Hi,
I'm after some advice on kittens please.  I have always said that my only pedigree pets would be my dogs and everything else would be rescue (I have no intention of showing or breeding any other animal and it would be neutered regardless).  However i'm a bit stuck at the moment - we lost one of our rescue cats a couple of months ago and we are now looking for a kitten as we decided with the dog and the other animals a baby would be our only option.

I want a cat that I can let out the house without worrying about it not being hardy enough or being stolen as I like to leave the backdoor open and I personally feel cats should be allowed to roam. 

However here's where I'm stuck I don't want to buy from a BYB  who can't be bothered to neuter their pet and is probably breeding brothers and sisters back to back to make some extra cash.

If i buy a rescue kitten how do I know anything about the temprement of the parents and health - all the things I look for in a dog.  My neighbour has a rescue cat who is always ill and has cost her thousands due to poor breeding and cats all living together (they came from an animal hoarder) so the vet is sure her kitten was the product of a lot of brother and sister matings!

Also in rescue it is difficult to find what you want in terms of colour - this is very shallow of me but I do have preferences in colour.  Of course personality is most important though.

Finally - biggest problem, responsible breeders are pedigree breeders and I doubt they'd sell me a kitten knowing I would allow it out in 3-4 months time once it had been neutered.

What do people think about the pro's and con's of where to buy.  My OH is at the point of wanting to look on scumtree :(

My late, and much adored cat was a 2 year old rescue from the Blue Cross. I had time to learn about his temperament and knew what a perfect lad he was. He'd been ill-treated and was incredibly nervous but not a nasty bone in his body - he was so gentle despite being so scared. Took time but once he trusted me he had the most wonderful life. I'd do the same again - I'd always prefer an older kitten/young adult.

Just thought - how about checking with your local vets. They often have ads for kittens so it's a possibility they'd know the owners and the history.

Thanks- Gordo and Bella (the girl we lost who was the greatest cat ever to be found half starved to death and covered in fleas in a cardboard box) really sold me on rescue cats and not buying kittens but Gordo is now 3 and doesn't take to other cats straight away, he only accepted Bella as she was only 6 months old.  He also is likely to form a union and refuse to come back in the house if he feels we've bought in another adult girl.

Also my dog is  very bouncy 1yr old setter and whilst she doesn't chase - she prefers to set and point our cats and saves chasing for 'foreign' cats that appear in her garden.  Lots of rescues have said they only have shy and nervous young cats that need to go to a quiet home.

With rescues I know they are coming from people who know what they are doing and will match up the right cat whereas some people will just want to sell the kitten.

Also to top it off 1 rescue refused to allow me a cat at all even a neutered one because we breed dogs (like many on here I own a KC affix with my mum and an assured breeder, but the breeding and most of the dogs live at mum and dads down the road).  Apparently I am not fit to have one of their rescues as I am condeming thousands of staffies to death and have blood on my hands - again for the record I don't, never have and never will breed staffies.  We have a vulnerable native breed of setters which is on the endangered list!!

Have spoken to some lovely rescues though but its pretty much black kittens.... Which the OH has made very clear he doesn't want :(

:-( my lad was black - they are so overlooked and like you say, rescues have lots. Maybe your OH can be convinced :-).  Good luck in your search. Go on, nip down the vets and see if they know of any !. You could have one by the end of the day !.

I'm going to give a few local vets a call at lunch.  Unfortunately I've been trying for a black cat for years and he won't own one.  I had a black and white cat who looked like Jess from Postman pat when I was at home and he was awesome but even knowing him it didn't convince him.

