There will be no more new cat breeds. The number may even shrink. Some people would say the numbers should shrink. I believe that we can say with some certainty that we have more or less reached saturation point with respect to the number of different cat breeds.
There are at least 104 cat breeds all of which are listed with illustrations on this website. Many are on the fringes of the cat fancy. The world’s biggest cat association, the CFA, which is a register of cat breeds, recognize only 42 of them at the date of this post. The other large cat association TICA accept more (about 75), but still well short of the total. The behavior of these major cat associations informs us that there are already too many cat breeds chasing a slot on the purebred, pedigree cat registers.
The fact of the matter is that there is no room for more breeds. Also, there is probably a lack of appetite for more, both from cat breeders and the public.
Without wishing to state the obvious, a cat breed has to be different to another cat breed. It has to be physically distinguishable. The difference has, therefore, to be quite marked or obvious. There is already an over-population of Siamese-type cats that causes confusion with the buying public.
You could argue that a number of cat breeds should not exist because they are long haired or short haired versions of the primary cat breed. The Somali is a long haired Abyssinian and the Exotic Shorthair is a short haired Persian.
The true exotic cats, the wild cat hybrids, are under attack from local authorities. Some states in America ban high filial wild cat hybrids. For example New York city has banned the Savannah cat.
This chart shows the rise in cat breed creation, the peak years and decline:
It is clear that the middle of the 20th century was the peak for cat breed creation. Basically, there are four ways to create a cat breed:
- “Discover” an interesting looking moggie in some far-off land and import it back to the West where you “refine” it through selective breeding to make it marketable to the public and acceptable to the cat associations. Classic examples are the Siamese and the much rarer Sokoke.
- Take one female cat from one breed and one male cat from another breed or a random bred cat. Mate them. Refine the product by inbreeding and voilà , you have a hybrid that is “new”. An example is the Bombay – a cross between a Sable Burmese with a black American Shorthair.
- Refine an existing moggie. The British Shorthair is an example.
- Moggie x moggie + selective breeding = purebred. This is how the Ragdoll started.
First off, Brilliant collage, Michael.
Second, although I have a purebred Maine coon, I got her via rescue.
I happened to be able to trace her journey from cattery to cattery to private home to rescue.
I’ve been to one cat show, ever, because it was an opportunity to meet Tootsie’s owner (and I mean owner) from second cattery. In a prior series of emails, I contacted cattery #1 to say I have one of your cats… and she contacted cattery #2, and the person emailed me, saying that she couldn’t understand why Tootsie was put into rescue by private owner, because she would have been happy to take her back.
Hmmm… I’m only speculating here, and wildly so, but having met person of cattery #2, I wouldn’t have returned Tootsie to her, myself.
There was only one Maine coon breeder I talked to at the cat show whom I respected. Granted I didn’t talk to all. But, my strong impression was that most breeders are in the game for the sake of their own egos- kind of like people who enter their 5 year old girls for beauty contests. The breeders, imho, based on not so much evidence, often see/ treat cats as objects. And, the better the object, the better to reinforce their egos.
Harking back to a prior topic, I say, with only a hint of jest, that cat breeders are likely more evil than cat strollers. 😉
One day all Persians will be the more natural and far better Traditional Persian. For me, the ultra Persian – flat face – is a mistake, a human folly to the detriment of the cat 😉
Good news. I was wondering as to what future specimen would the “ULTRA FACE PERSIAN” develop into once breeders and owners were fed up of seeing the same face at cat shows and hence wanting a “NEW DISCOVERY”! Seems that today the “Traditional Persian Cat” is rarer than the “Ultra-Faced Persian” simply because it is no more a “SHOW BREED SPECIMEN” and hence less patronized by Professional cat breeders in the west.Hope ultimately only three versions of the Persian cat are in place,1) Original traditional Persian cat. 2) Ultra-faced Persian cat 3)Short haired ultra-face Persian.Since i own Traditional Persian cats , hence a reference to this particular breed.
I agree Ruth – it’s the same old boring argument that will always take precedence over any kind of breeding. Until cats are no longer homeless and being killed in the millions, every year, then what right do we have to breed more of them… We will probably be sitting here in 10 years making the same objection because it doesn’t look like the problem is going to ever be solved. It’s a tragedy.
Thank you Ruth for your unstinting support for cat welfare.
Yes there are plenty of different cat breeds already.
Instead of trying to breed more, people should be concentrating on ensuring that the many cats dying in Shelters for lack of homes are cared for instead of bringing more cats into a world where in many countries they are second class citizens.