The Top Cat Breeds of 2010

I've had cats all my life and must say I find the two Ragdolls I now have the most enchanting. They are so funny and amusing to no end! Nothing is better than a Ragdoll!

I have had numerous cats throughout my six and a half decades of life. My Mom was the neighborhood "earth mother" so all stray cats and dogs ended up at our house. As a devoted and lifelong cat lover, the dogs were just sort of "there," but I adored each and every cat who was lucky enough to find us. Although I have only had a couple purebreds, my very favorite cats are solid black followed closely by tabbies. My husband of forty-five years is also a devoted cat lover and also appreciates the beauty, generally calm nature, sunny disposition and intelligence of black cats. All of our cats have been pound and shelter rescues. Our current cats are a wonderful black beauty named Solomon who we rescued from the local pound when he was five years old, another black baby, a diabetic, named Zulu who came from our local no-kill shelter at age four and a stunning longhaired calico little girl named Joy, adopted as a kitten from another shelter, who constantly lives up to her name. There are many lovely and adorable purebreds, of course, but my cat of choice is a rescue who desperately needs someone to just give him or her a chance.

Ok, my comment has many typos. Sigh. It should say 'and she bites'. And it should say 'totally comfortable with me.' Also, she was only about 4 weeks when I got her! Very tiny. My geriatric beagle became her best friend. He is gone now. Sigh.

A rescued cat is MY favorite as well. We see to be in the majority here. Mine was a feral kitten from a feral mom. It was my last day on this job and a gal who knew I was an animal lover made me wait. I had no idea she was giving me a kitten. She ran outside to grab the kitten from her sister and said 'here' and I took the kitten and said, 'ok, thank you'. and she said, 'and she bite' and I said 'ok'. She is now almost 7 years old. It took her about 3 years to be totally comfortable with. Her feral instincts come out at the vet! She is a tabby and my baby.

I never worry about being without a pet because my address is on speed dial with the dumped, unwanted, and neglected. They find me and just at the time that I have lost a beloved pet, there is a replacement soon after. And I say I will be petless in a few years. Not going to happen!

I have always been a dog person, and since I am in animal rescue, of course, I will always get a rescue dog or cat. I've had mostly mutts that I drug home as a kid and the my sons did the same, but my last two, who were also rescues, was a little Shih Tzu that had been abused and my little Maltese boy who my granddaughter found running the streets. Never found his owner, even though we searched. But, I ended up with him for 16 more years. He was between 19-21 years old when I lost him last year and I was devastated. But, thankfully several years before my baby died, I had rescued a Maine Coon cat, which I had no intention of keeping because I am allergic to cats. But I wasn't allergic to him and in the process of trying to fnd a home for him, I fell in love and he is still with me 8 years later. And I also found a little feral kitty that was just beautiful when he was only 2 lbs and my son and daugher-in-law adopted him. We all thought he was a yellow tabby. They also had a rescued Golden Retriever who their other kitty adored. But, their other kitty never accepted the kitten and was mean to him which made him hide out all the time. So guess who has him now? That's right, me. And,when he grew up, he turned into the most beautiful Maine Coon cat. I never even knew what a Maine Coon cat was until I took Rocky, my first Maine Coon, to the vet when I first rescued him. The vet and staff were all ohing and aahing about how beautiful he was, and a couple of people in the waiting room said they would take him. All of a sudden I got protective and and certainly wasn't going to just hand him over to anyone. Then when he jumped in my lap and went nose to nose with me when we got home, that was it. My cat friend who has 5 rescue kitties said she loved it that Rocky had my heart wrapped. He is the most laid back boy and loves everyone, greets people at the door and loved my little Maltese. They were great playmates and he loved Lil Jack, my yellow and white Maine coon kitty. They instantly bonded and loved each other from the beginning. In fact, I had them in separate rooms, for a couple of days until they started reaching for each other with their paws under the door and chatting to each other. And, yest, Maine Coons are big talkers. We have chats all the time. They are wonderful and I don't know what I would have done without them when my little Muffin died. My kitties were also traumatized, especially my big boy Rocky. He yowled like he was in pain and would not longer sleep on the bed where they all slept side my side. He was a totally different cat for almost a year. Then he finally came back to being the sweet cat he is. I never knew how loving and smart cats are until I got my two babies. So, I have to say that I love Maine Coons the best because of their wonderful personalities. I also like Ragdolls, but h ave never owned one. You don't see them in shelters or out on the streets very often, but for some reason there are a lot of Maine Coon's. And, if someone just has to have a purebred, there are tons of purebreds of many kinds that are euthanized every single day. I can't imaging buying andy pet from a breeder. I have also noticed at the pet shows that the owners don't all seem to love their animals except for the money they can win. I saw the most gorgeous husky who had been a champion show dog in a shelter where they were going to euthanize her. Guess she was no longer any use to the owner, so they just dumped her. She was an owner turn in. Fortunately, she had value to someone else who rescued her. Lynn

I have an Aby named Kuta, best cat I ever had, after a series of rescues and Siamese. I work with feral cats, finding homes for unwanted kittens,so that satisfies my instinct to love 'em all, but next to me all day and night is Kuta, a breed like no other. jbird