News from our members around the globe 2013-2

The Australian Cat Federation

The National Show and the marathon meetings of the ACF Inc itself and our Judges’ Guild were hosted this year in Adelaide, South Australia from June 7th – 10th.  The show was run by our SA member body, GCCFSA, and heading the very efficient show team for SA this time were Fiona Hawkins and Rebecca Kuss.  The team’s effort was much appreciated by exhibitors, delegates and in fact anyone involved with the (very) long weekend’s events.

At the show, winner of Supreme Exhibit was blue van Persian Shawtop It’s All About Me, (who flew thousands of kilometres to compete), owned by H Jones and bred by T Rushton in Queensland.

Also in the Supreme selection line up was British (blue) kitten Ambritt Hurricane Harry (o/b: J & A Maas, Queensland) and Black Spotted Oriental Shorthair Moorlyka Vova o/b Tsykin (South Australia). Winning Companion was Mallee Jack Frost, exhibited by N, J and R Gibson.

At the AGM, the Snowshoe was granted recognition, as was the Burmese (American, contemporary style, with CFA standard) though the latter will be subject to mandatory testing for cranio-facial deformity and any other diseases which might be encountered in the breed and currently capable of DNA testing.  The breed previously referred to as Australian Bombay will now be Mandalay (the NZCF solid version of Burmese) which will be accepted in all solid colours – no tabby and no silver.  There were other motions on which I’ll report after ratification.

There was no change among Officers and Executive Committee at the AGM, other than the position of International Liaison Officer, to which I have returned.  The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy of Victoria (GCCFV) was granted full membership of ACF Inc.

Forward planning: as announced in 2010, the 2014 National will be hosted in Sydney by ACF Inc with assistance from ACF’s new provisional member body, Cats NSW.  Show co-ordinator: L Morgan, Show Secretary: R Walker, Show Manager: B Curtis, Show Treasurer: T Imboden-Johnson.  In 2015, it’s “Go West!” when FCCWA will host a 2 day National Show in Perth and in 2016, Queensland’s QFA will be our host.  As has always been the case since the end of the 1970’s, these will be held on Queen’s Birthday weekend in early June.

The new-look ACF website was launched at the beginning of April and many have commented on its user-friendly and informative style.  The sub-committee responsible was: Robbie Walker, Nell Evans, Sandi Gemmell and Bernadette Roberts.  They are to be thanked for their behind-the-scenes work, which was arduous. Please, feel free to browse the site.

The first of our ‘disposable’ standard books has been released: it’s been some years since this was mooted, but it’s now a reality.  A new, affordable  edition will be released for use from 1st January each year.  Despite the fact it’s not as glamourous as its predecessor, many appreciate the fact that all new information and changes are contained therein and there’s no need to update individual pages post- AGM.

As foreshadowed at the 2012 WCC in Brno, a meeting between some of the ACF Inc and CCCA officers took place in early February, in Melbourne.  Some positive discussion took place and there will be another such meeting on October 30th .

Unfortunately, TFA Inc (ACF’s NSW member body) was expelled from the Federation, effective October 31st.  However, in late August, ACF Inc welcomed a new provisional (patronage) member in NSW, Cats NSW Inc.  This organisation comprises a group of well respected judges and cat fancy administrators of proven credibility and we look forward to ACF’s profile in NSW being enhanced as a result.

Lesley Morgan

International Liaison Officer,
Australian Cat Federation Inc

Fédération Internationale Féline

General assembly FIFe 2013

The Annual General Assembly of FIFe 2013 was held in Madrid, Spain. Also this year national FIFe Members from more than 35 countries around the globe were present in order to maintain the progress of the federation and to enhance the focus on health and welfare.

This summary contains only the most important decisions of this General Assembly; further information is available on our website . As a general rule all changes regarding rules and standards will become effective on the 1st January of the year following this Assembly unless otherwise stated.

Surely the most important decision was the acceptance of the increase of the minimum age for kittens presented at our shows, which was raised from 3 to 4 months. At the age of 4 months the immune systems of kittens are more developed and they possess sufficient antibodies after various obligatory vaccinations. This tremendously reduces the chance of catching a disease at a show.

We are also happy to announce that the breed LaPerm was preliminarily recognised with a large majority, in both the long- and shorthair varieties. The codes used will be LPL and LPS respectively. This breed will be judged in category II.

