond science, and he exhibited alongside luminaries like Joan Miró.
• Human Zoo: Another thought-provoking work that examines human behavior in a societal context.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Jackson Galaxy is disappointed with the cat fancy and cat breeding

 It is no surprise to me that Jackson Galaxy, the world's most famous cat whisperer (cat behaviourist) dislikes or is disappointed with cat breeding and the breeds. Well, I have generalised and read his mind so I'll tell you what he says in his book Total Cat Mojo about the purebred cats and you can make up your own mind. 

He always adopts non-purebred cats. He does the right thing. Although he is high profile, he's very down to earth and a realist. He sees the big picture and the need to do the right thing and adopt rescue cat. He worked extensively in cat rescue before becoming a famous cat bebehaviourist.

Jackson Galaxy loved Barry deeply and misses him a lot. Photo: Jackson Galaxy.

He heads his section on breeding and the breeds with "The Puppet Master Enters: Purebred Cats".

You get a hint in that heading. He's saying that people are playing at God when they create new purebred cat breeds and create them for sale.

He explains that in the early days of the cat fancy there was no extreme breeding as there is today. For example, he explains that the Siamese cat's pointed coat was enough to distinguish that cat breed from the rest and it was and still is. 

And the Persian cat back in the old days was pretty much a standard-looking cat. There were no flat-faced oddities in those days. This is what he says. But today "breeding is an altogether different beast (so to speak), with organisations recognising anywhere from 44 to nearly 60 different breeds of cats (I think actually that TICA recognise more than 70)."

And he then goes on to talk about how the cat fancy developed in America in a detrimental way. He says:

"In the process, we have pushed cats' physical appearance to extremes, often without regard for the well-being of the cats being bred. We've made the Persian's face flatter and the Siamese space thinner and more pointed. Consequently, the changes we have imposed through breeding are in many ways detrimental to the Raw Cat."

The Raw Cat that he refers to is the natural domestic cat, the domesticated wildcat with a wildcat character beneath that domestic exterior.

He adds that:

"By selecting Persians for the brachycephalic (short-nosed) appearance, we have actually made it harder for them to breathe, increased the chance of skin, dental and eye disease, and made giving birth riskier and more difficult.

Scottish Folds are used as a model for studying pain and arthritis because the mutations that cause the folds in their ears also lead to painful degeneration in their bones and cartilage.

Manx cats are prone to back pain, constipation, and other elimination problems because of spinal cord deformities.

Maine Coon cats are prone to heart disease, and Siamese cats have a higher likelihood of asthma and hyperaesthesia. Sidebar from Michael: the modern Siamese is the unhealthiest breed and the Persian is in the top three.

RELATED: Siamese: The World’s Most Unhealthy Cat!

These are just a few examples. When you limit the gene pool, you increase the chance of dangerous mutations and disease. There is no other way around it.

Humans may be pulling the strings when it comes to cats' exteriors, but are we making any progress in understanding their inner world?"

As you can see, he is critical of a section of the cat fancy where they breed purebred cats to extreme meaning the anatomy becomes abnormal in order to create a cat which looks different and can be completely distinguished from the other breeds. 

The objective here is to sell more cats and to follow the breed standard accurately but breeders go beyond simply following the breed standard in their efforts to create more interesting cats at which point they create unhealthy cats as is emphasised by Jackson Galaxy.

Ben the Vet promotes the humble moggy

Ben the Vet likes to tell the world through social media (TikTok) the breeds of dog that he would not adopt and the 4 cat breeds that he would avoid. He has now moved onto the next logical step which is to tell the world the kind of cat that he would adopt, and I am pleased to announce that he prefers moggies to any other type of cat. Every cat caregiver concerned about cat health would agree with Ben.

My cat. A humble tabby non-purebred. Image: MikeB

And the reason is that random bred cats are, just that, random bred. There is no selective breeding. There is no artificial selection. Random bred cats are created through natural selection or as natural as it can get in an artificial human environment!

And therefore, they are healthier than purebred cats due to genetic diversity which leads to the inevitable conclusion that they live longer on average. I say 'on average for the obvious reason that sometimes, individual purebred cats can have long life spans.

He mentions four cat breeds that he would not adopt but he could have mentioned more. He has selected these breeds because they have inherited genetic health problems. You can read about them by clicking on this link.

And the same goes for the dog breeds. The point is that Ben is concerned about selective breeding which perpetuates the introduction of recessive genetic mutations into cats and dogs.

I realise that it is unpopular to discuss this topic. There are many die hard pedigree cat and dog afficionados who refuse to see the health aspects of the breeds. I understand their opinion, but it is essentially wrong. 

