LaPerm Cat (comprehensive page)

History

• 1982 – Breed started – Curly was born
• 1990s – Development of breed in earnest to establish the breed and the breed starts being shown.
• 1995 – Recognised by TICA – new breed class (NBC class).
• 1997 – The LaPerm Society of America is formed & first LaPerms arrive in Germany and Japan.
• 1998 – Championship recognition by WACC (Germany). First imports into New Zealand and South Africa
• 2000 – CFA accept the breed in Miscellaneous class and LaPerm Society of America affiliated to CFA
• 2001 – Recognized by ACFA in Miscellaneous class
• 2003 – TICA accept the breed for Championship Status, First TICA Champion LaPerm – Dennigan’s French Maid of Shoalwater, bred by Dennis Ganoe and owned by Deb Estep., Recognized by WCF (World Cat Federation)
• 2004 – Preliminary recognition by GCCF of LaPerm cat, LaPerm Cat Club formed in the UK
• 2005 – CFA accept the breed for Provisional class
• 2007 – TICA shorthair champion – Arohauni BC Marcus Mocha Dandi, LaPerm Cat Club becomes affiliated to GCCF, GCCF grant provisional status (effective 1-6-08).
• 2008 – CFA grant championship status , GCCF provisional status effective 1-6-08

Above: The first litter of LaPerm kittens born in the UK. Their mother  is Uluru BC Omaste Po of Quincunx who was the first LaPerm in the UK. Image is protected by copyright.

Breeders & Breeding

The cat registries sensibly control, in a general sense, the breeding of registered cats in order to ensure the wellbeing of both the cat and the breed. The CFA and TICA only allow out-crossing (mating with another breed) with domestic long and short hairs (moggies in the UK). From 2015 the CFA have stipulated that no outcrosssing take place and LaPerm be bred with LaPerm. It would be sensible to check the breeding policies of the major registries if this area interests you.

Above: The less common shorthaired version of the LaPerm (Sekani BC Lightning) – image copyright protected.

Anthony Nichols, the chair of the LaPerm Cat Club, a long-standing LaPerm breeder (Anthony’s cattery website is QUINCUNX CATS) and friend of the breed founder says this about the LaPerm: “The outcrossing of LaPerms with other pedigree breeds was well established in the USA before the breed was ever exported to Europe. CFA officially approved an outcrossing programme using Ocicats (including Ocicat x Abyssinian hybrids). The offspring of these cats became key lines in the breeding programme and are behind many LaPerm lines.

The first country outside the USA where a significant LaPerm breeding programme was established was New Zealand and it was here that an outcross programme using Asian group cats was trialed and proved successful. Later on in the breed’s history when LaPerms were imported to the UK and other European countries the registries required registration policies outlining which outcross breeds were permitted in LaPerm pedigrees and at which generations.

The cats imported to establish the breed in Europe came from the USA and New Zealand so many of them had cats of the approved pedigree outcrosses used in these countries in their pedigrees. Therefore these pedigree outcrosses were necessarily approved. The GCCF is the registry in which the original rex breeds were developed so there is the benefit of experience and a wealth of knowledge about how to develop rex breeds through the use of outcrossing to other breeds. The LaPerm Cat Club sees the use of outcrossing wisely with the approved breeds as very beneficial. In addition, UK law defines a pedigree animal as an animal with at least a three-generation recorded pedigree.

There are similar laws through Europe. The practise in the USA of outcrossing to cats of no known ancestry, therefore has difficult legal implications when applied to Europe. In TICA a LaPerm show cat must have a three-generation pedigree of only LaPerms (i.e. All parents, grandparents and great grandparents) but can have any breed in the fourth or subsequent generations.

In CFA a LaPerm show cat can have any cat of unknown origins as a parent (until 2015), and ( for LaPerms registered before a cut off date) can have an Ocicat parent and Abyssinian ancestors preceding the Ocicat. In the GCCF LaPerms on the full register must have a three-generation pedigree of only LaPerms (i.e. All parents, grandparents and great grandparents) and can have only approved outcross breeds in the fourth or subsequent generations. LaPerms with outcrosses at a lower generational level are placed on the supplementary register; both can be shown.

The organisation with the largest number of LaPerm registrations is the GCCF Approved outcrosses for LaPerm breeding are the Ocicat, Aby/Somali, Asian group and Tonkinese. American breeders have stopped using the pedigree outcrosses because they were approved for a limited time period, but the LaPerm Society of America would like limited appropriate pedigree outcrosses to be approved again, not only for the genetic health benefits but also to enable them to work on breed programmes with LaPerm breeders in other countries. American breeders are already importing LaPerms to the USA form the UK.”