Show class 12 (kittens) will now be kittens aged from 4 to 7 months and show class 11 (juniors) aged 7 to 10 months.

A proposal forbidding the mating of two white cats also passed with a large majority. This rule, which is already implemented as a national rule in several FIFe Member-countries, is now the FIFe standard and valid for all breeds. Several studies report a significant higher incidence in deafness in litters from matings between two white cats than from matings between a white and a coloured cat. As long as the responsible mutation is not known, selected matings and audiometric tests remain our only alternatives to reduce deafness in cats.

Several new colours were accepted in recognized breeds; in the British - BRI (their breed name was changed back to the “British Shorthair” this year) the silver- and golden-points (also the tabby variety) as well as all point colours with white were recognized.

In the Oriental shorthair and longhair (OSH/OLH) the white blue eyed, green eyed and odd eyed (one green and one blue) varieties were recognized. The OSH/OLH with blue eyes are judged together with Siamese/Balinese with the same phenotypical appearance (the Foreign Whites).

In the Peterbald breed (PEB) the new coat variety “brush” was recognized. Brush means the cat has fine, wavy, often wiry, hair of more than 2mm in length over the whole body, with bald areas on the head, upper part of the neck or on the back. The brush variety is judged together with the already recognized hairless and flock coat varieties.

In FIFe a cat must be shown by its phenotypical colour variety.  In some cases a cat’s appearance has changed as it develops and the colour variety has had to be changed.  Up to now, this has meant that any titles won in the original colour classes have had to be cancelled and the cat would start again at the lowest level in its new colour variety. This year’s GA decided that the cat should keep any titles it had previously won but any further titles would have to be gained in its newly established colour variety.  If the change of colour is decided when the cat is in a higher class, it will have to gain all certificates for that class in its new colour variety.

The General Assembly also decided to re-distribute the cats in the current 4 categories. This redistribution was based on amount of breeds per category as well as the imbalance of numbers of cats in the categories in several FIFe Members. This redistribution will have  massive impacts on show programmes as well as on judges’ training. The General Assembly, therefore, accepted this proposal to be valid only from 1.1.2016.

A more detailed explanation will follow when all aspects are fully examined and respective proposals have been made and carried.

The General Assembly was also informed that at the World Cat Congress meeting, the possibility of more organisations using the EMS codes had been discussed. It would require a standardisation of the codes to accommodate some of the breeds and varieties in other organisations. This could, however, mean that identical breeds would use the same codes, and specific extensions of the codes would have to be mutually agreed.

The General Assembly concluded with a FIFe judges’ seminar, in which more than 100 judges, student-judges and cat enthusiasts participated; this continued the very positive atmosphere of the whole event.

We look forward to welcoming all FIFe Members and Member’s members once again in 2014 when the General Assembly will be held in Riga, the capital of Latvia.

New Zealand Cat Fancy

National Show (hosted by Sacred Temple Cat Club)

2013 has seen the return of the National Show after a break of over two years following the devastating earthquakes in Christchurch. To see a successful National being staged was definitely a highlight for NZCF. The public interest in the show was wonderful and the host club reported a fantastic door take.  Arrangements are will under way for the staging of the 2014 National which is to be held in Nelson (South Island).

NZCF Flash Cats Magazine

View the latest issue of our very popular magazine (click on the red flash cat’s logo on the home page) this is a worth while visit for all cat fanciers.

Codes of Conduct

Are currently being reviewed for Breeders, Members & Judges

Resource Consent with Local Body Council’s

NZCF are to look at sending a generic letter to all Council’s requesting that NZCF are registered as a stakeholder in the process of consultation when they are reviewing their district plan in respect of breeding catteries.

WCC 2015

A subcommittee has been set up to put together a bid to stage the 2015 World Cat Congress in Auckland NZ (April 2105)  NZCF welcome the opportunity to host this event which has not been to NZ since 2005.

DNA Protocols

The WCC resolution that members seek to make it mandatory that all breeding cats within their organisations be tested for any adverse hereditary condition if and when such genetic tests are available in their own country has been discussed by the Breed Standards Advisory Council and an acknowledgment was made of how well the Ragdoll breeders in New Zealand have worked towards removing HCM from their breeding cats. It was suggested that the protocols that these breeders have developed, and as a group accepted, could be a model for NZCF protocols. This is to be discussed further at Executive Council level.

Chris M Lowe

NZCF International Liasion