Cat Breed Quiz
Which cat should you get?
Twelve questions about your home, your hours and your budget — not your personality. You get an honest recommendation, including the upkeep, the noise and the costs nobody mentions.
Question 1 of 12
Choose for your week, not for a photograph
Almost everyone picks a cat breed the wrong way round. You see a Maine Coon, or a Ragdoll draped over someone's forearm, or a Bengal with that marbled coat, and you work backwards from the picture. The problem is that a photograph cannot tell you the only things that actually determine whether this goes well: how many hours the cat will be alone, how much grooming you will still be doing in month eight rather than week two, how much noise your walls and your neighbours tolerate, and what your budget absorbs when something goes wrong.
That is what the twelve questions above ask about. None of them is about your personality, because your personality is not the constraint. The constraint is your week. A person who genuinely loves constant feline conversation and works a nine-hour day away from home is a bad match for a Siamese or an Oriental Shorthair no matter how much they want one — not because the fit is wrong in spirit, but because the cat will spend most of its waking life alone and be loudly unhappy about it. Conversely a Norwegian Forest Cat, which is often passed over for being insufficiently cuddly, is one of the better recommendations for someone with long unpredictable days, precisely because being left is not a crisis for it.
The five things that actually decide this
Hours alone. This is the single most predictive factor and the one most often skipped. Burmese and Bombay want a person present essentially all the time; a Burmese treats absence as a genuine crisis and is vocal about it. British Shorthairs and Norwegian Forest Cats are genuinely all right on their own. If your honest answer is "eight or nine hours, most days," that answer alone rules out several breeds.
Grooming you will really do. Not grooming you intend to do. A Persian coat mats to the skin within about a week of neglect, and professional grooming becomes a recurring line item rather than a one-off. A Maine Coon's shaggy coat mats if the twice-weekly comb slips. At the other end, a Bombay's satin coat and an Oriental Shorthair's close-lying coat need close to nothing. Be unkind to yourself when you answer that question — it is the one where optimism does the most damage.
Noise tolerance. If you take calls at home, share walls, or have a partner who wakes easily, this is not a minor preference. The Oriental Shorthair is the loudest and most socially relentless cat on this list. The Russian Blue and the British Shorthair are the quietest.
Space and vertical height. Floor area matters less than climbing height for the active breeds. An Abyssinian, a Bengal or a Turkish Angora will get onto everything you own, and the answer is shelves and cat trees rather than a bigger flat. A Savannah is a different order of problem: a tall, powerful, tireless cat that needs real daily exercise and real space.
Ongoing cost, not purchase price. The purchase price is the smallest number in the whole exercise. A Maine Coon that exceeds twenty pounds eats accordingly for fifteen years. A Persian needs grooming indefinitely. A Sphynx needs a warm home and regular bathing, because with no coat to absorb them the skin oils stay on the surface. Price the decade, not the kitten.
"Hypoallergenic cat" is a sales claim, not a category
This deserves its own section because it is the single most common reason people buy the wrong cat. There is no hypoallergenic cat breed. The ACAAI states that all cats produce allergens and that studies have not shown cats can be hypoallergenic; the AAAAI states there are no truly hypoallergenic or allergen-free cat breeds. The major allergen, Fel d 1, is produced in saliva and skin, which is why hairlessness does not solve it — a Sphynx is not a low-allergen cat.
Because of that, the quiz does not route an allergy answer to a "low-allergen breed" — there is no such thing to route it to. It routes you toward a cat you can meet several times before committing, which in practice means an adult shelter cat. If you answered that there is a diagnosed allergy in the house and that you want a long-coated cat, the quiz will still weigh your other answers and may well name a long-haired breed: treat that as a conflict in your own requirements rather than as reassurance, and resolve the allergy question with an allergist and repeated visits to the specific cat before you resolve the breed question.
The two breeds marketed hardest on this claim both collapse under checking. No peer-reviewed study has ever measured Fel d 1 in Russian Blues at all; the paper usually cited in support is a conference abstract covering fourteen cats in which no breeds were named. For the Siberian, the one breed-specific study sequenced four cats and measured saliva Fel d 1 in three of them, finding 2.19, 1.66 and 0.48 µg/mL — a more than fourfold spread inside three cats of a single breed — and concluded only that further analysis was needed. The frequently quoted "about half of Siberians produce less Fel d 1" originates from a breed-advocacy organisation and is unverified. Notably, CFA's own Siberian page makes no hypoallergenic claim. Variation between individual cats dominates any breed-level signal, which is the practical point: if allergies are in play, the only informative test is repeated time with the specific cat you are considering.