They are so often overlooked and there are so many available.  :(

i have to be honest here ok so please dont take offence.
when i lived at my mums house a few doors up a lady owned two simease cats.lovely they were,but one brother was constantly ill.(wen i was little we could walk up and down the road and chat to anyone so thats how i know of the cats lol)

My mum and nan have always had moggies and every single one of them has lived for-like -ever!! Perfect companion pets cuddly lovely and not a scratch in sight..jake would even hang on the back door handle and open it lol..

my aunt has two boys,one persian blue and one with no hair....spoilt rotten and theyre horrible...the looks you get and the blue will spit at u as soon as look at you...she gets no affection from him,she just feeds him..basically at his beck n call!!

im sorry but all cats have their own personality,you cant say a pedigree will be nicer or healthier!!

i have as it happens a cat i never wanted...shes lovely and fluffy and shes a white cat with tortoise shell patches...and she was poisened by my sisters neibour(old man didnt like cats)..soo i took her in....four years later the ,moo is still here!
but shes a bitsa and shes lovely...

if i were gonna get a cat id go to a rescue,theyre far more greatful of the love and affection

One of my friends went through heart break last year when she lost her two year old moggy, he was a really sweet little cat but never ate properly and was always in and out of the vets with constant minor illness. Last year he died v.suddenly and when the vet opened him up for a look his bowels/intestine were full of tiny tumours.
My friend thinks with hindsight he was probably rather inbred as he came from quite a rural village which is known for all it's cats/moggy's being fluffy. I can see how it would be a minefield for someone trying to find a nice kitten without wanting to support bad breeding or lazy ownership (not neutering the cats.)
She's got a lovely norweigan forest cat now and is very happy.

I don't agree that rescue animals are more grateful for affection, as you say all cats have their own personality, my OH's rescue dog shows not a speck of gratitude towards us, he's a ratty little toad, lol :D

With a pedigree kitten, you will get the superior temperament, and depending on breed, relevant heath testing of parents. But no, you're not likely to find a pedigree breeder wanting to sell you a kitten if it will be allowed outside. Why would you have to though? A pedigree cat will be perfectly happy to stay inside. :) With moggies you take pot luck as regards temperament, just like with mongrel dogs.  I have two rescued mogs, one is fine and has even been shown as a household pet, the other is a bad tempered so and so and always has been. He's also going on for 12 now but looks years older than my pedigree cats of similar ages, so you never know with health either.

Do you have children?  When my kids were at primary school we were inundated with requests to have a kitten as best friend Molly/Milly/Maggie or Mike "has just has some"!!  Honestly my kids first primary school was like a zoo and we were offered lambs, puppies, kittens, chicks, ducks, hamsters and all sorts...

Since I lived away from home we've only ever had 3 cats (before getting dogs), our first was from a family friend and was an accidental litter and he was the most loyal, gentle, affectionate soft bag puss of a cat - and half pedigree, although I can't quite remember what mum was (!) other than she was white and our kitten was black.  Our 2nd cat was a purebred Siamese but from what we later realised was a very bad breeder and he was a mini monster - beautiful, but quite mad, and with anxiety issues (our first clue should have been getting knocked over by the stench when she opened the door, and the second when it took half an hour for her to catch him).   Our 3rd cat was from a rescue centre and he was a stunning tabby who was a delightful boy but he only grudgingly accepted affection and only ever on his terms!

Since joining CD and reading some of the discussions about cats on here in the past, I would probably look at a pedigree breeder if I were searching for a cat.  However, like you, I'd want to be able to let it out so might need to consider looking elsewhere.  I think if it were me I'd respond to a few adverts (vet and local paper) but be very honest with myself about what I wanted, and be prepared to walk away if something didn't feel right.  It's tricky isn't it - we are so used to thinking differently about choosing dogs.  Good luck with your search :)

This is why I'm so confused because I've always had moggies and never saw anything wrong with them - usually a lovely temprement 9apart from the feral kitten i stupidly chose as a child and insisted on having instead of the nice friendly one)

So why is it that I have pedigree dogs?
If I spend so much time carefully health testing them and making sure temprement etc. is good, I know all the lines know the temprement and health of each of the animals i breed then why would i not want to do that with a cat as well?

to me dogs have been pedigree animals and cats are mogies but surely they aren;t that far apart and my principles should be my principles regardless.

I think you can have lovely moggies ( have owned 5 such cats) but you don't know whats behind them.

