Moonshine said:
" Jodih, I am looking to be aqquired by a cat myself "
Uh-huh. So I take it you’re just sitting there right now, in the Lighting-Shop, packed onto the same shelves as “Sunshine”, “Candlelight” and “Thunderstorm Lightning”, shining as bright as you can to every cat that enters the store, hoping one of them might purchase you ?
Coldfire
“You know how complex women are”
A friend found a beautiful gray short-hair that I adopted. (I named him TC.) I thought he was a Russian Blue, but his eyes were yellow, not green. He was very skinny, so that added to the Russian Blue look
Then I saw a picture of a British Short-hair (aka British Blue). That’s definately what TC is. Especially now that he’s filled out (13 lbs).
Very affectionate. Likes to cuddle. I’m allergic to some cats, but not TC.
Russian Blue
http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/profiles/jpgs-bob/russian.jpg
British Short Hair
Purebreads being unhealthy isn’t necessarily true. The oldest living cat is a Cornish Rex and is something like 33 years old. There are some health issues that you have to take into account when getting a purebread cat, but if the breeder is reputable then it should not matter.
HUGS!
Sqrl
Move over Satan. Now there’s something meatier. http://smallwonder.simplenet.com/COC.html
That British Short Hair could be a picture of our “Gray Thing” aka “Kitty.” And here I always thought he was a Russian Blue. We got him at the pound thirteen years ago, when he was a kitten. He’s a good hunter (which is problematic when the household consists of other pets that he thinks ought to be eliminated . . . ), and very affectionate yet at the same time kind of aloof. He has been good with the kids as they have grown up; has always tolerated their petting him and picking him up. He’s even won over my husband, who was definitely suspicious about cats when we first met. A great cat!
Oh, and he was perfectly trained to be clean when we got him at the pound – no problems at all with that.
-Melin
Moonshine
All but one of the cats I’ve had in the past were from pounds. Never had a problem. The one I bought was not raised by ma either - never had a problem.
“When I was seventeen…I had a very good beer…”
Point taken, Sqrl. It’d be nice if you could post a picture of your rex. A Devon Rex, to my mind, looks like what would have happened if God had let Wendy Pini design cats. 
Okay, I’m still probably going to get a pound kitty, for reasons both moral and financial, but . . . my goodness that Russian Blue is a beautiful cat!
Though maybe it wouldn’t be the greatest idea for the most attractive being in my house to be my cat.
Okay, I’m now interested in Moonshine’s question as well, because I definitely don’t want a cat that isn’t house trained, or house trainable.
I’ve gotten a pound kitty that was raised without a mother, and she didn’t have any problems. I think it’s pretty hardwired in cat brains; wild cats certainly exhibit the same behavior, so I figure once you plop the kitten in the litter box it should figure it out. You’re supposed to scratch its paws around in the litter so it gets the idea, but I don’t even know if that’s necessary. The only times I’ve really had problems with litter training was when I got a bigger cat that would chase the smaller ones away. I just had to get another litter box.
It is important that you keep the litter box in a place that is visible and easy for the cat to get to. A young kitten especially, may get confused if it wanders into another room and can’t find the litter box. Most cats and kittens do know how to use the box without any special training. If a cat does stop using the box, it is usually due to a medical problem. Behavioral problems can be dealt with by keeping the box very clean, changing the box’s location to a spot preferred by the cat, changing the type of litter, or getting more litterboxes. As a last resort, drugs can be used. But hopefully you will not have to worry about any of that.
“Love given when it is inconvenient is the greatest love of all. Kindnesses that are shared at a high cost to oneself are the most dear.”
Don’t know who said it, but I like it.
Coldfire. Moonshine just already has the catpeople jargon down: You don’t own a cat, a cat owns you.
A teeny word about getting a mutt as opposed to a purebred (and I love them alley cats!) If size is a very important issue for you, get a purebred. Then you’ll have a chance of telling pretty much what you’ll end up with, and can get a big breed if you like big cats (say a Ragdoll or a Maine Coon), or small if you like small (Abyssinians are usually quite small). With a mutt, anything can happen.
Catrandom, whose tiny little runt of an Enid kitten grew up to be 16 gorgeous pounds
All of my cats have been strays or pound kitties, and they’ve all been wonderful. We have two cats now. Maria, ~10 years old, is a black-and-white (mostly) Persian, who adopted a coworker of mine. The coworker couldn’t keep her, and asked if I wanted another cat (this is a few years back).
Last spring, we decided Maria was “lonely” and that she needed a friend. So I asked the vet if they had any kittens who needed a home (btw, jodi, that can be a good place to get a kitten). They had a 6-month old spayed female kitten whose people had moved into an apartment and couldn’t keep her. So we got Lucy, who is part gray tiger-striped, part white.
Lucy is still a little jumpy, but she’s very affectionate (Maria fears nothing, except the HooverMonster). Maria is just getting over the insult of having a little sister.
FTR, Persians are extremely affectionate, but they don’t meet the OP’s criteria for “short-haired”, to say the least.
No one’s mentioned this yet, so I will - when you adopt your cat, make SURE that it has been tested (and tests negative) for feline leukemia virus. FeLV is (invariably, I think) fatal to cats, and extremely contagious among cats, although not to humans (I think). It’s pretty much an automatic death sentence, as I understand it - most shelters put cats who are FeLV-positive to sleep, so that they don’t have to go through it.
There IS a vaccine for it, which is part of the standard vaccination schedule for cats (at least in Pennsylvania). Once they test negative, an annual shot will keep them safe.
The Cat In The Hat
Ask not what your cat can do for you…
To reiterate a few points:
Believe it or not, two cats are easier than one. They keep each other company when you’re away (just make sure you get two who have proven they get along!.)
No one breed or mutt combo can be guaranteed a specific personality . (Well, tortoiseshells are like candy bars: half sweet and half nuts). Some cats you can love all day long and they’ll remain aloof, while others suffer any amount of abuse and neglect (not that you would!) and return nothing but love.
First let me say I can’t object to rescuing a cat from Death Row. But I would also like to plug no-kill rescue organizations. These cats are usually strays living as fosters in a family home. Since their parent sees them in a home environment, it may be easier to get an assessment as to their general personality, charming traits, and bad habits.
Other things to think about:
Are you prepared to spend a good four figures a year on food, litter, toys, and preventative vet care? Not to mention periodic vet trips for accident or illness, increasing as 20 years go by.
Will it bother you that everything you own will be covered in cat hair?
Are you prepared to clean up hairballs,(that reminds me, add cat grass to your list) train them to use a scratching post and put up with the occaisional furniture shredding anyway?
By the way, an adult cat will be easier for a first time owner than a kitten, as one of you will know what you’re doing
DO NOT DECLAW. Unless you want to chop off your fingers at the first joint at the same time, in which case, go ahead. Or if it’s important to you, get a cat that has already been declawed.
Scared off, yet?
Well, I played with getting the image to load directly here but could not get it. Anyway, http://members.home.net/plindsley/picabo.htm is a link to a cat that looks just like mine.
HUGS!
Sqrl
Move over Satan. Now there’s something meatier. http://smallwonder.simplenet.com/COC.html