Do you think shelters are seeing an increase in pure breed cats?

I have volunteered at our shelter in some form for almost 9 years now, and I don't ever remember seeing so many "fancy" cats. That's what I call the cats that look to be a pure breed. Over the last year we have seen more Himmies than in the whole 9 years I have been there. We have had several siamese cats, a couple exotics, and possibly even some Persians. Now none of our cats come with papers, so we don't gaurntee the breed, but there just seems to be an increase in "fancy" cats being surrendered or dumped at our door. Our treasurer is in North Carolina for the holidays, and she will be bringing back what appears to be a Persian or Himmie (I haven't see the photos yet so I'm not sure which), that she found wandering the streets of the military base her daughter lives on. She tried to find a place for the kitty down there, but had no success. So she is bringing him back to Wisconsin with her. The really funny thing is that she bought him a coat so he will stay warm when he gets here . So this made me wonder, are other seeing the same increas in Pure Breed cats at their shelters?

I don't work with a shelter, but I wouldn't be surprised. During these tough economic times, I expect more people are abandoning or surrendering their pure bred kitties.

I know that the last time I was in the shelter there were 3 what appeared to be purebred siamese cats and another 2 that were at least siamese mixes. They always get adopted in no time though.

At the shelter where I spend 2-5 hours a week, there have been more. Not a whole lot, though. And they don't last long. They are adopted very quickly - usually within days.

An exception was a very charming one that everyone there believed was a full blooded Norwegian Forest Cat (and really there are a lot of very experienced animal people there including a full-time vet, vet techs, and others who run their own rescues in addition to working there). She was there 4 months, and I don't know why she didn't go faster. She was very sweet, playful, and active. I was tempted to take her home myself. But I always feel guilty considering the really gorgeous cats because they will be adopted, and there are so many less showy cats who wait years for anyone to love them.

The only way I could justify adopting my Ariel and Harlow was because they both had behavior or personality problems that resulted in them being in the shelter for 2-3+ years before I took them home.

One of the people there who has his own rescue in his big house run by him and his wife said that they say on Petfinders, as much as they can, things like "Bombay type" or "Persian type" to describe the cats. They can't say they are the breed because there are no papers. But, he said, people want the exotic cats and it does help these cats get adopted faster. People want the look and they probably don't care about the papers if they are looking for a cat from a shelter or general cat rescue.

Ariel and Harlow are "Nebelung type" .

There are 4 or 5 DLH cats, all really beautiful cats, who have been at this shelter a long time. One or two, a very, very long time (3 or more years). The reason is that they are difficult cats. They don't want to be picked up. They don't want to come out of their cages. They don't like other cats (so can't be loose "on the floor"). It's really sad. One, with whom I have a special relationship, a luscious orange and white one named, "Vincent," has aggression problems with other cats, and sometimes people. He is in a foster home now, after being at the shelter a long, long time, being "on the floor" but then having to be caged, and being adopted at least once and brought back. We are crossing our fingers that the foster parents will keep him.



Robin