Best Cat Breeds

Which are the best cat breeds? First question, how do you decide which is the best? This is surely subjective, isn't it? Maybe, but not completely. Sure there will always be a chunk of subjectivity in picking the best of anything. Take cars for example. Which is the best car? I immediately think of cars such as the Mercedes, BMW and Rolls Royce. 

White Maine Coon. Photo credit per annotation on image.

All very expensive and top end but the best quality. In the lower price range we also look for quality through reliability. Build quality is probably the number one criteria. Then we have appearance and performance. All of these qualities can be transferred interestingly to a cat or any animal. Lets try with the domestic cat breeds.  

Which is the best built cat? Weird thing to ask and wrong in one way because it converts a living creature into an object. But this is what we are doing to a large extent. One of the classic created (built for a market) cats is the Toyger, designed for modern trends in exotic cats. A number of breeds have a genetic propensity to certain diseases. 

One comes to mind immediately, the gorgeous Maine Coon, one of my favorites and cat that would be one of the best cat breeds but for her propensity to contract HCM (a heart disease). In general terms the best built cat will be one from the widest gene pool, the Moggie or Household Pet in show parlance. This cat is not a cat breed however. But she can be shown and have a pedigree.

Cats such as the Persian (the Ultra Persian) cannot be one of the best cat breeds as she has too many inbuilt health issues. It is like buying a car that doesn't start some mornings. And her coat needs constant grooming, like a car that needs constant cleaning. I would tend to go for cats with a natural history and hope humankind has not interfered too much.

I'm thinking of cats like the Chartreux here. As a general criteria it seems that the less developed the cat breed (meaning developed in terms of breeding for a perfect type) the better. Breeding for type to win shows can result in problems. The Siberian cat breed was introduced to HCM by the introduction of a superb cat with perfect type who carried the disease, for example. Over breeding creates great looks (or at least interesting looks) and poor health (sometimes) in my opinion, although this is a generalization. 

 The most popular cats are the Abyssinian and Siamese. There are a range of Siamese looks from the Modern skinny to the normal traditional. The public prefer the Traditional. There are no outstanding health issues with the Abyssinian and the same goes with the Trad. Siamese. These then are the best cat breeds. 

Popularity of a cat breed is usually mainly based on appearance so if you can back that up with health (car term - build quality) you've got the best. Another factor should be noted, performance. All cats are superbly athletic and have senses (of smell for example) well beyond ours. The Abyssinian is no exception. In addition she is lean and medium sized. She looks athletic compared for example with a rounded Persian. 

I have not mentioned the Bengal. A fantastic looking cat and smart. There is a developing ground swell of information that indicates that this cat has a similar incidence of heart disease so I have discounted this cat breed. One final point - intelligence, this is surely a factor in picking the best cat breeds. Yes. But all cats are of similar intelligence. 

The wildcat/domestic cat may have more highly tunes senses and survival instincts and although cats such as the Savannah are popular and healthy I have discounted these hybrids as there is a body of people who object to this kind of cat breeding. 

 From Best Cat Breeds to Home Page

Siberian Cat Health

Siberian cat health is generally good. They are robust cats. One condition, though, to which this breed has a predisposition comes immediately to mind - Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy or HCM.

This is a well known heart disease affecting a number of purebred cat breeds in particular and potentially all domestic cats. It also affects humans, of course.

Cats can show signs of HCM from the age of 2 months until they are 24 years old. Although in another post on HCM in Bengal cats (in fact there are several posts on this important subject), I recall a comment made by a visitor to this site saying that it is unlikely to be present before 6 months old. I don't know if that is true. Update: HCM is late onset and not present at birth. A heart murmur is one of the first signs (a vet can check for this). Cats with a predisposition to HCM should be checked yearly therefore.

The average age for having HCM is apparently 4.8-7 years. Persian cats have been reported as being predisposed to contracting HCM. In addition, there is a high incidence in Maine Coon cats which is tragic. The level of occurrence in Maine Coons is about 30%. The Siberian cat also has a predisposition to HCM. This is perhaps the most important disease affecting Siberian cat health. The other cat breeds that are apparently affected are the Sphynx and Ragdoll amongst others. (src: Kerry Simpson, FAB Lecturer in Feline Medicine, University of Edinburgh).

