The Various Breeds of Cats
| There are various different breeds
of cats and there are in fact over 100 different types
and varieties that are officially recognized throughout
the world. They can however be divided into five principle
categories. In those categories are the British and
American
shorthairs, the foreign or oriental shorthairs,
the Persian
or long hairs, and other long-haired cats. Most breeds
of cats have initially come from the ordinary moggy
cat, and through a process of selection and breeding
various different types of breeds have eventuated.
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Due to the fact that cats breed relatively fast and have
a short gestation period, and also because litter sizes
are quite large most of these breeds have been developed
over the last 100 years. While many people believe that
some of these breeds have been around for centuries in
most instances this is not the case.
Some of these breeds have appeared just by chance where
there have been genetic mutations that have given birth
to unusual specimens in a litter and people have taken these
unusual kittens and used them for breeding to develop new
breeds. During this process of breeding some types of cats
have developed various different personalities, characteristics,
and in some cases health conditions where they are not quite
as durable as the ordinary moggy that is liable to wander
in off the street.
An example of this will be some breeds of
British short hair cats that have a particularly snub nose
and can sometimes have difficulty in breathing and it is
quite common for some of these cats to keep you awake at
night with their snoring.
Some of these breeds have originally been
indigenous to particular countries but in the majority of
cases it is through specialized breeding
programs that they have been bred.
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Popular
Breeds of Cats
