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44 Cutest Cat Breeds You'll Want To Adopt
If you're looking to adopt a feline friend or just scroll through adorable pictures, these pics of the cutest cat breeds are just what you need The cutest cat breeds that deserve all the snuggles
Who doesn't love cute kitties? Cats, in all forms, are adorable—the small, the large, the fluffy. They're fabulous felines that make us say "awww" whenever we see their sweet faces. But which cats are the cream of the crop for cuteness, aka the cutest cat breeds out there?
If it's hard to choose, don't worry—we picked some of the cutest cat breeds for you to look through. From American Bobtails to Russian Blues, you're sure to fall in love with at least one of these sweet breeds. Take a look at these friendly and affectionate cats and shift into adorable overdrive!
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AbyssinianThe Abyssinian is a regal-looking orange-colored cat and one of the oldest known breeds. This cat is recognized by its muscular body, arched neck and large ears. Its eyes are shaped like almonds, and it resembles paintings and sculptures of ancient Egyptian cats. The Aby first made its appearance in America via England in the early 1900s. It makes a great pet, and you will likely agree with Carolyn Osier, author of Abyssinian Breeders International Kitten Buyer's Guide: "There is probably no breed anywhere more loyal than the Aby."
Breed overview Abyssinian Height 12–16 inches Weight 6–10 pounds Life expectancy 9–15 yearsThese Are The 11 Rarest Cat Colors And Patterns
Michele Wright/Getty Images TortoiseshellAlso known as "torties," cats with tortoiseshell coloring have a mixture of orange and black fur. This is considered a rare cat color pattern, but there's still a good chance you've seen (or owned) a few yourself.
"Tortoiseshell cats are almost always female, as the males are exceedingly rare in the wild," notes Dr. Little. "This occurs because those colored genes are sex-linked and travel with the female X chromosome to produce that coloring distribution."
He adds that tortoiseshell kitties are often credited with having fiery personalities. Dr. Little notes that in his practice, torties are often more resistant to handling compared with other feline patients. This doesn't mean that your cat won't be affectionate, though. Love, gentle handling and building trust with your cat will go a long way.
Cats breeds with this pattern: Maine Coon, Ragdoll, Persian, Cornish Rex, Ragamuffin, American Shorthair, British Shorthair
seksan Mongkhonkhamsao/Getty Images ChocolateNot surprisingly, cocoa coloring in a cat is a combination of brown and black. But it can be so pure in its brown appearance, that it looks kinda like a small version of a chocolate Labrador retriever. And if that thought has you thinking about a new puppy, here are the dog breeds that get along best with cats.
"The coloring itself is not as rare as some of the other colorings. However, I personally have only seen two in my lifetime," says Dr. Little. "Unless the coloring is more intentionally bred for, it can be harder to naturally occur in the wild."
Cats breeds with this color: Havana Brown, Burmese, Balinese, Siamese, Devon Rex, Persian, York Chocolate
Dmitry Zinoviev/getty images BlueAlso referred to as silver or gray, blue is a rare cat color (in real-life and in cat pictures) that's thought to have originated in Russia. That's one reason you'll often see this cat coloring referred to as Russian Blue. It's not all that common, but it's also not as rare as some other cat colorings on this list.
"These cats can have a mixture of eye colors, from the classic yellow to a green coloring," says Dr. Little. There are also sometimes even blue colors too. "The genes that make up the blue coloring are recessive genes, meaning both parents have to carry the genes and pass it along to their offspring for them to express the coloring." In other words, if two blue cats are bred together, they will make a litter of very beautiful silver-looking cats.
Cats breeds with this color: Russian Blue, Korat, Chartreux, Nebelung, British Shorthair, Persian, Oriental Shorthair, Burmese, Domestic Shorthair
The Prison Ruled By Cats
While just seven members remain of a beloved feral cat colony that has laid claim to an abandoned Pennsylvania prison since its heyday, local animal advocates say the dwindling numbers—down from more than 100—is a good sign.
The colony of cats who live within the expansive grounds of the historic Western State Penitentiary, also known as Western Pen and State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh, have become affectionately known as the Prison Cats.