With regards to letting a cat outside - My other cat goes out, I'd rather not have a litter tray (long term) as the dog will eat it or worse still pick it up in her mouth and carry it to the sofa where she'll squish it in.  Also I like to be able to have all the windows and doors open and not worry about animals escaping.  unfortunately I am not in a position to have a cattery run built :(

p.s don't worry I'm very easy to offend and I've asked for peoples opinions and advice so am pleased to receive it

cats I think the big thing on temperament is that the kitten has stayed with its mom till at least 10 weeks. it makes a hell of a difference.  thats often why pedigree cats turn out nicer temperament wise- its because had extra time with mum rather then the pet owners who are normally desperate to get rid by 8 weeks.

try some of the smaller independant rescues- they often have cats with kittens in foster and are more flexible on home types then the bigger places/pedigree breeders- not less fussy but a bit more open to consider slightly different set ups.

cats I think the big thing on temperament is that the kitten has stayed with its mom till at least 10 weeks. it makes a hell of a difference.

13 even. Pedigree kittens must never be sold sooner. When of course they will also be fully vaccinated -hence 13 as opposed to 12, it's first vacc at 9 weeks, second at 12 and a clear week after the second one to ensure there has been no bad reactions.

I have always had the same policy with you regarding dogs and cats and pedigree or not!
I guess the reason is that because I give my cats the freedom to come and go I can accommodate a wide range of characters so I don't worry so much about being choosy as I am with my dogs. My dogs are required to have more specific characteristics because they fit more closely with my lifestyle.

Also, I'm sorry as this is obviously a negative experience, all the pedigree cats my friends have are not pleasant pets and so I prefer the cheerful moggies I have always been assigned by rescues. Obviously I've been lucky!

Just like I couldn't imagine a dog being kept on a lead all its life, I just can't imagine a cat without the freedom to roam!
 
With my current two I told the rescue I wanted a cat that was confident to live with big dogs and they sent me a pair who fitted the brief within a week. They were about 10 months old and one was supremely confident, the other a little more cautious. 4 years on they have taken over the house lol.
So don't underestimate what they will match you with. Why don't you try them and see, you don't have to take on a cat you don't feel will fit after all.

I feel quite sad reading this.   What people seem to be saying is if you get a Moggie it has to run the gauntlet outside with all dangers it could face.    

I work in a boarding cattery part-time and I can tell you moggies are probably the most unhealthiest cats coming in. Some come in with 4-5 different types of meds!  Or prescription diets. 

99% of the pedigrees that come in have wonderful temperaments and like dogs display breed traits & personalities.    And no I'm not biased, my family has had moggies since I was primary school age.    I now have 5 pedigree cats and visitors who come to my house comment on their temperaments especially Hope & Cobweb.   Try & ignore Hope - you won't, she demands you give her attention.

But as Marianne says any worthwhile pedigree breeder will not sell to someone who lets their cat outside.   There's still some people who think it's ok to let a dog roam, it doesn't make it right.   Leaving a cat to roam means it's more likely to get runover, shot at, a dog attack it, infected with FeLV/FIV etc.

I agree Christine,  -and not all cats WANT to go out, far from it. I couldn't subject my cats to free roaming, any more than I would let my dogs roam free. And dogs can be vaccinated for all diseases they can catch outside, cats can not. I think a lot of people haven't experienced the great personality differences between moggies and different breeds of pedigree cats. (Well bred ones -plenty of BYB in cats too!) A Siamese is as different from a Persian, for instance, as a Staffy is from a Saint Bernard -there is just no comparison. I had somebody last week come all the way from southern Ireland to get a Persian kitten off me (no advertising -all gone), just as a pet, as they already had one I'd bred, and out of the cats they had  (also a Burmese and a Maine Coon) it was ONLY the Persian they found really suited their family and young kids. Just like we don't all like the same traits in dogs, we don't all like the same traits in cats. I like my dogs fast and never tiring and challenging, I like my cats slow and purry and lazy and accepting of whatever you subject them to, whether it is cleaning their teeth or turning them upside down to blow dry the fur on the stomach perfectly straight. :) (Something YOU'D definitely not need to do LOL!!!!!) I like flat faces in cats and long faces in dogs -no idea WHY, but it's what I've found suits me. And  I have lived with several breeds of both species over the years. Before I met Persians I didn't even like cats -we had moggies but I had decided cats weren't for me at all as they were far too independent and bad tempered. Then I started working as a vet nurse and met Persians and the penny dropped. :)

I wish there was a like button as I would add it to your post, Marianne.

