Caturday felid trifecta: Cat breeds that can’t be rehomed; cat taste testers; Pasadena’s CatCon; and lagniappe

We have three items today. The first, from AnimalsAroundTheGlobe, describes 19 cat breeds that, so the author claims, bond so much with their staff that they can’t subequently find new staff. Click to read:

An excerpt:

Most people think cats are aloof, coolly indifferent little roommates who “don’t really care who feeds them.” That myth falls apart completely with the breeds on this list. These cats don’t just prefer a favorite human – they fuse to one person so deeply that separation can look and feel like real grief, not simple adjustment.

Some of these cats will refuse food from anyone else. Some will pace by the door for hours, waiting for a specific set of footsteps. And at least one breed on this list has rescue workers describing them as “confused ex-partners” instead of surrendered pets. Keep scrolling, because the higher this list climbs, the harder these bonds are to break – and the final entry might change how you think about “just a cat” for good.

Here are two, and I’ll list the rest:

The Chartreux gets marketed as a “smiling, easygoing” French cat, but long-time fanciers will quietly warn you: once a Chartreux bonds, they are emotionally all-in. These cats rarely meow, yet they communicate volumes through eye contact, body language, and sheer physical closeness. They’re the type to park themselves on your laptop, not to be annoying, but to stay physically connected to you at all times.

Tonkinese cats sit genetically between Siamese and Burmese, and emotionally, they often feel like both breeds turned up to eleven. They’re social, extroverted, and crave near-constant interaction, but they usually choose one person as their emotional anchor and orbit them obsessively. That person gets the warmest greetings, the loudest purrs, and the most insistent lap invasions.

Tonks don’t do well in quiet, lonely homes. They want noise, activity, and – critically – their chosen human within easy reach. When separated, many turn vocal or destructive, not out of spite but sheer frustration. Rehoming a deeply bonded Tonkinese can feel like uprooting a tree with your bare hands; some never trust quite as fully again.

The others include Russian Blue, Korat, Burmese, Siamese, Ragdoll, Birman, Scottish Fold, Singapura, Oriental Shorthair, Turkish Van, Sphynx, Devon Rex, Cornish Rex, Abyssynian,  Maine Coon, Norwegian Forest Cat, and American Burmese.  Now you know some of these can be rehomed, but yes, I’ve heard that some of these breeds are “clingy.” If you have relevant experience with any, weigh in below.  One more excerpt:

The Bottom Line:

When people say “cats are independent,” they’re usually talking about the wrong cats – or no cats at all. The breeds on this list don’t just tolerate human company; they build an entire emotional universe around one specific person and defend that connection with startling intensity.

That devotion is what makes them magical in the right home and genuinely difficult to rehome once the bond is set. “Someone else will adopt them” isn’t a neutral fallback with these cats – for some, losing their one person is a real psychological wound, not a minor inconvenience.

A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.

Ernest Hemingway

If you change jobs often, move constantly, or treat pets as temporary houseguests, several of these breeds simply aren’t a fair match for your life. But if you’re ready for a ride-or-die relationship with fur, claws, and occasionally inconvenient devotion, these one-person cats offer a level of loyalty most dog owners insist doesn’t exist outside their own species. Which breed on this list do you think is the most impossible to rehome – and would you sign up for that kind of love anyway?

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This NYT article is really a 4-minute podcast segment about how cat food companies (and yes, there’s some about d*g food) tweak their products to deal with finicky cats whose preferences change over time.

And here’s a recent NYT article how animal food companies use captive moggies (and d*ggies) to decide what the market wants. Click to read if you subscribe:

An excerpt:

Imagine dozens of cats napping or milling around a space that looks a lot like a pet day care center.

Every day at 4 p.m., dinner is served. The cats step into cubbyholes, each with two trays of kibble atop scales. The cats choose which food they like better, and the scales measure how much they consume. Nutritionists at a Royal Canin pet center in southern France are watching: Which kibble do the animals prefer? How enthusiastically do they chow down? A team uses the data to adjust recipes and devise new ones.

Pet food makers like Royal Canin, owned by the global consumer conglomerate Mars, are pouring money into research to understand the palates of cats and dogs — and to cater to people who see their pets as family members. Even as the war in Iran has spurred inflation and wage growth has not kept up, the pet food market has kept growing.

