Feline federations hold an essential place in the world of purebred cats, particularly in recognizing different cat breeds and maintaining the standards.

What is a feline federation?

It is an association, a cat registry centered on purebred cats. The missions for which a cat breed registry is responsible are diverse:

• Creates and maintains the pedigrees of cats registered in its databases.
• Delivers the pedigrees of the cats.
• Drafts the standards of feline breeds and improves the selection of cat breeds.
• Organizes cat shows and trains judges.
• Controls feline farms.
• Raises awareness of animal protection.
• Promotes the purebred cat.

What is the role of feline federations and how do they work?

They all have similar missions, even if the operating mode may vary from one association to another.

Also, if many federations recognize the majority of the breeds, some cat breeds are not standardized by others. Indeed, between 40 and 70 feline breeds are thus registered depending on the federations.
For example, five federations do not recognize The American Bobtail, while one does not recognize The Bengal cat.

A cat breed must first be accepted with provisional status to be recognized by a feline association. The selection of a breed of cats varies according to the feline federation.

What are the Feline Federations?

You can find cat breeders’ associations all around the world. We listed for you some of the international and national federations. You might visit their websites for further information.

International

• Cat Fanciers’ Association (USA)
  Established in 1906, it is located in Alliance, Ohio. The CFA is currently the world’s largest registry of pedigreed cats.
• Fédération Internationale Féline (Europe)
  Created in 1949, the FIFe currently recognizes 48 official breeds of cats for championship competitions. There are forty-three member organizations in forty-one countries. FIFe is one of the nine members of the World Cat Congress.
• The International Cat Association (USA)
  Based in Texas, TICA was created in 1979.
• World Cat Federation (Germany)
  Established in 1988 in Rio de Janeiro, its headquarters is now in Germany. It recognizes 61 cat breeds.

National

• Australian Cat Federation (Australia)
  Created in 1972, its headquarters is in Canning Vale, in Western Australia. It recognizes 40 cat breeds.
• American Cat Fanciers Association (USA)
  Created in Texas in 1955, it recognizes 52 cat breeds.
• Association Feline Canadienne also called Canadian Cat Association (CANADA)
  Created in 1960 and located in Toronto, it recognizes 43 cat breeds.
• Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (England)
  Established in 1910, it is located in Bridgwater Somerset in England. It recognizes 48 breeds.
• Livre Officiel des Origines Félines (France)
  Created in 1996, it is located in France and recognizes 54 breeds.
• Cat Aficionado Association (China)
  Headquartered in Beijing, China, CAA was established officially on March 3, 2001.
• Southern Africa Cat Council (South Africa)
  Created in 1945.
• New Zealand Cat Fancy (New Zealand)
  Founded in 1930, it recognizes nowadays 52 cat breeds.

Many of the national feline associations are affiliated with international ones. You might find the cat registry of your country in those organizations.