You may know by now that I am definitely more of a dog person than a cat person; however, this website is all about unbiased facts (okay so maybe there are a few biased facts) so today I am going to be writing about a domestic cat called the Somali.  I figure this is only fair since we talked about the German Shorthaired Pointer yesterday.  And you know I don’t want to leave out all of my cat loving friends.  Although the Somali originated from Northern Africa, they are quite popular throughout the United States of America.  So let’s learn more about this cute, little cat, shall we?

If you love cats but hate the shedding that comes with them then you are going to be very excited about the Somali.  Yep, you guessed it, this particular breed of cat sheds very little.  So how did this awesome, non-shedding cat come about?  Well, they sort of appeared overnight during the 1950’s.  They are actually part of an Abyssinian breeding program (in case you don’t know your cats – the Abyssinian is thought to be the oldest breed of cat in the world).  Somewhat spontaneously during this breeding initiative, little kittens were born with long fluffy coats and bottle-brush tails.  This my friends was the beginning of another intelligent and playful breed of cat.

As I just alluded to , the Somali isn’t your stereotypical cat that doesn’t want anything to do with you.  Nope, this breed is intelligent, active, playful and very affectionate.  Probably why they have become so popular among pet owners in the States.  Even a dog lover such as myself wouldn’t mind getting one of these playful cats (no, that is not a hint for a future birthday gift).  Even better yet is the Somali actually thrives in an environment with other animals. This makes them perfect if you have other pets or children.  It sort of sounds like I just compared your children to pets but I really didn’t mean to :).

Somali Fast Fact – If you are going to own a Somali then you should be aware that they tend to have problems with their teeth.  As well, about 5% of all Somali’s have issues with their kidney’s.  Although, I think the benefits of this breed definitely outweighs the disadvantages.

I guess that does it for another Domesticated Wild Fact. I promise we will be back to the Wild tomorrow.