The reason why HCM is present in the Siberian cat breed is because Siberian cats that were excellent in respect of "type" (appearance) carried (perhaps unknown to the breeder) HCM. This condition has therefore been bred into the breed. A similar tragedy is happening in the Bengal breed in my opinion.

Are there any other outstanding Siberian cat health issues? Yes, it seems one other, namely, FUS (feline urethral syndrome) or feline lower urethral tract disease to which this cat appears to be predisposed. It is not known if this disease is inherited (genetically based) but it would be wise when adopting a Siberian cat to check the lineage (parentage) in respect of occurrence of both these diseases.

I would have thought that the breeder selling the cats would be able to certify negative tests on both diseases as they are known conditions. FUS though is common throughout domestic cats as 30% will suffer from it at one time (src: HDW). My cat had cystitis on occasions.

FUS covers all lower urinary tract disorders including, blockages, kidney stones and infections.

Disclaimer: I am not a vet but a careful researcher. Sometimes misleading information can be circulated. I always cross check. Discuss these issues with the breeder before adopting.

Siberian Cat Health to Siberian Cat

Grey Cat Breeds

Photo of Nebelung Cat Lovenblues Mozart Bronikowski
copyright © Helmi Flick – please respect copyright.

The Nebelung has a medium-long silky and fine blue/grey coat, with a plumed tail. This photo illustrates that nicely. 

Nebelung Male - Aleksandrva n Song de Chine. Photo: Wikipedia (2007).

The cat above is a 4 year old male (at time of the photo) and an international champion. His name is Aleksandr van Song de Chine. I presume the photo was taken by the person he lives with, Anke Zekveld. Anke has a cattery. The website is www.nebelung.nl. If I am not mistaken it is based in the Netherlands. Aleksandr is a fine cat of the grey cat breeds. And he has a lovely character too.

Grey Cat Breeds is a Google search term that I just picked up on my travels over the Internet. Some people like grey cats (or gray cats). There are a few cat breeds that have to be blue/grey, otherwise they are not a cat of that breed. Pretty tough criteria.

Here's a list with pictures and links of the grey cat breeds (are there some more?). The pictures are by amateur photographers of their cat companions. Some of the cats are relatively rare. For example, the Nebelung comes to mind in this category. There are links below the photographs to the best professional photographs, by, who else, Helmi Flick.

Nebelung


Nebelung cat photo copyright V La under CC

The color of this cat has to be blue (I would call it bluish grey, that's why he's in this post!). Go to a full description and a professional photo (Helmi Flick) by clicking on this link. You can see how this cat ranks with other cat breeds in terms of rarity by clicking here. You'll find that this cat is pretty rare still despite the fact that the breed was created in 1984 and developed with great determination by Cora Cobb. This cat is essentially a long haired Russian Blue. They were breed in parallel in Russia over the period Cora was developing the breed in the USA.

Chartreux

Photo: Helmi Flick.

This cat breed has a long and distinguished history, during which cat breeders are now intent on preserving the purity of this breed. The breed comes from France. See and read more (plus professional photos) by clicking on this link. The Chartreux is more or less the same as the British Blue cat. As is the case for the Nebelung the only color is the one you see - blue/grey.

Russian Blue


Russian Blue Cat photo ©Sensual Shadows Photography

The Russian Blue is another cat that has got to be blue/grey to be part of this breed and is therefore one of the grey cat breeds. As the name clearly suggests this cat originates in Russia, specifically the north of Russia, near the Norwegian Border from a town called Archangel. I am not altogether convinced of this fact. It would seem that some cat breed histories are "glossed up" a bit to make the cat more desirable. Cynical or just sensible? See more on this cat.

Korat

Korat cat - photo copyright Nick Hodge

The Korat cat primarily has one color, the one you see in the photo. However, of these four breeds the Korat is the only one that can also be found in lilac or pointed coat. I have selected the Korat because by convention it is considered to be a grey breed.

All these cats carry the genotype to produce the grey coloration, which is aaB-dd. The symbol dd represents a pair of dilution genes; aa represents the non-agouti gene (self black) and B- represents the brown gene (producing black to brown and chocolate etc. in more dilute forms). Read and see a lot more on the Korat cat (stays on this website).

