That is a good way to go about it.

I don't know... I would visit my local shelter. That's what I did for
two months, every second week, before I got my Maine Coon. I had never
heard about Main Coons, I didn't know it was a breed cat I got and, to
this day, I don't know if it is pure breed. I don't give a damn. I
wanted a cat that would be no problem, a cat I wouldn't have to play
head games with, like my previous one. And, how strange, I got myself
a Maine Coon, just "by chance".

Not that I didn't like my previous cat. I took 2 months too, going
from pet shop to pet shop, before I bought this nice little red tabby
bastard. But I'm 17 years older now, my health is not so good, and I
needed a different cat.

Rest assured that there were some very nice cats, other than mine, at
the shelter. Some people took them and I have no doubt they like them
a lot.

I'm thinking about one in peculiar. She was so "social", putting on a
nice face for everybody. The women who got her told me told me her
mother wanted a cat and I remarqued how her cat would be nice for an
old woman. But she said she wouldn't get separated from this plain
bastard for all the money in the world, even to her mother!

It was a good cat, it was a nice cat, but it wasn't MY cat. I wasn't
even sure I'd take another cat. It's a long contract, you know, a lot
of responsabilities, of taking care of. Then, I saw this little
female, standing behind her brother who wouldn't quit front row
center, with hairs sticking out her ears. And I was stuck. I took her
home and never regretted it.

Now, in case you don't believe you can develop such a feeling for cats
you don't know, don't worry, the cat is there too. The cat's got more
than a feeling, it's got a sixth sense.

Once, I was in Greece and I recuperated a dying cat. I traveled with
it for 3 weeks, but I was going back to France by bus, then to Canada
and there was no way I could bring my Kalim through all those
frontiers. So, I tried to give him away to people who could possibly
take care of him.

But he would scratch all the people I first met and I thought it would
be hard to find somebody he'd be comfortable with. Then, there was his
young girl in a blue jumper suit coming out of school with rounded
eyes soon as she saw him. He cuddled. That was it. Cats know.

At first, it's not very evident because we're not attentive, but
animals are as different from each other as humans are. So, just as
you wouldn't invite anybody on the street to come live with you, if
you have the occasion to choose a cat, it's important to take time,
see how you relate.

I never got a cat from a breeder, but those people are there for money
and I wonder how they'd feel if you went there every second week for 2
or 3 months. Even at the shelter, at the end, I believe they  thought
I was a bit weird.

Take your time and tell yourself that any bastard could be the finest
cat for you.