Why a shelter cat is a strong default rather than a consolation
If the quiz recommends a mixed-breed cat, that is a real recommendation and not a shrug. It is also the answer with a structural advantage no pedigree can match: you can meet an adult shelter cat repeatedly before deciding. Every factor in this quiz — tolerance of being alone, vocalness, whether it wants to be held, how it handles a dog or a toddler — becomes an observed fact about that individual animal rather than a breed average you are hoping holds. For a first-time owner that is worth more than any amount of breed research, and where anyone in the household reacts to cats it is the only sensible route.
Both major registries treat non-pedigree cats as competitors rather than curiosities. CFA Household Pet is one of CFA's seven competition categories, open to non-pedigreed cats over four months, judged on uniqueness, appearance, markings and disposition, with titles running up to Regional Winner and National Winner. TICA's Household Pet category runs the full six-tier ladder to Supreme Grand Master on the same point thresholds as the pedigreed champion ladder, and TICA states explicitly that "blind cats, three-legged cats, earless cats and more are all accepted."
On longevity, UK veterinary records give crossbred cats a higher life expectancy at birth than the purebred population in aggregate — 11.89 years against 10.41 — with purebreds showing 1.83 times higher odds of dying before age three. Two honest caveats belong with that figure. It is an aggregate claim, not a universal one: the Burmese at 14.42 years and the Birman at 14.39 both outlived crossbreds in the same dataset. And hybrid vigour is not a demonstrated mechanism in cats — no study links measured genetic diversity to health or longevity outcomes, and the researchers never claim it. A second paper, Mata 2025, orders the groups differently again. The reasonable conclusion is that a mixed-breed cat is a good bet, not that it is genetically bulletproof.
The genuine downside is predictability. With a kitten you cannot forecast adult size, coat or temperament, and a rescue may arrive carrying history that takes months to unwind. Adopting an adult rather than a kitten removes most of the first problem.
Two breeds that need a warning before you buy, not after
The Savannah carries a legal question, and the thresholds are not uniform — which is why you should distrust any page that gives you one rule. TICA, which recognises the breed, states that the Savannah "is still illegal in some states and countries" because of its serval ancestry. Verified against the statutes themselves: New York State permits registered hybrids with no wild felid parentage for five generations; Massachusetts requires three clear generations; New York City bars any wild-cat hybrid with no generation exception at all; Nebraska and Rhode Island effectively bar them as pets. Municipal rules layer on top of state rules and both change. Check your own state and city law before acquiring one, and treat a breeder's reassurance as a starting point rather than an answer.
The Sphynx carries a number worth seeing before you fall for one. In the UK VetCompass life-table study its life expectancy at age 0 was 6.68 years (95% confidence interval 4.53 to 8.83) — the shortest of the twelve breeds for which that study publishes a figure, against 11.74 years across all cats and 14.42 for the Burmese. That figure is a life expectancy from birth, so it includes kitten and young-adult deaths and is not the same measurement as a pet-industry "typical lifespan" range. It is still the relevant number when you are deciding, and it is not one you will find on a breeder's page.
How to read your result
The quiz gives you a top recommendation and three runners-up, and the runners-up are not filler — if your answers are mixed, which most people's are, the second and third suggestions are often the better practical fit. Each result links through to that breed's full profile, where the registry status, origin, coat, measured life expectancy and documented health predispositions are set out with their sources. Read the profile before you contact anyone. The profiles are deliberately written to include what is difficult about each breed, because a recommendation that only lists the good parts is not a recommendation.
All 18 recommendations, with the upkeep stated
What each breed is actually like to acquire and keep — time demands, noise, grooming, space and cost — rather than what it is like as a personality. Each links through to the full verified profile.
Siamese
Choose a Siamese only if you are home a lot and actively want to be talked to, because you will be. The short, close-lying coat is close to zero grooming work and the cat is a normal size to feed, so the running costs are ordinary. The real cost is attention: long empty working days do not suit this breed, and neither do thin walls. Progressive retinal atrophy and familial amyloidosis are both documented in the breed, which is worth knowing before you commit. Fine for a confident first-time owner who is genuinely at home.