I know of plenty of moggies who aren't let out & live perfectly happy contented lives, what they don't know, they never miss.  Even the cattery manageress has a young adult cat she has never let outside and the cattery is situated way out in the countryside within a walled garden!    Look at the poor boy I trapped recently, he'd been unwanted by a family in the village and had been left to his own devices.  He now has half a tail (No idea how it was 'amputated'), he's very mistrusting of people and almost feral,  Thankfully he's with CP and neutered now.

ChristineW, your cats sound lovely. I have nothing like your experience with a range of cats, only those owned by family and friends and my own, so I can only state as found.
I have to admit that if I thought my cats were at real risk of the dangers you list from the outside world I wouldn't even have got them!

Funny enough my current rescue two were initially raised as indoor cats and it was wonderful to see them learn about the outdoor world once they had settled in. They have a very active fun life. 

I guess people choose to keep pets in different ways, its like the difference between an indoor rabbit or one who gets to graze in the garden. Of course you need to make sure the indoor one doesn't electrocute itself chewing through wires, just like you need to make sure the outdoor one is safe from predators. But I know what kind of life I'd want if I were a rabbit, just the same, if I were a cat! And that's what mine get. Perhaps its because I'm an outdoor person!

Well, I've had one pedigree a Maine Coon who stayed indoors and all my other cats have been moggies who have roamed the land, my white fluffy cat may have been a pedigree I have no idea as I got him from a pet shop (don't shoot me) do I have a preference nope, none at all. Though my two very favourite cats were a common male tabby and a beautiful ginger and white so affectionate and loving both of them.

There are so many different breeds of cats that for me it just comes down to what you like - just like with a dog, if you fall for a pedigree you look up a breeder and make sure it has had all relevant health checks, or you go for a moggie which also come in all different colours, shapes and sizes, it's absolutely down to your preference. :-)

We have two cross exotic /BSH and lovely cats but they do do think on their own terms and although are affectionate only when they want to be.

Then we added Dave the moggy kitten to the brood and he is a totally different cat in so many ways ! He is a very loyal and affectionate cat and come when he is called and is straight up on a lap or the bed to have his fuss. He will always come when he is asked unlike Pokes and Stinks who will walk past with almost a talk to the paw attitude !

They are all outside cats and I am willing to take the risk as the fun and enjoyment they get out of being outside to me is better than being in door cats. We are lucky to live in a secluded end of lane situation away from roads and traffic so the risk is minimised. It did stop Stinks getting either a boot or hit by an object when she was a out by some mindless moron with severe jaw injuries but she came through it luckily.

No health problems with any of them yet so let's hope it stays that way !

I've had Moggies and Burmese.

Both Moggies were lovely as kittens but as adults they were 'wild' - certainly not the loving cats described here :(  The one would attack you as soon as look at you.   We loved her to bits and she lived until 18 1/2 - an outside cat, we were amazed she never got hit by a car, but then we always said the car's tyres would have been shredded!  The other one we rehomed to a safe rural outdoor home as she just didn't like living with us and was very stressed all the time.   We found out that she was from a feral litter too late and it was unfair to keep her where she couldn't roam free :(

The Burmese were lovely, very loving and almost dog-like.  The one even retrieved anything we wold throw for her :-D   Very lively cats as youngsters they became more sedate as the matured (about 9 - 10 years LOL)  The last one died at 18 1/2 a few years ago.  Both indoor cats.

Daughter has two 'moggies' (I think one is an oriental shorthair X as he's a seal smoke and is very Burmese with a flat silky coat and temperament to match, the other is a magnificent Coal Black Moggie.   She also has an elderly white 'Siamese' (no points) rescued 2 years ago from owners who just didn't want her.  She's a lovely old lady who loves to come visit us in the car :-D  None of these has ever gone out and they're perfectly happy indoors. 