There is one more cat breed that need not necessarily be blue/grey (many colours and patterns are allowed) but which looks great in grey and is often grey, and that is the British Shorthair. This is one of my favorite cats and is in the top 10 of the most popular cat in the pictures-of-cats.org website poll. Helmi Flick has two British Shorthairs.

In addition to these mainstream cat breeds there are two rare grey cat breeds: Madura Blue and Cuban Blue. I don't have photographs of these breeds. The Madura comes from the Madura and Ra’as Islands, Indonesia. The Cuban Blue is what is called “under development”. This means not yet accepted by the US cat associations as at the date of this updated section (August 2014). It is registered with a Cuban cat association: Associación Cubana de Aficionados a los Gatos (Acag).

The "Maltese Cat" refers to any random bred cat or cat of unknown breed with primarily grey fur. This comes from the belief that cats on the island of Malta are often grey haired cats.

Sources:

• Robinson's Genetics for Cat Breeders and Veterinarians and Sarah Hartwell

From Grey Cat Breeds to Home page

Identical Twin Cats?

It is not clear if these two lovely and almost identical cats are twins or not. They certainly look like it. They are called Peek and Boo. They are male Ragdoll cats. The breeder is Patricia Day of Tinsle Ragdolls.

The cattery is located in British Columbia, Canada.

These two boys are almost a mirror image of each other in this position and they are naturally very comfortable together.

We know that cats are similar to humans in many respects anatomically. For instance they can get asthma and hay fever like us.

It is quite possible to give birth to twin cats too. But apparently it is unlikely. For cats to be identical twins one egg splits into two, each the same. To be fraternal twins there would be two eggs released and both are fertilized by the same male cat.

A female cat releases multiple eggs. Apparently she releases one egg each time she mates. If the female is feral for example (not the case with Peek and Boo obviously), it is likely that there will be more than one father.

If it is the same male mating more than once his sperm can fertilize more than one egg released. The cats from this fertilization will look the same. Fraternal twins occur when two eggs are fertilized at the same time.

The only way to tell for sure if Peek and Boo are identical twins is through DNA testing. But it is likely that they are not identical twins as being mirror images of each other they are actually different. Peek has dark fur on the right hand side of his face and Boo has dark fur on the left side of his face. This would indicate to me that they are fraternal twins and not identical but I am not an expert. I love this photograph, that is why I made this post.

Identical Twin Cats to Home page

Cat colds and bacterial infections

This is a lovely picture of a cat at a vets. The cat has not got a cold as far as I am aware. The photograph is copyright by Chuckumentary (reproduced under CC - nice pic, well done) and the vet is the best he has known. The vet's name is Dr. Grindle and he works at the Lyndale Animal Hospital. Not sure where that is but I think it is in Minneapolis.

There is a difference between cat colds and bacterial infections that sometimes gets missed particularly these days when we think that drugs can help almost anything and we like quick fixes.

There is still no known cure for a human cold and the same is true of a cat's cold. Colds are caused by a virus. A virus is a very small "agent" that can only live in a host cell. It is debatable whether a virus is a life form. It has genes but does not have cells. It is on the edges of life.

When your cat gets a viral infection (an Upper respiratory infection or URI - an invasion by a virus) the cat's immune system responds to neutralize the invading agent. The response is the production on antibodies, which bind to the virus and make it non-infectious. Also T cells attack the virus. One symptom of this activity is a runny nose. The discharge is usually clear. The cat will have to deal with and cure herself of this infection. It's a watch a see situation while making her as comfortable as possible.

If the infection has been around for a long time the cat may suffer a bacterial infection; a secondary infection in which bacteria have found the environment of the symptoms of a cold attractive, infected the cat and multiplied. A bacteria is a very small organism (single cell) that can live in a host or outside a host.

This infection adds to the first infection. An indicator is a colored nasal discharge (yellow/green - I know as I have suffered from these myself).

Bacteria can be killed by antibiotics. Antibiotics are drugs that either interfere with the cell walls of the bacteria or the cell itself, killing it, or the drug stops them multiplying.

Clearly if your cat has been ill with a viral infection for longer than usual, it may have developed into secondary infection requiring antibiotics. A visit to the vet will sort that out.

Antibiotics shouldn't be used carelessly on cats or ourselves as they can become less effective as the bacteria develops a resistance to the drug.

Cat colds and bacterial infections to Home page