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Post by freckledoe on Sept 27, 2015 5:26:07 GMT
Okay okay okay I've seen a LOT of shelter cats, and their breed classification makes me head/desk a lot. I honestly am starting to think they do it in order to charge more per adoption fee.
1) Cats with points are not automatically a purebred siamese/himalayan/tonkinese/other.
2) Cats with bobbed tails are not automatically a purebred pixiebob/other. LOTS of cats have bobbed tails. Lots of FERAL cats. This is a normally occurring mutation. ESPECIALLY NOT A BOBCAT CROSS (I've seen people try and pull that)
3) Large longhaired cats are not automatically a maine coon/norwegian forest/siberian/other. I've only seen ONE ACTUAL maine coon walk through a shelter in my life, and the telltale giveaway for me was the facial structure as well as size.
This isn't to say purebreds/purebred mixes don't end up in shelters or on the streets as runaways! Just saying it's on the uncommon side, especially compared to dogs. AND there is never anything wrong with a good ole' heinz 57!
I don't mean this in a mean way at all! Just keep this in mind when identifying cats! C:
Please, feel free to add to this list or share your experiences!
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Post by Household Geckos on Sept 27, 2015 11:04:30 GMT
THIS ^
I get so frustrated when people try and classify COLORS as breeds, especially when it comes to color points and people calling them siamese/siamese mixes.. For one, there's other breeds with color points and two chances of there being a purebred anything is extremely slim and even if one did it would be harder to confirm/identify because unlike a dog cats can be pretty similar in shape most of the time.
We actually had a few grey kittens that the shelter was referring to russian blues and I actually stepped forward and pointed out that no, they most likely are NOT russian blues. At least they don't charge more when making such claims though and if anything it just helps them get adopted. I don't like people making stuff like that up though because it's false information and gives people false standards of what a breed looks like. Just because it's a grey cat does NOT make it a russian blue. In fact a lot of cats can be a plethora of colors, some even being shared among other breeds.
When going into a shelter chances are all you're going to find are mutts and people need to learn that instead of claiming every cat with X color is X breed.
Oh and then there's that gosh dang thing started by animal planet stating that mainecoons have an M on their foreheads so now if a cat has an M it's automatically a coon or a coon mix. No, most if not all tabbies have that.
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Juujinx
Egg
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Posts: 43
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Post by Juujinx on Sept 27, 2015 14:02:58 GMT
I agree with this somewhat. But the fact is that many shelters also use these identifiers as a way for (1) potential adopters to search by what look 'they want', (2) help cats get adopted who would otherwise be overlooked as not special enough. I think this is why I've seen a lot of volunteers with kill shelters label regular ol classic tabbies as 'bengals'. If the shelter is charging more for a 'breed' mutt, then indeed they are trash, but if they're just marking them as mixes, I don't truly see the harm in it. They should be fixed before adoption, so breeding shouldn't be a danger.
Cats don't have nearly the amount of advocates dogs have in the rescue world and their reproduction rate is insane.
And there's also the fact that your standard adopter says 'siamese' and means 'pretty blue eyed pointed cat' (or sometimes even just blue eyed cat, let's be honest). Or says 'Maine coon' and means 'long haired cat'. As long as the shelter isn't (a) up charging for 'breeds' or (b) claiming them to be actually purebred, then I think it's a bit of a grey area. Unfortunately a lot of adopters DO see owning a cat as kind of an accessory. Even ones who will care for them properly often want the highest 'bragging' right on having a special pretty cat.
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Post by Household Geckos on Sept 27, 2015 15:06:58 GMT
Yeah I understand why they do it and it's a good way to find cats the homes they deserve but I guess I just dislike the dishonesty of it is all and find it a bit sad that without those pretty labels people would otherwise be uninterested in them.
Although I Wouldn't go as far as to call any ol blue eyed cat a siamese unless they have colored points or classic tabbies as bengals considering that's treading into a more exotic breed.
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Juujinx
Egg
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Post by Juujinx on Sept 27, 2015 15:25:42 GMT
I do agree there. Especially with the bengal. I do fear someone having a 'bengal' labeled mix tabby and then thinking they've got a handle if they do manage to get something that is pure or an actual bengal mix. Those cats are NOT what the average joe should be trying to keep in their apartment. Luckily my rescue doesn't fudge around with bengal labels. We actually encourage people who come looking for exotics to do research. Of course, they don't ever reply back, because they just want to know if we have what they want and will give it to them. They don't want us telling them that a sphynx requires quite a bit of care, is very high energy, and no, it's not automatically hypoallergenic for your allergies.
I know for a fact that a lot of rescuers get very caught up in 'how do I save THIS cat' without thoughts for long term consequences.
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Post by freckledoe on Sept 28, 2015 19:29:29 GMT
I'm on the fence agreeing with both points. Cats do deserve to be adopted and I can understand shelters trying to cater to potential adopters' wants to achieve that. But in my experience, at least with shelters here, they charge twice as much whenever they label a cat as anything other than domestic long/short hair (aka mutt). They've grouped together gray SH kittens with them labelled russian blues and charged a premium. In a mixed litter of kittens, the one with red points was labelled siamese and was twice as much as his littermates. We once had an actual snowshoe who was also declawed, and someone drove from halfway across the state to adopt him. I wish this kind of thing didn't have to happen, ultimately. People's desire for the pretty premium thing as opposed to the many perfectly good cats out there. I also know shelters can always use extra money from the adoption fees. The whole thing just kinda bugs me :T
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Juujinx
Egg
Gecko Gym Leader
Posts: 43
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Post by Juujinx on Sept 28, 2015 20:07:50 GMT
Yeah, it's a complicated issue. The rescue gets e-mails from people calling them thieves for charging $75 adoption for a kitten. But even that doesn't cover the standard medical, much less any problems. We've spent about ten grand on one hit by car cat. Luckily he became a small net sensation for a bit so he covered himself with donations from his fans. But there are hundreds of cats who rescues cover who never get much of anything. I think charging double for a 'desirable' cat is pretty skeezy though. But I'd still take that over the rescue the next town over who goes through kill shelters and only takes the desirables, leaving their siblings and mother behind any day. Of course, they rationalize that they save many more cats doing this than if they wasted time trying to find homes for plain black cats.
We've had another rescue sign on a disgruntled foster and basically steal our 'desirable' legal foster cats with an e-mail response that was pretty much 'too bad'. Can't say anything publically, because then we'd be 'not concerned enough with saving lives' so we pretty much had to let it go. Even though we have higher adoption standards than that rescue.
It's a rough topic. Lots of these guys do some really underhanded stuff in the game of saving animal lives, and usually highly defensive of their practices, too. And that's not even touching how most rescue communities are really cliquish. It's ridiculous.
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