And as pandemic pets, adopted in droves in 2020, enter middle age, pet food makers are zeroing in on foods aimed at aiding aching joints, strengthening tired muscles and protecting cognitive function.

“Aging is one of the biggest opportunities,” said Cécile Coutens, president of Royal Canin. The company’s senior cat food line includes extra-soft mousse for cats ages 11 and up and easy-to-eat kibble for cats 15 and up. Many companies sell supplements for cats with dementia and to support healthy brain aging.

. . . More than $17 billion was spent on cat food in the United States over the last year, up 14 percent from the same period two years ago, according to NielsenIQ, a consumer research firm. (Dog food sales were roughly even.) In contrast to previous generations, when parents took in pets at the request of their children, people today often have pets before they have children, if they have children, Ms. Coutens said.

Companies are investing in premium pet food lines that cater to wealthier people, as the K-shaped economy — shorthand for the widening gap between the rich and poor — persists.

While in some ways cats are lower maintenance than dogs, cats tend to require some human ingenuity when it comes to food.

Here’s an independent cat person discussing the Royal Canin cat food brand, which offer over 100 different type of cat foods (!), including foods for specific breeds, lifestyles, age, and so on. The review isn’t that glowing, criticizing the dry food for encouraging urinary problems. (It’s important to get your cat to drink.). She also says that for wet food, less expensive food may have a similarly balanced diet. A cat expert I talked to says that Royal Canin Food is okay, and so is Science Diet, and you may want to get your cat a mixture of wet and dry food, along with some NO SALT chicken broth to help them hydrate.  The Expert also said that you should take your cat to the vet once a year for a checkup, and get a blood panel to detect any problems (senior cats, over 6 or 7 years old, require additional blood tests).  Yes, it costs more, but cats are members of the family!

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Finally, a reader informed me that Pasadena, California has an annual Cat Convention that’s described in the article below (click to read for free):

At the Pasadena Convention Center on Saturday, a woman with bright green hair and enormous furry ears posed beside a man wearing matching ears and a mechanical-looking face mask. Nearby, a mannequin modeled a burgundy velvet robe embroidered with the words “Cat Lady.” Somewhere else, someone was in a booth for a video explaining how to pet a cat.

Welcome to CatCon 2026, where the cats are celebrities, the humans are devoted fans and nobody thinks twice about wearing whiskers in public.

Saturday’s festivities were sold out, according to floor manager Andru Cantu, who surveyed the bustling convention halls with satisfaction.

“We stopped selling tickets because we were sold out for Saturday,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of really good vendors giving away a lot of really cool treats and samples.”

And what a selection.

There were cat-themed stickers, plush toys, handmade blankets, elaborate costumes and enough feline merchandise to furnish a reasonably eccentric household. The Temptations booth featured a giant yellow “Cat Bodega,” while another vendor offered something called Rad Cat, complete with a retro beach-van illustration.

At “How to Pet Your Cat,” suggesting that even the most experienced cat owners might have something left to learn.

Presiding over the festivities was Stephen Ray Morris, CatCon’s emcee, a veteran convention moderator and former host of a cat-themed podcast called “The Pur Cast.”

For Morris, CatCon offers something beyond shopping and celebrity sightings. It provides a gathering place for people whose pets have no time for such silliness.

“Dog people [have] the dog park, whereas cat people have CatCon,” he explained.

Cantu suggested that the appeal goes even deeper.

“I think it helps the people who feel a little bit less included to feel included with fellow cat people,” he said.

Indeed, among the colorful costumes, elaborate displays and tables overflowing with feline paraphernalia, the convention seemed less like a trade show than an enormous gathering of people who understood one another perfectly.

After all, loving a creature that routinely ignores you requires a certain shared understanding.

And at CatCon, there was plenty of that to go around. Meow.

A half-hour video documenting CatCon, which appears to be one of the biggest cat shows/conventions in the U.S.:

Here’s a news video documenting one feature of this year’s convention: hunky beefcake Aussie firefighters who love cats:

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Lagniappe: Two items today.  First, cats who make weird meows, including one who grunts like a pig and another who sounds like a typewriter:

And The Kiffness returns with a new song, “Hey Luga Luga”:

h/t: Robert, Divy