Chapter One
The Way We Were: A History of the Cat Fanciers' Association
By Judy Thomas
Imagine walking into your first cat show today, never having been to a show before. The number and variety of cats and the complexity of judging would probably overwhelm you. How did today's cat show develop? How long did it take to get where we are now? Even the most senior of current cat fanciers can only claim 50 or 60 years of participating in the wonderful hobby of showing cats. What was it like for the earlier exhibitors?
Cat shows in the United States started a little over 100 years ago. The first major cat show, the National Capital Cat Show, was held May 8, 1895, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. There were 176 cats entered. The categories in which they could be entered were Longhair (not differentiated by breed), Foreign Shorthair (which at that time included Siamese, Manx, and "Russians"), and Domestic Shorthair. No differentiation was made between intact cats and neutered cats, and there is no record of kittens having been entered. Each cat was judged once, and one cat was chosen as the overall best cat. Fortunately, there are photographs of Cosey, listed as a "brown tabby longhair neuter" owned by Mrs. Fred Brown. Today we would classify him as a Maine Coon Cat, but because no breed distinctions were made among longhairs at that time, he was recorded simply as being a Longhair. (Originally, the terms Persian and Angora were used interchangeably. Today the Persian and Turkish Angora are very different from each other, and from that first winner.) That scenario is a far cry from today's show. In the Cat Fanciers' Association today, cats are judged by six to eight judges at each show and more than 37 breeds are accepted for championship competition. Each cat is rigorously evaluated for health, grooming, and condition and then compared to the written standard of perfection for that breed. Let us see how some of those changes happened.
When the first major cat show was held, there were no cat clubs and no cat registering associations. Exhibitors declared what breed they were showing on the basis of their cat's looks. In 1899, the first cat club on record, the Beresford Cat Club, was founded in Chicago. By 1901, the members of this club realized that they needed a governing body to set rules for the growing cat fancy. Such an organization, they concluded, should also have the responsibility for registering and recording the pedigrees of cats according to breed. This first cat association was chartered, registered, and named the American Cat Association. Five years later, in 1906, because of a sharp difference of opinion over registration policies, some members split away and formed their own organization, which became the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA).
When the CFA was founded, the Russian cat disappeared from the list of recognized breeds, and the Abyssinian and the Australian Shorthair were added. Longhairs were recognized in self (solid) colors and tabby coat patterns only. Manx cats were recognized in many colors, but only if shorthaired, and only the seal point Siamese was accepted. The cat once shown as the Domestic Shorthair was what we today call the American Shorthair.
The paucity of breeds did not deter cat enthusiasts. Cat shows continued to be held, growing in numbers.
Number of CFA Cat Shows by Show Season
May 1-April 30
1949-1950 81
1959-1960 96
1969-1970 92
1979-1980 237
1989-1990 363
1999-2000 404
2002-2003 394
2003-2004 386
At that time, and into the 1950s, showing cats was mainly a hobby for the leisure class. Shows were held on weekdays, and most of the exhibitors were women. A registrar kept records of the pedigrees of cats in volumes called stud books. However, in the early days of the cat fancy, cats did not necessarily need to have registered parents to be recognized as "apparent purebreds." Up until the 1960s, if a cat appeared to be of a recognized breed, it could be entered in a cat show, and if three judges agreed that it met the standards for the breed, it could then be registered as an example of that breed. In other words, if a cat walked up to your back door and met the criteria put forth at that time to be shown as one of the recognized breeds, it could be shown. If three judges certified that it was "apparently" a member of a specific recognized breed, then it could be registered as that breed. If bred, its offspring would be registerable in the stud book.
The CFA grew quietly, but not radically, for the next 50 years. More cat clubs began to appear around the country. Other breeds and colors joined the aristocracy of show cats (blue point Siamese in 1927, the Burmese in 1936), and the titles of Champion and Grand Champion were created to honor cats that were excellent examples of their breeds. The breeders and judges compiled written standards describing the desired physical attributes and recognized colors and coat patterns of perfect examples of each breed. By the early 1940s, the cat fancy had changed very little from the quiet, genteel hobby instituted at the turn of the nineteenth century. Shows were still social events. Most clubs had many activities in addition to shows, including dinners, parties, and unscored kitten competitions called kitten matches. Quality cats would be shown for several years in a row, and it was not uncommon to see 7- and 8-year-old unaltered cats competing in shows. In 1959, the titles of Premier and Grand Premier were introduced for cats achieving a certain level of excellence as neuters and spays.
Continues...
Excerpted from The Cat Fanciers' Association Complete Cat Book by Siegal, Mordeci Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
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