Cat Breeds Scraper

Scrape TheCatAPI — the open reference catalog of 70+ recognised cat breeds. Browse the full breed list, search by name / alternate name / origin, or fetch specific breeds by ID, and get descriptions, temperament, origin country, life span, weight ranges, 12 trait scores, 10 boolean breed traits, a reference photo, and links to CFA / Vetstreet / VCA Hospitals / Wikipedia. HTTP-only via the public api.thecatapi.com JSON API. No auth, no proxy.

What this actor does

• Three modes: allBreeds, searchBreeds, byBreedId
• Filters: free-text query across name / alternate names / origin, plus country-of-origin filter
• Parsed numerics: life span and metric weight come back as real min/max numbers, not "10 - 15" strings
• Trait profiles: 12 scored traits (1–5) and 10 boolean traits per breed, plus a reference image URL
• Empty fields are omitted

Output per cat breed

• breedId — TheCatAPI breed code (e.g. abys, beng)
• breedName, name — breed name (name retained for backward compatibility)
• altNames — alternate / regional names
• description — prose breed summary
• temperament — comma-separated temperament keywords
• origin, countryCode, countryCodes — country of origin and ISO codes
• lifeSpanMin, lifeSpanMax — years, parsed to integers
• lifeSpan — raw range string as published
• weightKgMin, weightKgMax — metric weight, parsed to numbers
• weightMetric, weightImperial — raw weight range strings
• traits — 1–5 scores: adaptability, affection_level, child_friendly, dog_friendly, energy_level, grooming, health_issues, intelligence, shedding_level, social_needs, stranger_friendly, vocalisation
• boolTraits — true/false flags: experimental, hairless, natural, rare, rex, suppressed_tail, short_legs, hypoallergenic, indoor, lap
• imageUrl — reference photo via the TheCatAPI CDN
• cfaUrl, vetstreetUrl, vcahospitalsUrl, wikipediaUrl
• recordType: "cat_breed", scrapedAt

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	allBreeds	allBreeds / searchBreeds / byBreedId
searchQuery	string	persian	Name, alternate name, or origin to match (required for searchBreeds; also filters allBreeds)
filterOrigin	string	–	Country of origin substring, e.g. Egypt, Thailand (mode=allBreeds)
breedId	string	–	Single breed ID to fetch (mode=byBreedId)
breedIds	array	–	Multiple breed IDs to fetch (mode=byBreedId)
maxItems	int	100	Hard cap (1–500)

Example: every recognised breed

{
  "mode": "allBreeds",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Example: search for a breed by name

{
  "mode": "searchBreeds",
  "searchQuery": "persian"
}

Example: hypoallergenic candidates from a single origin

{
  "mode": "allBreeds",
  "filterOrigin": "Russia",
  "maxItems": 25
}

Example: lookup specific breeds by ID

{
  "mode": "byBreedId",
  "breedIds": ["abys", "beng", "sphy"]
}

Use cases

• Pet marketplaces & adoption sites — populate breed pages with descriptions, traits, and photos
• Veterinary content — surface breed-linked health-issue scores and life-span ranges
• Breed-matching quizzes — score users against 12 trait dimensions to recommend a breed
• Allergy-aware search — filter to hypoallergenic or hairless breeds
• Data journalism — analyse breed origins, weights, and life spans across the full catalog
• Chatbots & assistants — ground pet-advice answers in a structured breed reference

FAQ

What is TheCatAPI? A free, public reference API for cat breeds and cat imagery. The breed endpoints used here are open and need no key. See thecatapi.com.

Is this affiliated with TheCatAPI? No. This is a third-party actor built on their public API.

How many breeds are there? Roughly 70 in allBreeds — the set recognised across major registries. It changes rarely.

What's the difference between searchBreeds and allBreeds with a searchQuery? searchBreeds hits the upstream search endpoint and matches breed names. allBreeds + searchQuery pulls the whole list and matches locally across name, alternate names, and origin — broader, and it can be combined with filterOrigin.

What do the trait scores mean? Each is 1–5, higher meaning more of that trait. Note grooming means grooming effort required, and health_issues means more known predispositions — for both, higher is more work, not better.

Why is lifeSpan present alongside lifeSpanMin / lifeSpanMax? The upstream value is a display string like "12 - 15". The parsed numbers are there for filtering and charting; the raw string is kept so nothing is lost if the format changes.

Are the breed IDs stable? Yes — four-letter codes like abys (Abyssinian) and beng (Bengal) are TheCatAPI's permanent identifiers, safe to store as foreign keys.

Why do some breeds have no image? A breed record only yields imageUrl when the upstream entry has a reference image assigned. A handful of rare or experimental breeds don't.

Does every breed have every trait? No. Experimental and rare breeds often have partial data, and empty values are dropped rather than emitted as nulls or zeros.