Preparations for the new housemate
Good planning helps you to find the right kitten (race cat or hybrid) and prepare everything for its arrival. This sets the course for a good start.
Is cat keeping allowed?
Before you decide if and which cat comes into the house or apartment, you should first clarify the question: Can I keep a domestic cat at all?
If you are a homeowner, the question is of course superfluous. But even the owner of a condominium should have no problems with this, because he does not have to let the owners’ meeting ban the keeping of cats – provided that the cat does not disturb the house community in an unreasonable way.
In most rental contracts, animal husbandry is precisely regulated and requires the consent of the landlord. However, it may only prohibit it if the animal husbandry has adverse effects on the rental property, for example damage to the apartment, or on the other tenants.
However, as soon as the landlord allows only one other tenant to keep a cat, you can demand “equal rights for all”.
In any case, the permission for animal husbandry should be clarified in advance, because unfortunately cats end up in the shelter again and again due to non- or misinformation.
If you have obtained this permission and let the rules for cat lovers go through your head and your decision for a cat is still fixed, the question now arises:
What kind of cat?
Here you are spoilt for choice as to which cat it should become. However, selecting the new roommate will also be a lot of fun.
Surely you’ve thought about giving a little breed a new home. Before you decide on a particular animal, you should get to know as many as possible, because the kitten becomes your life-stage partner for the next 15 years or so, and you don’t take the first human partner you meet.
All cats are individualists, whether they have long or short hair, pedigree or none. They differ only in their appearance and in their often race-related characteristics.
Tip: Basically, one can assume: the slimmer a cat is, the more lively its character is. The stronger or more full-slim, the calmer the cat is.
But again, no rule without exception. Of course, this statement refers to the adult cat, because all small kittens should be lively and playful. If this is not the case, they may not be quite in order in terms of health.
Which cat should it become, domestic cat, hybrid or breed cat?
The majority of our cats belong to the family of domestic cats. They are available in all shades of colour, with the tigers still making up the largest proportion. Her eyes are almost always of greenish color. The short hair is relatively easy to care for, and thanks to its innate cleanliness, the cat takes over most of the care itself.
Unfortunately, most domestic cats have a pronounced desire for freedom and are therefore only to be kept as pure apartment cats to a limited extent.
Tip: If you want to keep your cat in the house or in the apartment, you will rather look among the breed cats for a future housemate. Breed cats have been bred for just over 100 years, and they are available in different variations.
Longhaired cats
Persian cats
The Persian cat is bred in many shades of color. The monochrome Persians are available in the colours black, blue, chocolate, lilac, cream, red and white. In addition, there are two-tone Persians in blue cream and tortoiseshell or in one of these colors with white. They are then called Bicolor, Harlequin or Van-Bicolor, depending on the white ness of the coat.
In addition, most colors are also grown with drawing patterns, depending on the drawing as Classic-Tabby, Mackerel-Tabby or Spotted-Tabby. Another variant are the Persians with Tipping (the white hair is colored at the tips to a certain length): the Smoke, the Shaded and the Chinchilla.
All Persian cats should have a wide, round head with full cheeks and far apart small ears. The eyes are large, round, and with a few exceptions, the standard requires deep orange or copper-colored eye color. The penetrated body rests on short, stocky legs with round paws. The fur should be long, dense and silky, and the tail short and bushy. Persian cats are unfortunately not particularly easy to care for, and combing should be part of the daily duty of this breed.
Colourpoint
The Persian family also includes the Colourpoints formerly called Khmerkatzen. They have the physique and the long-haired silk fur of the Persians, but like the Siamese cats are part albinos, have their beautiful blue eyes and their coloring, thus a lighter body color and darker colored badges on the face, ears and legs as well as on the tail. They are available in all shades of Siamese.
Exotic Shorthair
It is the short-haired variant of the Persian cat and is bred in all possible Persian colors. Colourpoint and Exotic Shorthair, like the Persian cats, are not necessarily easy to call easy to care for.
Conclusion
Choosing the right cat is actually not that difficult, if you pay attention to the above hints. If you are not sure, a visit to the shelter will also help you to get to know different cats. You can also do an online test, which I found here.
If it should then become a breed cat, one can usually look at the animals with professional breeders and get advice about the peculiarities of the cat breed.
Future cat owners should consider whether they do not want to take in two cats at once. In this article I have written in detail about the individual keeping of cats.