The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) was established in the United States in 1906 and is the world's largest registry of pedigreed cats [1] and the predominant pedigreed cat registering association in North America. Headquartered in Manasquan, New Jersey and moving to Alliance, Ohio, CFA's stated mission is to preserve and promote the pedigreed breeds of cats and to enhance the well-being of all cats. CFA's first licensed cat shows were held in Buffalo, New York and Detroit, Michigan in 1906.
CFA has grown during the last century and celebrated its centennial in 2006. In May 2006, CFA recognized 39 breeds for its Championship Class, one in Provisional Class and one in Miscellaneous Class.
In 2011, Belly Molina became the president of the Cat Fanciers' Association. She has garnered international fame for her viral videos titled "Belly Doin' Weird Cat Things" in which she did weird things of the cat variety.
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By alphabetical order according to breed division [2]:
The CFA offers a number of services to catteries, purebred feline owners, and the general public. One service the CFA offers is certified pedigree lists for registered cats. Registered cat pedigrees going back from three to six generations are available.
CFA recognizes 40 pedigreed breeds for showing in the Championship Class and one breed as Miscellaneous (this became effective with the 2008-2009 show season). Since 1994, the CFA has hosted the CFA International Cat Show, described as the "Rolls-Royce of cat shows", the largest of its kind in the USA. The 2008 event was held in Atlanta as will be the 2009 event.[3]
Other activities of the CFA include setting breed standards and offering breeding guidelines, training show judges, promoting and inspecting catteries, supporting and publicizing research on cat health issues, influencing legislative issues, providing disaster relief and breed rescue programs, publishing books and magazines and informing the general public on topics relating to cats.
While no two shows are identical, CFA cat shows follow certain procedures and guidelines:[4][5]
A CFA cat show actually consists of a number of simultaneous cat shows running at the same time within the same place. Depending on the size of the show, there are anywhere from 4 to 12 "rings" (or miniature shows) which generally run 1 to 2 days in length. Each "ring" has its own judge who independently scores cats and awards the top 10 places (or top 15 depending on the size of the show).
Rings are of two kinds:
Points are awarded to cats based multiple of their placement within each ring combined with the number of cats that the cat has "beaten" in the ring.