Whilst I would LOVE to be able to have a cat and let it roam freely, these days it just isn't safe here.  There's too much traffic :(

Hope you find your perfect cat soon.  

No health problems with any of them yet so let's hope it stays that way !

But do you regularly blood test for FIV...? I think you'd need to do it at least every 3 months to be sure. Infected cats can look perfectly healthy for years, yet be carrying -and passing on -a fatal illness. That's one thing I would never dare to take the risk of.

She also has an elderly white 'Siamese' (no points)

That would be a Foreign White. :)

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Infected cats can look perfectly healthy for years, yet be carrying -and passing on -a fatal illness.

There was a lovely brown tabby & white semi longhaired male turned up around the cattery last year,  I approached him & he was friendly but entire!   A trap was put out for him, he was caught then placed in Dundee's CP where he was castrated and found out to be positive for FIV.   To look at him you would've thought he was 100% healthy.  He now has a new home in a large house but on the strict understanding he is an indoor cat.

> Have spoken to some lovely rescues though but its pretty much black kittens.... Which the OH has made very clear he doesn't want :-(

which is why rescues are full of them :(

> found out to be positive for FIV

ah bless :( indoor for me now, our last family cat was a crazy half feral moggy (beautiful wee thing though), she just disappeared one day. no idea if she went walk about, got run over, fox, hawk of some kind (small cat and deep country) or other accident etc. to much waiting and wondering for me :(

or walks on a lead like the dog :)

>That would be a Foreign White.

That's what I said, but the owners insisted she's Siamese (rolling-eyes)

She's tiny compared to my Burmese and far smaller than the Siamese and Foreign Whites I saw at shows which were always much longer and taller than Burmese.  Don't know where or how she was bred :(

She loves travelling in the car and will chat to me for ages on my sofa (dogs in the garden as we don't know if she has ever met a dog and she's too old to traumatise)

I don't know why i thought kittens would be easier thn dogs, clearly all animals are a mine field!!

I do think that with a pedigree you know what you are getting - you view the parents and you know the breed characteristics - temprement etc. and just like dogs you are much more likely to get those breed traits.  The same way with a mongrel you don't know what could be behind it in terms of termprement and characteristics - this is true of cats.

You get some horrid pedigree dogs - so I'm sure you do cats too but you're more likely to know this when you visit the breeder and find out about the parents and meet them.

You get some lovely affectionate mongrel dogs - so I'm sure you do with cats (I have owned lots more lovely moggies and only 1 feral wild beast who would decide she wanted a stroke by biting your ankles but if you ever stroked her un-invited you would be shredded).

health testing & knowing they are not inbred is the biggest issue which is pushing me towards pedigree's or pedigree X's (although I'm sure the pedigree X's are similar to the doodles in dogs so prob haven't been health tested).

But whilst I'm happy for my cat to never go outside or to just go into my garden (8 foot fences - but no problem for my cats to jump), I don't want tos pend the rest of my life worrying about leaving windows and doors open and letting it escape. 

I do feel bad saying I am willing to risk my cats life for its freedom but Gordo & Bella were both street cats, one that just happened to be born in someones shed but was from a stray and the other dumped in a box.  When they were shut in - prior to neutering they were miserable and cried at the windows desperate to chase butterflies and climb trees.  I do live in a very quiet street and there are more walkways & open spaces than roads.  I couldn't imagine not allowing my dogs to run free in the fields and the same goes for my cats.

I let my horse go out in the field everyday despite loosing a horse to a broken leg in the ield a few years ago  - life isn't about the number of years you live but what you do in them and i would rather he live like a horse and enjoy himself for 5 years than spend 25 cooped up in a stable.

it's so difficult knowing what to do for the best.  I wish I had room for a really large outdoor cattery to attach to the side of the house.

After your last post I would get a moggie Susiebell, :-)

Here's why?

If I had had my pedigree cat whilst living in my previous house and he had even sat on my front doorstep (as he often did in my country home now, but he never wondered from my home) I would have had the added worry of theft, plenty of cats go missing, if you are not planning on proofing your home, garden or getting a pen you then have the worry of open windows, doors, roads if an indoor cat gets out then you need to also add in the likelihood of theft and with a pedigree cat that you have paid hundreds of pounds for why risk it?