Full Siamese profileMaine Coon
A good family recommendation — unhurried, tolerant of noise and children, and happy with a whole household rather than one person. Budget honestly, though: a cat that can exceed twenty pounds eats accordingly, and the heavy shaggy coat mats if the twice-weekly comb slips. The breed takes several years to finish growing, so you are committing to a large animal, not a large kitten. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is well documented in the breed. Workable as a first cat if you want the size and have the space to climb.
Full Maine Coon profileRussian Blue
The pick for a quiet, predictable, one-or-two-person home. The dense short coat needs very little work, the cat is undemanding about space, and it is genuinely quiet — which matters if you share walls or take calls at home. The trade is social: visitors will not meet this cat, and schedule changes and house moves cost it something real. Elevated diabetes incidence is documented in the breed. Not a hypoallergenic cat, whatever a breeder tells you — no study has ever measured Fel d 1 in Russian Blues.
Full Russian Blue profileRagdoll
One of the few breeds that genuinely wants to be picked up, which makes it a strong choice for children old enough to be gentle and for anyone whose priority is a lap cat. Semi-long coat means a real comb two or three times a week, not an optional one. The placid, non-defensive temperament is also the reason this is an indoor cat — it will not look after itself outdoors. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is documented in the breed. A reasonable first pedigree if you accept the grooming.
Full Ragdoll profileBengal
Only for someone who wants an active project. A bored Bengal is destructive rather than merely naughty, so budget daily interactive time, climbing height and training as a requirement and not an extra. Grooming is trivial; enrichment is not. Some jurisdictions regulate early-generation hybrids, so check your local rules before buying. Purchase prices are high and so is the cost of replacing what gets opened, climbed or knocked over. A poor first cat, and a bad fit for long working days or a small flat.
Full Bengal profileBombay
A fine small-space choice: short satin coat that needs almost nothing, modest size, modest food bill. What a Bombay needs is a person to be on, essentially all the time, and relentless warmth — it does badly in a house that is empty all day. A craniofacial defect associated with an ALX1 deletion is documented in this breed group, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is documented too, so buy from someone who will talk openly about both. Good for a first-time owner who is home most of the day.
Full Bombay profileSiberian
Buy a Siberian because you want a sturdy, playful, water-curious cat and you are happy to live with hair — not because you were told it is hypoallergenic. That claim is unsupported: CFA's own breed page makes no such claim, and the one Siberian-specific study measured saliva Fel d 1 in three cats and found a more than fourfold spread between them. The dense triple coat sheds substantially and seasonally. The cat takes up to five years to mature, so this is a long, slow, big-cat commitment.
Full Siberian profilePersian
Only choose a Persian if the daily grooming is something you will genuinely do — the coat mats to the skin within about a week of neglect, and professional grooming is a recurring cost, not a one-off. In exchange you get the most sedentary cat on this list, happy in a flat and happy to be left for a working day. The flat-faced show type has documented consequences for breathing and tear drainage, and polycystic kidney disease associated with PKD1 is documented. A high-effort, low-energy cat.
Full Persian profileNorwegian Forest Cat
The strongest pick if your days are long and unpredictable: this is a self-sufficient cat that is genuinely all right on its own and affectionate on its own schedule rather than yours. It wants height and space, and the double coat sheds heavily in spring, so expect a vacuum habit. It is a big cat to feed. Do not choose it hoping for a lap cat — that is the common disappointment. Low social demand and ordinary grooming make it a sound, undramatic first cat for a busy household.
Full Norwegian Forest Cat profileAbyssinian
Pick an Abyssinian if you will actually do half an hour of interactive play a day and can give it climbing height. Coat care is close to nothing — short, fine and ticked. The demand is occupation: it gets into everything, needs vertical space, and dislikes being held, so it is a busy hands-off companion rather than a cuddly one. Progressive retinal atrophy and renal amyloidosis are both documented in the breed. Running costs are ordinary; the time cost is not. Better as a second cat than a first.
Full Abyssinian profileBritish Shorthair
Probably the most forgiving pedigree on this list for a first-time owner with a working day. It is quiet, undemanding about space, unbothered by being left alone, and the dense short coat needs only regular combing through a moult. The honest catch is that it likes you but does not want to be held, which disappoints people hoping for a lap cat. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is documented in the breed, and polycystic kidney disease has been reported. Low drama, low noise, low effort.
Full British Shorthair profileSphynx
This one needs the hardest number stated plainly: at 6.68 years (95% CI 4.53 to 8.83), life expectancy at age 0 in the UK VetCompass study, the Sphynx has the shortest measured life expectancy of the twelve breeds with a figure. Choose it with that in mind. Day to day it needs regular bathing, because with no coat to absorb them the skin oils stay on the surface, and it needs a warm home. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is documented. Not a low-cost or low-effort cat behind the comic exterior.