The state penitentiary that the felines call home, Western Pen, sits on the banks of the Ohio River, roughly five miles west of Pittsburgh, a city inundated with stray cats, local shelters say. The prison was built in 1826 and served as a Civil War jail on the city's northside from 1863-1864 before it was moved roughly five blocks west to its current location in 1882. Western Pen, which encompassed more than 21 acres and had 42 buildings, was shuttered by the state in 2017 and has been vacant since. The prison's main building, constructed between 1878 and 1893, was one of Pennsylvania's first prisons. Western Pen was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in June 2022.
No one is exactly sure when the cats decided to call the prison home, but local oral history dictates that when the prison was moved to its current location in 1882, the cats showed up and never left. Former inmates shared stories with the colony's current caretakers of how they would sneak food out to the yard for the felines.
In Focus
Sarge, one of the prison cats found in the colony at Western State Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Many of the cats are named after characters in the movie, "The Shawshank Redemption."
Launch Slideshow 7 PHOTOSThe Prison Cats' Caretakers
The seven cats left in the colony are cared for by four dedicated Pittsburgh residents, known as the caretakers, who ensure the Prison Cats have food, water, shelter and any veterinary assistance that they need. The caretakers are all neighbors who live near Western Pen and heard reports of "a couple" cats living near the abandoned prison, Tara Czekaj, one of the Prison Cats' current caretakers, told Newsweek in an interview.
"Truthfully, I fell into it. I think we all do. There was a time where all of us caretakers weren't 'crazy cat folk,'" she said, adding that when she and three other neighbors went to "check out" the reports of a few strays, it was a much larger scale than they imagined.
"But we were all up for the challenge, learned along the way, and have become incredibly close caretakers," Czekaj said. "And caretakers can't stop until the last colony cat passes away, so this is a marathon project, not a sprint."
Czekaj said that she and the other three volunteers are the "third generation" of caretakers for the Prison Cats. She said the first caretaker was a man named "Porky," who started feeding cats at the prison in the 1970s. Then a "kind, local woman named Nancy" became a "true pioneer" of the trap, neuter, return (TNR) method in Pittsburgh when she began trapping the Western Pen colony in the 1980s. The current caretakers, Czekaj, Lilian, Missy and Will, took over in 2015.
"We constantly receive stories of the cats' relationship with the prison inmates," Czekaj told Newsweek. "We have been told by former inmates that they would try to sneak food out into the yard to feed the cats before any official caretaking was happening—so in a sense, the inmates seem to be the very first caretakers of the cats."
Even though the Prison Cats are technically strays, Czekaj and other community caretakers donate their time and money to ensure the colony is safe and healthy.
"Community cat caretakers take on a variety of duties," she said. "Mostly that includes TNR-ing new cats, feeding daily, building insulated winter shelters and feeding stations, keeping the colony area clean and free of litter and debris, and generally providing care to community cats who may be feral, stray, formerly owned, abandoned or even lost."
The Last of the Prison Cats
Czekaj told Newsweek that hundreds of cats have called the prison home. At one point in the colony's history, there were more than 100 members. Now just seven Prison Cats remain, which Czekaj says is good news and credits a very successful TNR program for the declining numbers.
TNR or trap, neuter, vaccinate, return (TNVR) is considered the most humane and effective method for managing and reducing the number of feral and stray cats. The felines are trapped and brought to a veterinary clinic where they are spayed or neutered, vaccinated for rabies and ear-tipped, according to the Pittsburgh Prison Cats website. After they've recovered from their surgeries, the cats are returned to their original territory. When foster or permanent homes are available, young kittens and friendly adults are removed from the colony and placed for adoption.
"Past and present prison cat caretakers have TNR over 400 cats at the Western State Penitentiary," Czekaj told Newsweek.
Czekaj said the colony has been shrinking in size due to "organic attrition over time," thanks to TNR. Some friendly members have been able to be fostered and rescued while hundreds of other cats have "lived out their lives" and passed away at the prison, she said.
She said the caretakers honor the cats who have died at Western Pen with a small memorial "because their lives are worth remembering."
The shuttered Western Pen is closed to visitors, but Czekaj said those wanting to meet the Prison Cats can spot them snoozing or eating outside of the prison and along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail. Many of the cats are named after characters in the iconic prison movie, The Shawshank Redemption.
The Prison Cats might soon need to find a new home, as the state of Pennsylvania, which owns the prison site, is hoping to sell the property.
State officials are looking for a buyer to transform the vacant prison's expansive grounds into a mixed-use development, according to local news outlet TribLive. As the state of Pennsylvania works to devise a plan to redevelop the land, officials are seeking the community's input on the future of the property.
