Long haired cats are often prettier, but for the sake of the cat, i'd go for short. Unless you're really on the ball with brushing, especially when they get old, they'll get matted and lumpy as smurf and it can be really painful for them. The 16 year old long haired cat we've got at my parents' place needs a lot of care now, and sometimes it gets matty in areas he won't let us humans mess around in, and he ends up trying to bite the lumps off, and that sometimes gets a bit bloody.