All 45 cat breeds created in the United States of America

The US is by far the biggest marketplace (if that is the right phrase) for the domestic cat and it can be no surprise that by far the most cat breeds have been created there compared to any other country.

America, quickly followed Great Britain in developing a cat fancy (the breeding and showing of purebred cats). It all kicked off in the years immediately preceding the 20th century. 

Created in America 😹🙀😻🐈‍⬛. This is not a distinct cat breed but a cat representing all the breeds.

The first well-known cat show in America took place in 1895 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Enthusiastic cat fanciers organized this event to promote cat breeding and showcasing in the United States. 🐾. It featured a variety of feline stars. Among them, a brown tabby Maine Coon emerged as the big winner. The event drew thousands of cat enthusiasts, showcasing both pedigreed and domestic cats.

The cat fancy was 'invented' by the English and the Americans took it too the next level. Their Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) and The International Cat Association (TICA) are the best known cat associations in the world.

I would suggest that the American cat fancy exists thanks to the descendants of European immigrants. They brought with them their love of the domestic cat and then the purebred cat. 

There was a surge in cat breed creation in the middle of the 20th century which included a fascination with the wild cat hybrids, the most notable of which is the Bengal, a cross at F1 level between the Asiatic leopard cat and a non-purebred cat. The Savannah (serval cross) followed and there are others such as the Chausie (jungle cat cross).

But these wild cat hybrids were accepted with reluctance by the CFA, an old-school cat association. They believed that the wild cat genes made these cats unsuited to domestic life. At F5 they are fine. The CFA still does not accept the Savannah which is strange as at F5 the cat is no wilder then the F5 Bengal which is accepted. TICA accepted the wild cat hybrids.

RELATED: Cat History

1. American Bobtail (1960s)
2. American Curl (1981)
3. American Lynx (1980s)
4. American Shorthair (1966)
5. American Wirehair (1966)
6. Balinese (1940s)
7. Bengal (1963)
8. Bombay (1958)
9. California Rex (1959)
10. California Spangle (1971)
11. Chantilly (1967)
12. Chausie (1995)
13. Exotic Shorthair (1966)
14. Himalayan (1950s)
15. Javanese (1960s)
16. Karakul (1930s)
17. LaPerm (1986)
18. Longhair Exotic (1990s)
19. Maine Coon (1860s)
20. Malayan (1980)
21. Mei Toi (1994)
22. Mexican Hairless (1902)
23. Missouri Rex (1990s)
24. Munchkin (1991-Recognition Date)
25. Nebelung (1990s)
26. Ocicat (1964)
27. Ohio Rex (1944)
28. Ojos Azules (1984)
29. Oregon Rex (1959)
30. Peke-faced Persian (1930s)
31. Pixie-bob (1995)
32. RagaMuffin (1994)
33. Ragdoll (1960s)
34. Renegade (1997)
35. Safari Cat (1980s)
36. Savannah (1997?)
37. Selkirk Rex (1987)
38. Serengeti (1996?)
39. Si-Rex (1986)
40. Snow Cat (1990s)
41. Snowshoe (1960s)
42. Somali (1967)
43. Tiffany (1967)
44. Tonkinese (1950s)
45. York Chocolate (1983)

The Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA), established in the United States in 1906, is currently the world’s largest registry of pedigreed cats. Their mission is to preserve and promote pedigreed cat breeds while enhancing the well-being of all cats. Whether you’re interested in choosing, caring for, or breeding cats, the CFA offers information, advice, and expertise to cat enthusiasts. 🐱

The International Cat Association (TICA), established in the United States in 1979, is the world’s largest genetic registry for pedigreed and household pet cats. Originally North American, it now has a global reach. TICA’s key activities include:

1. Encouraging members to be cat owners, lovers, and breeders who work together to preserve pedigreed cats and promote domestic cat health and welfare.
2. Maintaining a certified pedigree registry.
3. Hosting cat shows that showcase both pedigreed and non-pedigreed cats.
4. Fostering positive relations between breeders across the U.S. and other countries.
5. Supporting feline health research through a foundation and providing resource materials to members.

TICA also administers rules for hundreds of cat shows worldwide, evaluates cats based on breed standards, and recognizes cats in various classes. Their commitment to preserving distinct cat breeds ensures predictable traits for future generations.

I know of 6 American cat associations:

In North America, several cat associations play pivotal roles in promoting feline welfare and breeding. Here are some of the recognized major cat associations:

1. CFA (The Cat Fanciers’ Association): A prestigious organization that oversees cat shows, breed standards, and registrations in the United States.
2. CFF (Cat Fanciers’ Federation): Another notable association dedicated to pedigreed cats and cat shows.
3. ACA (American Cat Association): A non-profit organization that advocates for responsible breeding and cat welfare.
4. ACFA (American Cat Fanciers Association): A cat registry that recognizes purebred, pedigreed cats, experimental breeds, and household pets.
5. CCA (Canadian Cat Association): Although based in Canada, it collaborates closely with American counterparts. This is added for completeness! 🙀😉
6. TICA (The International Cat Association): A global registry that promotes pedigreed and household pet cats.

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Software engineer enjoys the Dolce Vita, working remotely in Italy for American employers

There's a little snippet of a story in the newspapers today about Americans being tired of political strife in America and fleeing to live in Italy for a bit of the Dolce Vita.

The general drift of the story is that people are indeed tired of the crazy politics in America and it would appear that some Americans are tired of the prices in America compared to those in Italy.

