| In 1953 the American Can Company, which | | | | 29,200,000 cats, which is probably inexact and not |
| produces containers for commercial pet foods | | | | highly important, yet rather nice to contemplate if |
| and was therefore interested, discovered in a | | | | you like cats. |
| survey that there were 26,700,000 domestic cats | | | | This great number makes rather impressive the |
| in the United States. | | | | fact which follows. This is that, despite the vast |
| By "domestic", it is meant cats who, however | | | | number, there are basically only two categories of |
| casual their membership, belong to human families. | | | | cat: long-haired and short-haired. Within them |
| Most of them - 13.2 million - were found to be | | | | there are perhaps six recognized breeds and |
| farm cats. Seven million were city cats, and 6.5 | | | | several varieties about whose classification as |
| million lived somewhere in between. | | | | breed cat experts and fanciers have earnest, |
| The South had the most cats (9.7 million), the Far | | | | inconclusive discussions. Beyond this, however, |
| West the fewest (3.2 million). The East had the | | | | there is nothing more to choose from until you |
| most urban cats (2.4 million), the Midwest the | | | | get to ocelots and jaguars. As a type, the cat has |
| most farm cats (5.8 million); no surprises there. | | | | been remarkably consistent for a very long time. |
| Overall, 29 per cent of the nation's families had | | | | In the cat world, as elsewhere, the common |
| one or more cats. Farm families had the most | | | | people far outnumber the aristocrats. It is a safe |
| cats; nearly half of them owned three or more. | | | | guess that 99 out of any 100 cats encountered |
| The nationwide average was 2.21 cats per | | | | will be plain, ordinary citizens belonging in the |
| cat-owning family. Low-income families were | | | | boundless company of Domestic Short-hairs. This |
| found to be far more likely to have cats than | | | | is the proper name for the group carelessly called |
| were the high-income families. | | | | "alley cats," and while it does contain a number of |
| To arrive at a figure for all the nation's cats, | | | | woebegone and misbegotten creatures, it is not |
| however, there must be added the worker types | | | | to be sneered at. It is a breed, and prime cats |
| who patrol or inhabit our stores and factories, | | | | have emerged from it to win top prizes at cat |
| warehouses and wharves, restaurants and military | | | | shows. |
| bases, and who go down to the sea in ships. One | | | | The deluxe breeds in the remaining one per cent |
| estimate places them at half a million. | | | | include the long-haired Persians (and/or Angoras), |
| Then there are the cats nobody owns, who live a | | | | and the short-haired Siamese, Burmese, |
| gypsy existence in the city streets and the | | | | Abyssinian and Manx. There are also several |
| wooded country areas. These may number | | | | in-between groupings, such as the Blues and |
| another two million, although obviously a figure like | | | | Tortoise-shells, which may be long - or |
| this has to be either a wild guess or come | | | | short-haired and are classified primarily by color. |
| straight from some cat. | | | | The Blues, for instance, include the Maltese, |
| Assuming the latter, we have a total of | | | | Russian Blue, British Blue, and so on. |