Reply #78: Well, most reputable ones that I know of have less than five litters per year [View All]

and many of those litters only produce three to five animals. I think that if a breeder can manage to keep all of their animals inside the house, healthy, clean and uncaged, then they are on the right track. Most of those breeders are more hobbyists than for profit operations-but you DO have to charge something for the offspring. Even in pet rescue we charge at least $100 per animal. Aside from our vet costs, there's the issue of unwanted pets being "adopted" by those who eventually sell them to testing facilities to be used as lab animals. Brokers can get up to $150 per cat and $250 per dog, and most of their animals come from "free to good home" ads (they are experts at passing themselves off as perfect pet parents). So pets should come at a cost to ensure that they end up in homes and not tiny wire cages.

I know that the singapura and Somali are also fairly endangered cat breeds. The Turkish Angora is prized by Muslims because the prophet Muhammad was said to have kept five white Turkish Angoras as pets. White TAs are usually born with a gray mark on the top of their head which is called by Muslims "the mark of Allah". The mark disappears as they mature, but Muslims claim that the mark shows where Allah touched the cats to bless them with a special intelligence. TAs are extremely intelligent, which can test the patience of some owners because they are always into something, devising games for themselves, demanding attention, and playing "tricks" on people and other animals (they are the only cats I've ever known who display a real sense of humor). There's one famous news story from several years ago where a Turkish Angora who was left alone for a week (with daily visits from a sitter) became lonely at night and would dial 911 and meow into the phone until "company" arrived. It took about four visits from the police before they determined that the very friendly cat was actually their crank caller!