⚖️ Cat Breed Directory & Compare
All 40 breeds from our dataset, filterable by the things that actually decide daily life — shedding, grooming, noise, family fit — and comparable side by side, up to four at a time. Catches included, as always.
Find breeds that fit
Side by side
Trait bars run 1–5. For energy, affection and vocal, the right number is the one that fits YOUR home — highest isn't best. For grooming and shedding, lower means less work and less hair. Not sure what fits you? Take the quiz →
Why use this directory?
Filters built from real dealbreakers
Nobody rehomed a cat because its ear shape was wrong. They rehomed it because of hair, noise, energy and hours alone. The filters here are exactly those pressure points — set your true limits and watch 40 breeds honestly narrow to your shortlist.
Decisions happen in the comparison
Choosing is never "which breed is best" — it's "Ragdoll or Maine Coon, for MY life". The side-by-side puts the nine traits, the hard facts and both catches in one view, so the trade-offs are visible instead of vibes.
One dataset, no contradictions
This directory, the selector quiz and our breed guides all read from the same 40-breed dataset — so the Siamese is exactly as loud here as the quiz said it was. No marketing copy drifting between pages.
Questions people ask
Where do the trait scores come from?
They're consensus estimates distilled from registry breed profiles (CFA, TICA and similar) and major breed references — the same 1–5 style scales those sources use. They're breed-level tendencies, not measurements of individual cats, and we've deliberately scored demand-side traits (like the Sphynx's grooming) by the work involved, not by the coat you can see.
Why only 40 breeds?
Registries recognise somewhere between ~45 (CFA) and ~73 (TICA) breeds, and the long tail is genuinely rare — breeds most people will never meet or find. Forty covers every breed you're realistically choosing between, including the one that wins most often in practice: the mixed-breed Domestic.
A breed I love is missing from the filters' results. Is it a bad breed?
No — it's a breed outside YOUR stated limits, which is a different thing entirely. If the Persian vanished when you set "bare minimum grooming", the filter did its job. Loosen the filter if your limits were aspirational; keep it if they were honest.
Can I compare a breed against the Domestic cat?
Yes — and we recommend it. The Domestic's card is in the grid like any other: unknown ancestry, every personality, typically excellent health. Any pedigree finalist should have to beat the shelter cat on merits, not on paperwork.
Keep exploring
Breed Selector Quiz — let your answers do the filtering · Cost of Owning a Cat — price out your finalists · Coat Colour Predictor — what their kittens could look like · All KittyButts tools
Trait scores are consensus breed-level estimates; individual cats vary. Breed inclusion is not an endorsement of any breeder. For health-critical questions about a specific breed, talk to your veterinarian and consult the breed's registry health resources.