Breeders select foundation cats and dogs that are very handsome, and which are in line with the breed standard. They don't tend to select cats and dogs from which to breed which are inherently healthy. They don't prioritise health when they should be doing this.

Breeders should be prioritising health first, personality second and appearance third. But they prioritise these three elements in the reverse order because they have to stick to the breed standard and that document demands inbred animals often with extreme features.

Ben is a celebrity veterinarian who has a big presence on the social media site TikTok. His full name is Ben Simpson-Vernon. He gets lots of hate online because of his attempts to promote health in companion animals.

He says that: "I would just get a domestic shorthair, otherwise known as a moggy-just your regular, standard, garden variety cat. They're the cat equivalent of a mutt, or a mongrel, so on average they are going to be less inbred than your average pedigreed cat. And they're just lovely."

The problem with humankind in respect of cat and dog companions and selecting one is that people are obsessed with appearance. People like to possess beautiful objects. And when it comes to companion animals, they tend to be more interested in the appearance of the animal than their character. This feeds into selective breeding by breeders for appearance.

In my view, it is a human weakness to be obsessed by appearance and there is a moral duty (I'm preaching - sorry) to create purebred cat companions that are as healthy as possible. This does not happen.

The cat associations do not help because they write breed standards which leads to unhealthy cats e.g., the contemporary Persian with the flat face which distorts the anatomy.

There are other breeds which are bred to extreme which in turn affects their health. And there are many breeds based upon genetic mutations resulting in an abnormal but interesting appearance. These mutations have an impact upon the anatomy of the cat which is detrimental to their health and I'm referring in this instance to the well-known Scottish Fold. There are other breeds.

I am pleased that Ben is promoting the humble moggy. That is the way it should be.

Pedigree Cats are Better Companions?

Are there any differences in the way people interact with the domestic cat when the cat is a pedigree cat or a non-pedigree cat. This is an interesting thought. Most cats are non-pedigree. There are a higher percentage of pedigree cats in the United States than elsewhere, as I understand it. All purebred cats have a pedigree. These are the cat breeds that you read about on the internet.

A study by Turner in 2000, albeit somewhat limited, was carried out into this subject. The objective of the study was to look at the differences in cat to human interactions when the cat was: Persian, Siamese and non-pedigree. Persians and Siamese are considered to be somewhat at the opposite end of the spectrum in behavior and character and both are what might be termed original cat breeds that started at the instigation of the cat fancy - well established cat breeds.

The human companions of Persian and Siamese cats where asked to rank their cat's "behavior traits" against a scale. The assessment being based on the cat's behavior versus what the person would have ideally wanted (not sure about that as a criterion). Also, the people and cats were observed interacting.

The interesting overall conclusion appears to have been that the pedigree cats were more "socially interactive" and predictable than non-pedigree cats. They were also more interested in their human, better behaved and fussier eaters.

Siamese cats began "conversations" and interactions generally more often than random bred cats. Siamese cats are known to be vocal and social. This study confirmed that. As people like this trait in a companion, it is one major reason, I suggest, why the Siamese is in the top 3 most popular purebred cats despite a greater than average set of genetically inherited health problems.

Siamese cats were rated as more curious, playful and friendly towards strangers as well. The Siamese was observed as being more often near their human companion, more likely to vocalise, friendlier to strangers, more affectionate and less lazy than non-pedigree cats. High praise indeed.

As for Persian cats they too were more:

• affectionate
• friendly towards strangers
• communicative
• predictable and
• clean

Persian's were found to be fussy eaters, however.

Perhaps, one reason for the greater interaction between people and purebred cats is that the cat is more likely to be a full-time indoor cat and therefore more often in close physical proximity to the person. The other reason for the success of the pedigree cat in this study is the greater attention to socialisation received by purebred cats in the breeding programs as that is an important part of cat breeding and selective breeding for good character. The only downside to this is health. Purebreds it is said live shorter lives than moggies.

American Curl Health

This is a healthy purebred cat as there appears to be no evidence at the time of this post (Feb 2012) that there are any specific health issues relating to this cat breed. Certain cat breeds are predisposed to health problems due to genetic inheritance. That is not the case with the American Curl. This is probably due to the fact that the cat associations allow outcrossing with random bred cats. The CFA American Curl breed standard says for American Curl: allowable outcross breeds, "domestic longhair or shorthair for litters born before 1/1/2015". These are random bred cats they are referring to, both short and longhair. The genetic health of the American Curl is a very positive aspect of this cat breed.

American Curl health -- Source: Page 37 of Medical, Genetic & Behavioral Aspects of Purebred Cats - ISBN 0-9634124-0-X