I don’t know about breeds, because of the 35 or so cats that I’ve owned have owned me, all just showed up. The ones who seemed most personable, charming, sociable, loving, and just plain smart were the male orange tabbys. No exceptions-- Jackie, Max, Noisy, Pal, et al., every one of them.
I’ve lived with three orange male tabbies. Two of them were/are very mellow, slightly timid cats. The third — everybody was afraid of him but me. He clawed me up some, too; but he also so obviously loved me that I reciprocated. He lived to nineteen and a half and I miss him.
I used to tell him that he was damn lucky he was a twelve pound cat and not a human; because there’s no way I could have lived with him if he’d been a human; or if he’d been any significant portion of my size, whatever species.
You really can’t go by the color of the cat.
Hehe, I have an orange tabby. I brought him home because as a kitten he would growl at me. He’s an odd guy, overflowing with personality, and is totally devoted to my wife. He’ll do weird things like rub against my legs and hiss at me at the same time. In fact, he’s hissed at me enough that my reply is “You say that so much it’s lost all meaning.”
He was excellent at socializing and taking care of the two patio kittens we rescued afterward, though.
The first cat my wife and I had was a tabby who started out around 8 pounds (probably nearly a year old when we adopted him off the street) and ended up at 23 pounds of muscle as an adult. Really a sweet cat, he loved being picked up and held. But like almost all cats, we eventually ended up disagreeing about something. There were several times I told him “It’s a good thing you aren’t bigger than you are. If you weighed 10 lbs more, you’d be too dangerous to keep.”
But the worst he ever tore me up was when he was badly surprised. We had a ton of people in the house one day and he was hiding behind a bunch of framed art my wife had leaned up against the wall. I leaned it back and scooped him up to take him back to a bedroom where he could relax away from everyone. Once I had him on my arm, I let go of the artwork and let it fall back to the wall with a moderate thump that scared him enough to launch off my arm with his claws extended. My wounds were bad enough that my in-laws were asking if I needed to go to the emergency room.
Intelligent, friendly, clean, playful, affectionate…and big enough to take out a rabid peke-pom. The Norwegian Forest Cat.
Also good at mousing.
Right.
The cat distribution system works.
You mean the one the cat distribution system send onto your patio? We have one, and she is a lover.
Yes on all counts. My apple head meezer came from a home cattery in far western Nebraska. I had to drive 500+ miles to pick her up. She’s been talkative and pure personality since.
Well.
Embarraskingly…I bought my Siamese bro/sis pair when I was in a grumble about something. Not important what. (Super thin pointy headed variety)
I searched, found and paid way way too much money(not gonna say how much, believe me I’m ashamed!) for these two.
Went nuts about their care and needs.
I’ve created these monsters. I’m told this at least twice a day. Once by myself. It’s bad how hated they are around here.
But I love them. They are smart, clever and sneaky. And LOUD! Especially in the laundry room. It has a really nice echo, ya know!
It tickles me everyone can’t get all that close to them. My mid-daughter and oldest Granddaughter can do a little with them. So when I’m gone they at least get fed.
I don’t need them to do anything but be healthy happy campers. This is my goal every day. 
You’re not at fault for not knowing about the head shapes at the time.
And you’re certainly not at fault for loving them. You and they are lucky to have each other.
(We had an apple head back in the 1950’s, when I don’t think they were called that yet; they were just Siamese.)
Marmalade would wrap himself around my ankles, claws out, hang on, and yowl. He appeared to be really frustrated about something. I speak Cat better than most humans; but in nineteen and a half years I never figured out what it was.
(No, it wasn’t that. He was neutered at about six months.)
— he did that to my mother once. (She was great with cats.) I said, “he only does that if he really likes you!” (generally he only did it to me.) She said, “I wish he wouldn’t like me, then.”
The best breed of cat is the one that suits you and your life. Adopting from a well-run shelter, you get expert advice on good candidates, their personalities, how sociable, etc., so you know what you’re getting into. You’ll still have to adjust to each other, you’ll still be learning quirks and character over time, but it gives you a head start – even when you deliberately pick a poor companion.
What? Make a poor choice? That’s what I did, adopting Barnaby, an 8 year old from a large hoarding case, so poorly socialized/damn near feral that even after months with me, while he’s become less frightened, he’s still wary and won’t let me touch him. The 6 year old buddy, Sammy, I took with him as moral support is much friendlier to me and the two are tightly bonded, helping Barnaby adapt. I took B-Boy precisely because he was pretty much unadoptable for the usual adopter looking for a good companion, but I was fine with getting him out of the shelter and accepting whatever degree of bond we could achieve. Sammy’s a happy ankle-weaver, so there’s that, plus I also have a midteens rescue tuxie who enjoys cuddling.
Barnaby’s a soft-furred medium fluffball with a plume tail. Sammy’s a solid round-faced chonk with folded ears that suggest he could be a Scottish Fold. Bruiser’s a polydactyl fluffy mutt with crumpled ears from chronic mite infestation. I’d love to have a Maine Coon or Ragdoll for their appearance and personalities, but shelter cats it is.
The Schrödinger is the ideal cat for most people because it is simultaneously a cat and not a cat.
One thing to note, they’re very vocal. Very. And quite loud. They tend to be demanding of stimulation and attention as well, and will use said voice to instruct you to provide it! They are much more comfortable with water, true - the nut above will absolutely sit on his mother while she’s soaking in the tub and will soak his tail and occasionally slash warm water on both of them with an idle paw.
Savannah cats vary dramatically by generation. Mine is six generations removed from the serval, so is mostly just a kitty cat, larger and more dramatically spotted/striped than usual. Early generations are quite large and show far more serval traits.
(The Bengal is a purebred, but we adopted him after his prior owner moved out of state for a noticeable but not huge adoption fee, our savannah was give up by her prior owner as she was energetically bullying the older cat that was already a life-long member of the house, and we got her through our mutual vet)
Beauties!
I can’t get away with not knowing.
My mother had had a a Siamese cat as a kid. And one she acquired when she was a young mother(before me).
They were notorious pranksters and the stories were a favorite of us kids.
She wouldn’t have had a pointy headed Siamese. She explained it to us watching the Disney movie with the Aristo-cats or whatever they were.
She said the round headed, bigger bodied ones were the better animal.
But I loved the “We are Si-a-mese” cats.
I didn’t think I’d want a really cuddly, glued to me cat, at the time.
And they were the sweetest tiny, odd looking kittens. They looked alien.
Can we name it “Eric”?
Ours was not, but you know how that is.
Yes, every cat is different, unique and may or may not reflect the usual trends. But many/most Bengals are vocal. Probably not as loud or persistent as our pretty boy, or they wouldn’t be popular no matter how good they look!
A rescue cat! They’re the best, and they deserve loving homes.
Maine Coons really are a lovely breed but you have to be willing to deal with the tradeoffs. They simply have to be brushed and sometimes even trimmed or shaved and depending on the cat and the tangles that can be difficult. The males especially are so big that standard cat gear (like carriers or even litter boxes) are simply not big enough for the animal. The long hair tends to get everywhere and makes vacuuming and such difficult. But they’re generally a healthy breed without too many problems.
