Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA)

Why does the CFA list 45 cat breeds while TICA lists 73?

November 6, 2023November 5, 2023 by Michael Broad

As stated in the title, at November 2023, the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) accept and register 45 cat breeds while the other North American premier cat association, The International Cat Association (TICA) accept and register 73 cat breeds. Why the difference? Firstly, I will list the differences. The first list below is of the …

Persian cat breed standard – critical appraisal and illustrated

September 17, 2023 by Michael Broad

Are Persian Cats Healthy? I am afraid not.

April 11th 2011: This article is about the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) breed standard for the contemporary flat faced Persian cat. This cat is sometimes referred to as the “Ultra Persian” in recognition of selective cat breeding to an extreme degree i.e., “ultra”. Note: This page has been republished after a check and some …

Sphynx breed standard – summary plus illustration

September 16, 2023 by Michael Broad

This is an illustrated version of the breed standard for the purebred Sphynx cat. This an interesting, intelligent cat that is nice to touch and hold – the feel of warm, silky chamois leather. The photograph is by the celebrated cat photographer, Helmi Flick. It is protected by copyright, which I ask you to …

Turkish Angora breed standard – illustrated summary

September 16, 2023 by Michael Broad

I use the CFA Turkish Angora breed standard as my guide in writing this summary. I also use my own words, which are less formal and I don’t make an attempt to cover the entire standard as this is meant to be an overview of the cat and how she should look when looked at …

‘Modified wedge’ terminology used in the cat fancy (infographic)

September 13, 2023 by Michael Broad

NFC (Norwegian Forest Cat) head is an equilateral triangle

This is an infographic on the well-used cat fancy phrase ‘modified wedge’. It is used all the time in cat association breed standards. I see it used a lot in the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) breed standards and I’ve extracted some examples for the infographic below. The cat fancy administrators were drawn into using the phrase ‘modified wedge’ because they had to find a way to describe the head and face shape of their registered cats. Fundamentally, the wedge shape fits the feline head shape but only in a very general way which is why it is ‘modified’!

Modified wedge terminology used in the cat fancy breed standards explained in an infographic.

Cat Fancy Infographic

September 11, 2023September 11, 2023 by Michael Broad

So what is the cat fancy? The infographic explains and below the infographic there are image links to more articles on the topic. They are cat lovers and they love fancy cats!

Can Siamese cats have green eyes?

July 23, 2023July 22, 2023 by Michael Broad

Siamese cats should have vivid blue eyes as per the cat associations' breed standards

As per the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) breed standard the eye colour of the Siamese cat is always a “deep vivid blue” and that eye colour is the same across all the different Siamese cat colours from seal point through to chocolate point, blue point and lilac point. And it is the same across …

Animal welfare laws don’t apply to the INBREEDING of purebred dogs and cats which causes harm

May 28, 2023 by Michael Broad

Inbreeding of purebred cats can cause unnecessary suffering during their lives

It seems to me that animal welfare laws which are usually under statute (an ‘act’) don’t apply to dog and cat breeders or any other breeders for that matter in respect of an important aspect of their work: inbreeding. But they should. Perhaps I’ve got this wrong but I don’t recall any dog or …

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