The Cat Fancy Association or better known as CFA, is like the “AKC” for cat lovers. The association defines the breed standards for cats and sponsors competitive events for 40 pedigreed breeds recognized by the association. The term “fancy” comes from the hobby keeping and breeding pedigreed breeds.
General Information on CFA’s Domestic Cats
8,000 years ago, cats were already domesticated throughout Africa and Middle East. Contrary to conventional knowledge, recent discoveries show that cats were widely domesticated first in Africa, not in Egypt. These cats were mostly wildcats that gathers together were grains was stored. People admired the beauty and resourcefulness of these animals, they befriended these wildcats and eventually brought them home as part of their households to live as pets.
Pedigreed cat breeds nowadays, range from the widely-known Persian famous for its luxurious fur and the hairless Sphynx.
However, most domesticated cats kept by humans are non-pedigreed. They are actually recognized by popular names that fairly describes their physical appearance, such as all black, tabby, tortoiseshell, orange, white, etc.
Arguably the most popular pedigreed cats was named “Socks,” the cat of former First Lady Clinton. It was a black cat with white hair on its feet that looked like socks.
According to CFA, the 10 most popular pedigreed cats today in the United States are:
1. Persian
2. Exotic
3. Maine Coon
4. Siamese
5. Abyssinian
6. Ragdoll
7. Sphynx
8. American Shorthair
9. Birman
10. Oriental
The other top 40 recognized pedigreed cat breeds in CFA are:
American Bobtail, Abyssinian, American Shorthair, American Curl, American Wirehair, Balinese, Bombay, Birman, Burmese, British Shorthair, Colorpoint Shorthair, Chartreux, Cornish Rex, Devon Rex, European Burmese, Egyptian Mau, Exotic, Havana Brown, Javanese, Korat, LaPerm, Japanese Bobtail, Manx, Maine Coon, Norwegian Forest Cat, Oriental, Ocicat, Persian, Ragdoll, Russian Blue, Selkirk Rex, Scottish Fold, Singapura, Siamese, Siberian, Somali, Sphynx, Turkish Angora, Tonkinese, and Turkish Van.
A lot of domesticated cat breeds, such as the Manx, Maine coon, Russian blue and the Siamese, started as a natural occurring variety of cats native from a particular geographic area. Other breeds such as the Himalayans, are artificially created cat breeds, along with the curly-coated Rex breeds, the hairless Sphynx, curl-eared American curl, and fold-eared Scottish fold, these breeds all started from a genetic mutation developed from selective breeding into a distinct cat breed.
Cats breeds actually differ slightly from one cat association to the other and not all cat association recognize every breed there is in cat family. For a cot owner to be recognized as member of a particular cat association, the breed should be first accepted for provisional status, which would be issues by the association. Also, to become recognized as the grand winner or a champ in a cat competition, the breed must undergo and complete rigorous set of requirements, which obviously differ from association to association.
Indeed there are tons of breeds of cats out there, however, all those breeds just fit into 2 general categories, and these are the short hair or the long hair cats.
Remember that, a pedigree doesn’t make your cat more affectionate or loving. There are tons of breeds of cats without pedigree. On the other hand, a pedigree will let you choose kittens with certain characteristics.
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