Kitten pictures, but not off topic
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DIMSDRIVE Research recently published the results of one of their ranking surveys, carried out in the middle of January amongst 5,782 members of their internet monitor group, 2,752 male, 3,030 female, to find out what kind of cat they’d like to keep as a pet.
This is a great excuse to publish a photo of the top-ranked and third-ranked breeds, Aria and Andy respectively, captured in a rare moment when they weren’t knocking lumps out of each other or aggravating my allergy with their hair!
The number who don’t want to keep cats is not recorded. Note that a Japanese cat most likely mean a mixed breed with a stubby tail, the most common wild and semi-wild cats you see around the streets here.
Q: In the future, what kind of cat might you like to keep? (Sample size=5,782, single answer, perhaps?)
Rank Breed Votes 1 American Short Hair 435 2 Tortoise-shell 263 3 Russian Blue 148 4 Moggy 136 5 Persian 103 6 Abyssinian 102 7 Chinchilla 76 8 Siamese 66 9 Japanese 63 10 Scottish fold 60 Q: In the future, what kind of cat might you like to keep? (Sample size=5,782, single answer, perhaps, by sex)
Rank Breed Male Votes
N=2,752Breed Female Votes
N=3,0301 American Short Hair 149 American Short Hair 286 2 Tortoise-shell 122 Tortoise-shell 141 3 Moggy 60 Russian Blue 116 4 Persian 53 Abyssinian 79 5 Siamese 38 Moggy 76 6 Russian Blue 32 Scottish Fold 51 7 Chinchilla 31 Persian 50 8 Abyssinian 23 Chinchilla 45 9 Japanese 20 Japanese 43 10 Tiger Cat 13 Siamese 28 Looking at the detailed breakdown, the American Short Hair was the most popular for all bar the over sixties women (indeed, the same women also want to keep a pet American man), and tops for men in their twenties and thirties. Other interesting kinds of cats featuring in the ratings were black cats gathering a few votes from those in their twenties, and both Somali and Himalayan cats, breeds I’ve never heard of before, getting a few followers here and there.
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Japanese Bobtails are recognized as a breed. It takes two Bobtails to make a batch of kittens as the gene that causes the short tail is recessive. Every Bobtail is kind of unique.
They are an Asian cat unlike the most of the long tails which come from European cats, cats themselves not being native to Japan.
I agree with you about them being street cats now but once they were luxury pets, turfed out 400 years ago by Imperial edict to protect the silk crop from being eaten by pests they say. I do not know how mixed their genes are now.
Tortoiseshell on the other hand is not a breed, just a colour patterning although where the two collide, the Bobtail is highly prized … your original Miike lucky cat.
To be honest, this survey make me sad as it underlines how faddish the Japanese pet industry consumers are, and it is a very abusive industry.
Over 1,000 cats every day are gassed by the local animal “welfare” centers, many of them unwanted kittens from breeders or pet shops who were separated and put out for sale far too young, without water and under strong lights in TV style boxes, to milk the kawaii factor. They omit to give them water so they don’t pee and make their boxes smelly. If you ever wondered why they all seem to be “sleepy”, now you know why. But it does make the look cute, doesn’t it?
It is estimated that 90% of animals in the industry die before they are even sold and pet mills are unchecked and unregulated. There just is not any infrastructure to do so. Inbreeding is common, there is very poor management of pedigrees. In fact, it is such a problem that most reputable breeders in the West will not send animals to Japan. It is that bad.
If your friends want a pet, ask them to go to a welfare center or adopt a semi-stray. You won’t have far to look for one in Japan.
And what really f*cks me up is the idiocy of Japanese in their choice of “kawaii” pets, whether it is Scottish Folded ear cats, or even Huskies and Olde English Sheepdogs … in a nation that has 95% humidity, 39 degrees C. Ditto working dogs like Border Collie in a nation where even human beings have 3 tatami mate lives!?!
Where are Japanese people’s vanity, self-centered and naive brains?
Although 99% of dogs spend their lives listless chain outside suburban houses, the last image in my mind of a Japanese pet owner, was some guy on a scooter dragging a greyhound by the neck by way of “exercise”. And don’t start me about wallabies being sold from the 4th floor of Osaka DIY stores to people who live in towerblocks.