|
PuRRS - TARA is deeply concerned about our Turkish Angora cats when they are in danger of homelessness. Fortunately, the Turkish Angora is an extremely rare occurance in shelters, rescues, and humane societies in the USA. In fact, the Turkish Angora is a very rare breed - it is difficult to illustrate just how rare! Current estimates by the Cat Fancier's Association number our pedigreed Turkish Angoras at slightly over 5,000 cats for the areas they serve - primarily the USA, Canada, Japan, and Western Europe. CFA also estimates that there are approximately 450,000 Persians in the same areas. This means there is one Turkish Angora for every 90 Persians registered with CFA.  However, the total population of cats in the USA is estimated by the American Veterinary Medical Association at 70 million. And this number represents the USA alone, without including Canada, Japan, and Western Europe. At any rate, the chances of finding a true Turkish Angora in a shelter is less than one in a million, merely based on the ratio at which they occur in the general cat population. Our concern with Turkish Angoras does not stop here, however. We find that the tendency of shelters and rescues is to identify any white medium-haired cat as a Turkish Angora. We call these cats "Angoras" because they probably hark back to the cats of Turkey and Iran, as well as to the domestic shorthairs of Europe. Because these more common cats are in need of assistance, and because they may be distantly related to our breed (see our Angora page), we do try to assist them whenever possible.  Over the first five years of our rescue work with registered Turkish Angoras, the only significant numbers of these pedigreed cats needing our help were due to breeders in trouble. We have handled two hoarding situations in which Turkish Angoras were involved, and we have assisted several breeders with sudden loss of employment, health crises, and other events that led to their need for help. Such help is always given with the strictest confidence, when the cooperative breeder initiates a request for assistance. This encourages owners and breeders of Turkish Angoras to ask for our help with confidence. Because we receive many breed-identification requests each year, we feature a breed identification page. If you are a shelter representative or a pet owner who wishes to know whether your cat is a Turkish Angora, or its cousin, an Angora, please visit our breed identification page for help.  |
