Less-adoptable pets (?)

So, back home and still in love with Alfie, I spent hours and hours on the web researching everything related to cats: how to care  for them, feed them, play with them, live with them, bring them home, understand them, educate them. I wrote down all the things I would need to buy, suggestions on what were the best brands and what to look for, how to get the house ready for the cat, how to be prepared.

- Nena. 
[That is how Julio calls me whenever I am too careful and too over-zealous over stuff. It is some sort of Bolivian-Spanish word for coward.]

And that is how I came across something I have never thought of before: the less-adoptable cats.

I didn't want to think of cats as being less-adoptable. Still, there is some clear evidenced that senior cats, cats with disabilities, FIV or FELV positive cats, and black cats have a harder time finding home.

It made me think of Alfie and how incredibly adoptable he was. He was a young, playful purr-machine with a gorgeous orange coat and green eyes, and he was perfectly healthy. I could bet Alfie would be out of there in no time, while other cats may have to be in the shelter for anything between 6 months and one year - or more.

So, I decided to give a chance to a less-adoptable pet, hoping to find that they had as much love to give out as very-adoptable pets.

Still, I want to make sure that I could provide for them properly. Going down the list:
1) Senior cats - I am not sure I am ready to deal with the possible death of a cat I just adopted. And, being realistic, a senior cat is more likely to pass away than a younger cat...
2) A cat with disabilities - I am a novice cat owner and these cats need special attention and care. I am not sure I should test my abilities on a cat that will require experience.
3) A FIV or FELV positive cat - again, even though these diseases are not bad when properly cared for, I don't even know what the appropriate care is. Besides, as a student, I may end up having to share a house in the near future with other people and their pets...

That left me one remaining category - black cats.
And, to be honest, this is the category of less-adoptable that I think is the least justifiable. For the other three categories, I have my own reasons why I think I should not get one of them. Yes, it takes my comfort into consideration, but it also considers what the cat needs and whether I am the best person to provide it. But a healthy, adult black cat? Why should it be considered less-adoptable?

I can only think of two reasons: superstition or aesthetics. The first one is naive and backwards; the second one is a matter of perception. Going back to my first visits to the shelter, I realized that black cats were obfuscated by the brightness of the other ones - they got lost in the middle of a hurricane of colors and patterns.

With that in mind, I decided to go back to the shelter and look specifically for those that I had missed in the first rounds, determined to help my own little less-adoptable pet.