You are right and you should say it.
Thank you for giving me the chance to say what I am going to say.
These cats are not something we should be bringing into the world on purpose.
Please don't create demand for them.
If you want a soggy muppet, and can handle the expense and the possible heartbreak, you absolutely can find Persians and Himalayans in shelters and rescues, and they need homes desperately.
Just be ready. I wish it was different, I truly do, but you cannot adopt a cat from a Problems Disorder breed without accepting that they will, in fact, have Problems.
I was in the trenches with one for fourteen years.
I needed something damp that would sneeze into my mouth, so I got this alleged cat from a shelter when he was just under a year old. Here he is at ~13.
Nothing about his skull was put together right. Even his ears were uneven. If I'm being honest, the rest of him wasn't so great, either.
Here's a list of the breed-related problems I knew about.
Wry nose/mouth. Very common in brachycephalic breeds, which are also prone to cleft palates.
Breathing problems when he got excited or slept on his back.
Chronic sinus infections and URIs.
Tooth problems. His mouth was so jacked up.
Eye and tear duct problems.
Hyperesthesia, which made grooming painful. We sedated and shaved him twice a year, and in between I trimmed mats myself.
IBD. Strongly associated with intestinal lymphoma.
Bladder crystals and bladder stones. Painful. Expensive. Can absolutely kill them. He had both.
CKD. Kidney disease. All cats are at high risk for this. Since it is a dominant gene, Persians and Himalayans, with their, um, ergonomic family trees, are even more at risk for it, and it is hard to catch early. There is no cure. To manage just this, we did bloodwork at least three times a year. He needed regular urinalysis, prescription food, medications, and sometimes subcutaneous fluids. Three times he started to spiral downhill. Three times some of the best vets in the country pulled him back. The fourth time, they couldn't.
Y'all, this was just one cat. Their genetic code can fit so many other problems inside it.
This backyard-bred bog haint averaged around $200-$250 a month just in routine care and food. For most of his life we were never below $3,000 in vet debt.
My god, I loved him, my stinky son with Every Disease. Can you understand? That I loved him?
The night before we were going to help him along, he drifted peacefully into the Bog Eternal while in bed with us, after snackies. We did everything we possibly could for him before he went. His quality of life was good, we didn't keep him longer than was best for him. It just took an incredible amount of effort, money, and love to keep it kind to him. The love, at least, was easy, but it hurt the most.
I knew exactly what I was signing up for before I adopted him. I thought harder about that decision than I'd thought about any adoption before or since. Could I handle it?
I decided yes. And by the skin of my teeth and the grace of his tusk, I did. I did.
I have never regretted adopting him.
I would absolutely regret paying someone to make me another one.
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