Full Sphynx profileOriental Shorthair
The loudest, most socially relentless cat on this list, so choose it only if constant vocal company is the point. Grooming is effectively zero and the cat is small to feed, which makes the running costs low. The constraints are noise and solitude: it genuinely cannot be left alone all day, and it is a poor idea in a flat with thin walls. Familial AA amyloidosis is documented in Siamese and Oriental cats. Suited to an experienced owner at home, not to a first-time owner with a commute.
Full Oriental Shorthair profileBurmese
A superb choice for a full, busy household that is rarely empty — it greets strangers at the door and does well with other cats and often with dogs. The satin coat is almost no work. The disqualifier is absence: a Burmese treats being left alone as a crisis and is vocal about it, making it one of the worst picks on this list for a house empty all day. Several conditions are documented, including a craniofacial defect, hypokalaemic polymyopathy and a diabetes predisposition. Notably, it also had the longest life expectancy of any breed in the UK VetCompass data at 14.42 years.
Full Burmese profileTurkish Angora
Choose this if looks matter to you and you will do the maintenance: the fine silky single coat has no real undercoat but still tangles without combing. It is an agile climbing cat with opinions, so it will get onto everything you own and it needs vertical space and daily play. Mid-range running costs. If you are shopping by colour, note that lavender and chocolate are sometimes listed online as Angora colours but CFA's standard treats them as disqualifying. Better for a second-time owner than a first.
Full Turkish Angora profileDevon Rex
Excellent for a small flat and a sociable house: compact, light, shoulder-riding and almost nothing to groom thanks to the sparse wavy coat. Two real constraints. It gets cold easily and needs a warm home, and it is intensely people-focused, so a cool empty house is the wrong placement. Usefully, it is one of the very few breeds for which CFA publishes an actual weight range, six to nine pounds, so you can plan food and space with a real number. A workable first cat if someone is usually home.
Full Devon Rex profileSavannah
The most demanding recommendation here by a wide margin, and the one with a legal question attached. TICA's own wording is that the Savannah "is still illegal in some states and countries" because of its serval ancestry, and the thresholds are not uniform: New York State permits registered hybrids with no wild felid parentage for five generations, Massachusetts requires three clear generations, while New York City bars any wild-cat hybrid with no generation exception, and Nebraska and Rhode Island effectively bar them as pets. Check your own state and city law before acquiring one. Beyond legality: a tall, powerful, tireless cat needing genuine daily exercise and real space. Never a first cat.
Full Savannah profileDomestic Shorthair (Mixed Breed)
This is a genuinely strong default, not a fallback. You can meet an adult shelter cat repeatedly before deciding, so temperament, noise level and sociability are observed facts rather than breed averages — which is exactly what a first-time owner needs, and the only sensible route if anyone in the house reacts to cats. Acquisition cost is a fraction of a pedigree, and both major registries take non-pedigree cats seriously: CFA Household Pet runs to Regional and National Winner titles, and TICA's Household Pet category runs the full six-tier ladder to Supreme Grand Master on the same point thresholds as pedigreed champions, explicitly welcoming blind, three-legged and earless rescues. On UK veterinary data crossbred cats had higher life expectancy at birth than the purebred population in aggregate, 11.89 against 10.41 years. The honest catch: with a kitten you cannot predict adult size, coat or temperament, and a rescue may arrive with history that takes months to unwind.
Full Domestic Shorthair (Mixed Breed) profile
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between this quiz and "What Cat Breed Am I?"
Which cat breed is best for a first-time owner?
Which cat breed is hypoallergenic?
Is it legal to own a Savannah cat?
Are mixed-breed cats healthier than pedigree cats?
More cat tools
- What Cat Breed Am I? — the opposite question: which breed matches your own personality, rather than which one you should get.
- Cat Personality Test — profiles the cat you already have.
- Cat Trivia Quiz — scored questions on cat biology, history and behaviour.
- Cat Age Calculator — convert a cat's age into human years once you have one.
This quiz is for entertainment and general guidance. Breed information is descriptive, is not veterinary advice, and does not describe any individual cat. Ownership laws vary by state and municipality and change over time — verify your local law yourself before acquiring any hybrid breed. For questions about your own cat's health, please consult your veterinarian.