My nephew spent a fortune on a Bengal cat (have I got that right?) a few weeks after purchase it got out of an open window and was run over. :-(

If you are happier with a free roaming cat, then just get a moggie. :-)

If you live in an area where you feel pretty safe then a pedigree cat is fine.

It is a question and thought process isn't it?
I so want a cat, really miss not having one now, growing up always had moggies, never once had a pedigree one, they only got ill as they got older(around 14yrs) all farm cats, they never came into contact with other pet cats as we were located so far away from other people.

Now residing in the urbanish areas i'm now considering another cat and questionning to myself what I want and I honestly really wish for a pedigree cat, my next house will have the garden cat proofed so it can go into the garden but yet not get out due to what i've been recommended to put up by ChristineW.

I'm weighing up a few breeds, all long or semi long coated, but want a breed which is affectionate and not noisy(like the Siamese)...

If you do want to keep them in doors and use the garden an 8ft fence/wall is a mere step for a cat to get over !

I've always allowed my cats outside ( apart from Polly who hates outside ) but I'm going to keep my next cat in, we live in a village but have a very busy main road out the front. It's just not worth the worry for me, and recently I've seen so many adolescent cats dead on the road. It will be a bit of a pain keeping some windows closed, but we have a section of flat roof with access and I'm hoping I could convince Ed to put up some sort of cage so any new cat can still get some outside time.

If you do want to keep them in doors and use the garden an 8ft fence/wall is a mere step for a cat to get over !

Which is why you use an overhang, or these rolling tops, or a full wire top -lots on the market. :)

They recommend yearly testing but even when they do contract it the prognosis is that the majority of cats live a normal life without any issues and so long as they have a good diet and their health monitoring for infections are quickly treated eg ear infections , respitory problems then the life spam is not significantly changed.

I under stand the risk but I for one hold the opinion that my cats prefer and outside life and because they are all neutered as well less likely to have fights and do again the risk is minimised .

They are happy healthy fit cats who enjoy life and so I am happy with that.

If I lived near main roads then yes I would consider that as a risk I would not like to take and would not have cats. Mike has a bad allergy to cats and so if they were restricted to in doors only he would really suffer so it would be be fair.

I have two Ragdoll cats who are wonderfully soft and friendly but quite different from each other and one semi feral moggy. The ragdolls are indoor cats - we have a cat run attached to the conservatory that they go out in if they want to. The moggie has always roamed but has been in umpteen fights with other moggies in the area and as we live right next to a main road I often wonder how he has managed to reach the age of 15!

My ragdolls would like to get outside and on the few occasions they have sneaked out an open door they haven't got any further than the garden before being herded back inside by the dogs :-)

I'm not wanting to get into a 'should we let them out' debate so I won't but I did want to put forward my favourite cat breed.  Mainecoons!!  I adore this breed.  My boy is a hardy, big ole cat but he acts more like a dog.  In fact, if any 'strange' dog dares to bother my lot, it's usually the cat the sorts out the newcomer!lol.  He is a registered pedigree but we got him when he was a year old.  He got neutered and then about amonth later, he started to wander closer to the door.  I was concerned at first as he is so friendly but I soon found out that although he is as soft as butter with us lot, he's not so nice outside! And I'm glad.  He is 8 years old now and still likes to do outside for a while every day.  I couldn't handle the litterbox either so he goes out like the dogs and then chaps the letterbox to be let back in.  He doesn't wander too far as he is scared that he misses me opening the fridge!  I feed my cat raw (like the dogs) and he is very much more a home-bird since the switchover.  He is also a really socialable cat and will happily sit in the company of other cats (much to their disgust).  And if my OH is busy outback, Axel is usually watching he gets the job done properly!lol.  I love Mainecoons!

This is a link for DIY cat proofing, inexpensive and effective.  

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">I'm weighing up a few breeds, all long or semi long coated, but want a breed which is affectionate and not noisy(like the Siamese)...

