- I was
appointed to chair this committee.
Also serving are Tom Dent, Liz Watson, and Peg Johnson. Tom, Liz and I were able to meet as a
committee at the CFA Central Office on 21 August 2003. I met with Peg on 3 September 2003 in
Atlanta.
- We
established the following basic “commandments” for this tracking service:
a.
Participation in the CATS does not guarantee acceptance or breed
recognition in CFA’s registry. This
applies to all categories in paragraph 3 below.
b. No
cats or prospective breeds can have “wild” ancestry, e.g. Geoffrey’s cats,
Margays, Leopard cats, etc.
c. No
cats will be accepted based on gross deformity to the structure of the cats,
e.g. “Twisties” or “Munchkins”.
d. New
prospective breeds will establish parameters for the prospective breed. The parameters will be followed for inclusion
of subsequent offspring.
e. Other
parameters are discussed under the specific category.
- CATS will establish a database, which
will track the following categories.
Tom Dent will establish this tracking service using a current
pedigree program of his choice.
- Recognized
breeds with insufficient record of ancestry to be included in the CFA
Registry, e.g. Siamese or Abyssinians with less than 8 generations,
etc. Also, recognized breeds with
ancestry ineligible for registration, e.g. British Shorthairs with
pointed ancestry. Cats must follow
CFA registration rules to qualify.
- Recognized
breeds with no ancestral history or registration. Case in point, China. Cats will follow CFA registrations
rules to ultimately qualify for CFA registration.
- Recognized
breeds from unrecognized associations (ICE, UFO, et al.) Cats will follow CFA registration rules
to ultimately qualify for CFA registration. Additionally, cats moving to
registration status may have to have two (2) additional generations for
CFA registration (predicated on Breed Council “desires”).
- Breeds
recognized by other associations but not CFA. For example, Australian Mists,
Burmillas, etc. Rules 2b and 2c
above apply, and breed registration in those associations for these
breeds will provide the rules for tracking, i.e. Australian Cat
Federation, for these examples.
- Nascent
breeds: cats with distinctive
features with Rules 2b and 2c above applying. The prospective breed group will
establish parameters to follow for tracking purposes.
- Tom
Dent will develop the unique application form to be used for entering each
cat and subsequent litters, into the CATS.
This form will be similar, but not the same, as that currently used
to register cats and litters into the CFA Registry. Additionally, a Validation of Ancestral
Tracking form will be issued for each cat/litter tracked. This would be a simple form the size of
the current CFA Championship form.
- Tracking
numbers will be assigned to each cat tracked. The committee would like to use a
numbering system similar to, but not the same, as is the current practice
in the CFA Registry. A unique
identifier, such as T380 for a “tracked” Ruddy Abyssinian male and a new
alphanumeric designation for nascent or “other breeds (EX001 for an
nascent or ACF01 – for a breed recognized by Australia but not CFA, for
example).
- Fees: $10 for each individual cat; $10 per each generation; and, $20 for
application for transfer to the CFA Registry (once the cat qualifies by
having the appropriate number of generations tracked.
- We
want to make this system as simple as possible, using as much of our
current registration rules as feasible.
We feel we are able to track the forementioned
categories of cats in order to either qualify them for inclusion in the
CFA Registry, as is the case for recognized breeds, and, to provide
empirical data for those desiring to apply for registration in the CFA
Registry.
- The
CATS is a work in process.
Tentative start date is 7 January 2004, hopefully with the input of cats from The Peoples’ Republic of China.