The Australian Cat Federation
WCC Annual Meeting
ACF is looking forward to hosting the 2023 World Congress in Launceston, Tasmania. We have an excellent lineup of presenters and our exhibitors and attendees are excited about meeting the WCC delegates and discovering what the World Cat Congress is all about.
ACF National
The ACF National brings together exhibitors and attendees from every state & territory, ACF celebrates its 50th Anniversary, it came into being in March 1973.
Like many other organisations throughout the world ACF and its member bodies and their affiliated clubs were affected by the COVID pandemic due to lockdowns and border control although less so than many of the other world bodies.
ACF conducted many of its meetings via electronic media platforms, the 2021 AGM, general meeting, and the ACF Judges Guild meetings were held via Zoom over two days in July. ACF continues to use Zoom for other meetings throughout the year.
The hosts for the 2021 ACF National were unable to run a physical show due to the ongoing restriction in place in Victoria, instead, they did a virtual cat show with judges from New Zealand, South Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom officiating.
The first National show since 2019 was held in Brisbane in June 2022 and hosted by the Feline Control Council of Queensland with judges from the United States and New Zealand officiating as well as ACF judges.
ACF wishes its newest member Tas Feline (TFA) all the best in hosting the 2023 ACF National and we look forward to a successful World Congress.
Co-ordinating Cat Council of Australia
Quarterly report
CCC of A has had quite a busy year with the past few months beginning the process of developing an Australia Wide Judges Training Program. The aim of this project is to offer Judging courses across the country, using the resources and skills of our wonderful Judges and Breeders, to make courses accessible to all, irrespective of where they live. This should result in developing more Judges without the usual reliance on the state body to make this happen. Technology will bring the content to suitable candidates who may not have been able to access the face-to-face training that has been required in the past. While there is still a long way to go, the development is well underway, and I am excited to see it ready to put into use. Thanks must go to the small team who have spearheaded this project.
Another major task has been to reformat and update our breed standards. Almost all standards have now been produced in the new format and almost all updates have been completed. This should be finalized very soon.
CCC of A has also hosted, in conjunction with Cats Queensland Inc, another Judges and Breeders Workshop that was held very recently. There was wonderful participation in this Zoom event from around the world. All proceeds from this event go to the Feline Health Research Fund to help fund vital research into a range of feline diseases. It is expected that these workshops will be held at least twice a year with Zoom making sharing of such vital learning opportunities available to everyone.
Governing Council of the Cat Fancy
GCCF Elections
Steve Crow is GCCF Chair for the next three years, reprising the role he last held 2014-2017. He has stated: “There is still more to do, modernising judge training and reshaping and supporting shows in the face of growing competition from other organisations.
Kate Kaye was elected as Vice-Chair; she is best known for her work leading the review on judge training.
Charity Catwalk Complete!
The GCCF office team completed their charity walk in aid of pet food banks. Not only did the team walk a huge 11.8 mile, but they have also raised £2,645 to date!
Breed News
Chartreux< a revised registration policy will come into effect next year to include a testing scheme to monitor Chartreux for the avoidance of PKD and gradually eliminate the longhair gene. It will also require active registered Chartreux to have a record of their blood group.
Maine Coon< a new testing DNA scheme has been introduced from 2024 to monitor the prevalence in GCCF breeding cats of Maine Coon HCM (MYBPC3) spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency (PKDef). The new testing scheme allows heterozygous cats to be bred from (to tested clear cats) and shown which cleared the misunderstanding.
The Maine Coon gene pool was also discussed with advice being given that genetic diversity could be assessed by Leslie Lyons’s team, as the Russian Blue BAC had already done this. At present, the Maine Coon BAC was not recommending an outcross but had accepted the possibility of importing foundation Maine Coons.
Russian BAC acknowledged it was possible for colourpoint and longhaired kittens to be born to Russians despite attempts to breed away from these recessive genes over many generations.
Southern African Cat Council
SACC has had a successful year
Once again, our Clubs have entertained both the exhibitors and the public by hosting Championship shows throughout South Africa. The different breeds all competing for that coveted “Cat of the Day” title and perhaps a chance to accumulate sufficient points to qualify for the Cat of the Year competition.
We have added a new breed Group to our family, “Twirls and Curls” which represents the Scottish/Highland Folds and the American Curls.
A 3-day Pet Expo, which showcased South African cats, dogs, reptiles, birds, etc., took place in the middle of July. All South African Cat Organisations attended with each one presenting its own cat show and Best in Show. Within the Cat Hall, the culmination of the weekend was a judge-off of 12 cats (4 from each organisation) to find the 2023 Pet Expo Top Cat. This year’s winner was a Siberian male, owned by one of our student judges. Similar finals for all the other categories of pet animals also occurred on the final day.
COTY, our flagship event, took place at the end of July. Jan van Rooyen and his small, hardworking COTY Team presented an amazing show in a beautiful setting, Garden World in Gauteng. 6 SACC Judges were called upon to judge the beautiful cats from all corners of our wonderful country.
The Gala Dinner and Award Ceremony was held in the stunning Candlewoods Country Estate. The evening MC was one of South Africa’s top entertainment personalities, Eloise Cupido, whose humour and professionalism enhanced a most enjoyable evening.
It was the year for the svelte and elegant cats- a Seal point Siamese was Kitten of the Year, an Oriental Chocolate Ticked Tabby Bicolour was Neuter of the Year, a Lilac Tortie Burmese was Entire of the Year and a rescue ticked tabby and white shorthair male was the Domestic Pet of the Year. The final crowning of the event was Cat of the Year 2023- and to the delight of everyone present, this top honour went to the very handsome Oriental Neuter, Delilla Stanlee the Avenger.
The final event for SACC’s year is the Governing Council of SACC’s AGM which will take place in October 2023.