Anything in the Persian, Semi Longhaired and British Longhairs/Selkirks  section should be right up your street Sue. 

thank you so much for the advice and the list of ways to cat-proof the garden is def worth a look.  I didn't realise it could be so simple to keep them in the garden.  Thank you I'm going to contact some ragdoll, maine coon and BSH breeders to get some advice and see what they feel that should help me finally make my decision. 

I can't do it on the spur of the moment as I'll hopefully have my new friend for the next 20 years :)

Sue just a comment on longhaired cats . I had a persian many years ago lovely cat but even from a kitten she hated being brushed to the point that I couldnt manage her coat without clipping. She was, unusually for cats, not good with hygeine either. I know you are used to loads of coat but just thought I would mention that point.
As for should they be in or out ? I still cant get the hang of cats being completely in although two of my cats were indoor cats while I lived in a flat and quite happy. They did however become outdoor cats when we moved to a house. Sadly Lola, british blue ,contracted and died of fiv, so maybe theres my answer ? Her temperment would have been considered dodgy if she were a dog
Currently have a very tricky burmese and a fantastic moggie the funniest cat I have had,  both outside cats. Have had a burmese before with a totally different personality, very docile and loving. 
Also a number of moggies all with very different personalities. Mostly loving and cuddly on their own terms but was very much bought up as a child to take scratched hands as one of those things you got after stroking a cat for a bit.
I think any further cats pedigree or moggie I would like them to go out but only into a cat escape proof garden as my friend as successfully done with roll top fences.

I had a persian many years ago lovely cat but even from a kitten she hated being brushed to the point that I couldnt manage her coat without clipping.

That is the fault of the breeder! Persian kittens should start being groomed at 4 weeks of age so they should be WELL used to it by the time they are sold at 13 weeks. I have Persians that jump up onto the grooming table and ask to be groomed. (The trick is to NEVER have a knot, as the moment that happens grooming becomes uncomfortable and not pleasurable.) Clipping is a slippery slope because it ruins the coat and it will get worse after each time, so harder and harder to groom -sadly also neutering makes the coats much more difficult. Then you need to groom with baby powder regularly and most Persians will need bathing at least every few months.

Also when buying a Persian kitten look at the coat of the parents -there are so many different types. Some are like cotton wool and a nightmare to groom, the good coats are easy. Good coats only need grooming once a week.(Well okay that usually rises to 2-3 times when the cat is neutered which of course pure pets must be.)

Goldimal I wish I had known all that then it would have made life so much better for both of us :(
Am finding this post really informative and falling on the side of taking as much care when buying a cat (pedigree) as I would a dog ( and I have done that wrong at times to :( )
I did not do half the things I should have looked for when buying a cat and will admit to only in the last few years have learned more about buying dogs. Fortunately  with my pedigree dogs I have done that right and have lovely dogs and great breeders.
Including my young terror who has just pinched the toilet roll again as I type

Goldmali, Why do you use talc when grooming? What does it do, I mean?
My boy likes to be groomed but very much on his terms.  If he's not in the mood or in a silly mood, he will grab my hand and just put his claws next to my skin(so if I move, he'll catch me!!).  He's a terror when he wants to be!!lol.  If he's in the mood, he rolls around purring and licking my hands! He's neutered too but I find his coat quite oily so doesn't tend to matt or require a lot of grooming.  I bathe him probably twice a year and brush him probably once a week.  Not bad at all.

I must admit I am a dog person, not so much a cat person.... I suppose it is because they are too independant for me (I always think of that saying, dogs have owners, cats have staff LOL)...
However, I do love a lot of the pedigree cats (I think I am a pedigree snob in general, because I like to know what I am getting), there is one breed in particular I have long admired and I think it is a birman ? it is long haired and cream in colour with brown points and blue eyes,  stunning to look at and the one or two I have come across in person have been very friendly - but allowed out, hence how I have been in contact with them. If I had a pedigree cat I would never let it out because of the risk of it being stolen. We live on a fairly busy road anyway, so even if we had a moggy, I wouldn't want it to go out.
That said, I don't think it would be fair to introduce a kitten into our home as we have a family of cavs here - who have no experience of cats.