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Thoughts on getting a breed cat and/or breeding my own kittens?
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A reputable breeder with a good bloodline will not sell an unaltered cat (a cat that can reproduce) to someone not already involved in the cat exhibiting/breeding world. So you should probably forget about breeding your own pedigreed cat. Kittens from and established breeder can be rather pricy. However, breeders will often have retired show cats or breeders available for a nominal price.
Former show cats make really great pets because they are very well socialized and they usually look great. An adult cat (adult is defined as greater than 8 months old) can make a great pet if it has been well socialized as a kitten. Such a cat will love you as much as a cat you raised from birth if not more because breeders know how to raise cats.
Generally speaking, a nutered male cat makes the best pet.
You should definitely check out the local shelter but if you decide to go the pedigreed route check out this link:
http://secure.cfa.org/Search.aspx
Don’t breed mut cats on purpose. There are already too many of those.