Pittsburgh's Homeless Cat Problem
Despite the small colony at Western Pen, officials with other animal organizations in Pittsburgh say the city's stray cat problem has gotten worse in 2023. Many shelters and rescues are overrun with homeless pets while community caretakers struggle to keep up with soaring expenses associated with helping the influx of strays.
Ryan Bridges, community cat coordinator for Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh (HARP), told Newsweek in an interview that the city "does struggle with a massive stray cat problem like most other communities." HARP was unable to provide an estimate on the number of community cats in the city, saying they are still working on a way to track the stray felines.
Bridges said that HARP, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the welfare of animals that provides low-cost veterinary services, aims to reduce the population of community cats while treating the existing ones "humanely and fairly." However, Bridges said HARP is noticing an uptick in the number of stray cats in 2023, saying, "this year especially feels like the problem has increased even with our TNR/SNR programs."
"This year alone, we have TNR/SNR (shelter, neuter, return) approximately 1,500 cats," Bridges said. "This number comes from either people bringing us stray cats that they find or ones that are picked up by Pittsburgh Animal Care and Control. "
Bridges said some people view community cats to be a problem because the curious felines get into unwanted spaces, such as under porches and in garages.
"Unaltered male cats can cause issues for the people of Pittsburgh because they mark the territory by spraying, along with fighting with other cats over territory," Bridges told Newsweek. "Unaltered female cats cause problems by having multiple litters of kittens all year-round, which just makes the problem even worse."
Kelly Kraus, president of Conquer the Colony (CTC), told Newsweek that a lack of education on TNR is exacerbating the city's community cat problem.
"Pittsburgh is not unique in this situation, but the problem is out of control," she said. "Historically we have seen many abandoned, unaltered cats that continually reproduce. This is often how a colony of cats will start. There is a lack of education around this issue and Pittsburgh even offers a spay and neuter program that many residents do not know about. Every household within the city limits can get vouchers for five free spay and neuters per year. These vouchers can be applied to dogs, cats, and feral cats."
CTC is a TNR-focused cat rescue based in the Pittsburgh area that is funded by donations, Kraus said in the email to Newsweek. Since CTC launched in 2019, the rescue has helped more 700 cats in the city through TNR, fostering and adoptions.
The three cat advocates told Newsweek that TNVR is vital for community cats in the city. Czekaj, Bridges and Kraus all said that their organizations need assistance to tackle to homeless cat issue in Pittsburgh.
"Pittsburgh has done a great job spay/neutering dogs, but the focus on community cat TNR can fall short," Czekaj told Newsweek. "The responsibility of community cat caretaking and TNR falls mostly on volunteers, who may or may not have the resources necessary."
She said the Prison Cats' caretakers spend thousands of dollars every year on necessities for the felines, with a majority of the cost going toward TNR.
"Depending on the amount of surgeries or veterinary costs needed, we typically spend anywhere between $6,000-$8,000 a year on veterinary services, food, winter shelters, etc.," she said. "Though we have spent as much as $14,000."
Newsweek reached out to Pittsburgh officials via email, Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and the city's website for comment.
How to Help
Czekaj said people can support the Prison Cats and their care through a variety of ways, including donating money to help cover the cost of TNR or buying food and treats for the cats. She said the caretakers hold spring cleanups and winter preparation sessions and are in need of volunteers.
The caretakers have set up an ioby crowdfunding campaign to help garner donations for the colony's veterinary bills, which are the biggest expenses. Their goal is to raise roughly $6,000 by June.
Czekaj said people can also send supplies from their Amazon list for the Prison Cats. The wish list includes a range of items from outdoor cat shelters to Temptations treats and cut-resistant gloves for the caretakers.
To help other community cats in the city, Bridges said Pittsburgh residents can rent humane feral cat traps at HARP and bring homeless cats to their shelter to be fixed and vaccinated.
"One of the most important things beyond spaying and neutering the community cats is getting them vaccinated," Bridges told Newsweek. "Vaccination keeps them healthy and prevents the spread of diseases. We also encourage our colony caretakers to build winter housing, and feeding stations, along with monitoring the health of the community cats in their area."
Kraus told Newsweek that the only solution is to be "vigilant" about spay and neuter.
"Stray and community cats are a human-created problem," she said. "As mentioned before, there's just a lack of education on the matter. Many people do not even know what low-cost options are available to them."
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