To return to the software engineer enjoying the Dolce Vita. He comes from San Francisco. To outsiders, San Francisco is meant to be a nice place but I believe that crime has taken over due to the legalisation of drugs. But I might have got that slightly wrong.

American woman and her cat living in a hilltop village in Italy. Image: DALLE-E 3

Anyway, the software engineer's name is Phil Puleo, 47. He left San Francisco and his $3000 a month flat during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He now pays €850 a month for a larger apartment in Rovigo, Italy, in south-west of Venice.

He says that "It's walkable, safe and coffee costs €1.20 not the $7 I paid in the US."

The best thing for him is that he is still doing his old job but remotely. He is able to keep his American wages which must be very good for him now that he works in Italy with the Italian prices being much lower than American prices where he worked and lived in the past.

The only downside is that he is now a shift worker. He has to adjust for the time difference between America and Italy and he now works from 3 PM to 10 PM but perhaps that is not a downside! It seems pretty cushy to me.

Phil is not alone. Other popular destinations include Lake Garda, Florence and Rome. A high profile emigrant to Italy from America is Kristen Helmstetter. 

She emigrated to Italy with her family and swapped her Michigan lifestyle for a hilltop town in Italy five years ago. She cites the crazy American politics. 

And she wanted to show her daughter a different way of life. It's said that she is part of "a growing exodus of Americans taking citizenship in Italy to escape the political polarisation and toxic culture wars in their homeland." Those are the words of The Times journalist, Tom Kington. Kristen was able to get an Italian passport as she has ancestors from Italy.

Apparently there are between 16-24 million Americans living in America who can take advantage of an Italian law which offers citizenship to those who can show that they had an Italian ancestor alive in 1861 or later.

Now, what about cats! I've got to add them into the article somehow. My initial very strong feeling is that if you have a cat companion their lives are going to be much better in a hilltop town in Italy which will be sleepy, quiet, warmer, beautiful, less noisy et cetera et cetera.

You have to comply with the pet importation laws into Europe from America. I have a story of an American who takes his three cats from America to Europe on holiday! Brave man. Interesting attitude. Read about him by clicking on this link.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

147 words which explain why cat declawing is barbaric and unnecessary

This is a 147-word letter to the editor on the Detroit Free Press website that was pointed out to me by a mate of mine, Doug, and which needs to be aired and recycled for as many people as possible to see. It sums up what is so immoral and cruel about this operation which has been and continues to be encouraged by many thousands of veterinarians in the United States. It is a shocking state of affairs when you consider that each vet who amputates the distal joint of each fore-toe of a kitten does so in gross breach of their solemn oath not to harm patients. In 99.99% of cases declawing is carried out for non-therapeutic reasons and therefore is a breach of oath. As such the operation is arguably a assault by a professional on a kitten and a crime under America's animal welfare laws.

RELATED: Epidemic of Botched Cat Declaw Operations.

Here is the letter - thanks Melissa Sanger in Brighton:

As a licensed veterinary technician, I have tried to comfort cats as they writhe in pain, desperately trying to pull the blood-soaked bandages from their mutilated paws after being declawed. This barbaric disfigurement — which involves severing the first digit of every toe, bones and all — should be banned everywhere.

Cats claw to exercise, stretch and mark territory. Cutting off their body parts cuts off their ability to engage in these natural and important behaviors, and can cause them lifelong back and joint pain.

Without claws, many cats resort to eliminating outside the litterbox to mark their territory. Once-friendly cats often become withdrawn and aggressive. Studies show that declawed cats are more likely to have behavioral problems, often resulting in abandonment by the very people who had them declawed.

Providing plenty of scratching posts and regular nail trims will protect furniture, and cats’ physical and psychological well-being.

Best dozen US cities for cat lovers

According to a US lawn care and landscaping business, LawnStarter, the best dozen cities for cat lovers are listed below. This is an image and not an interactive table:

So, what do you make of this table? I'm not so sure about it myself, to be perfectly honest. No doubt they have done quite a good job. They have used various criteria such as access to veterinary clinics, the availability and cost of cat sitters and the feline friendliness of local rental properties. All good criteria but not comprehensive. I don't know what their full list of criteria is but I would rank as the top qualification for a city to be cat friendly as lack of road traffic. 

About Orlando they say:

Orlando has a place for your kitty with a good share of cat-friendly rental homes (No. 26), boarding establishments (No. 1), and cat sitters (No. 1).

The place where road traffic is the lightest and where the risk of your cat being run over by a vehicle is the biggest single fear for many cat owners when they decide to let their cat go outside.

People don't use cat sitters that much, in general, and all cat owners try and avoid the veterinary clinic for obvious reasons. So, I think the big issues really are more about how good the neighbours are by which I mean how good they are about accepting the presence of cats and how much traffic there is.

Neat and cheap catio or cat enclosure. Always a good facility for domestic cats. Photo in public domain.

If you live in a place where the neighbours don't like community cats or even outside domestic cats because they think they spread disease and are a nuisance, it's going to be a bad place to live if you have a cat. Also, there is bound to be big variations across a city such as Orlando, Florida where some parts of it are very cat friendly and other parts are less so.

I'm just picking a few holes in the idea of ranking cities in any country by their cat friendliness. It's more just an exercise to attract viewers to a page which no doubt was the purpose for LawnStarter. Nonetheless, it is quite interesting and quite useful provided you take it with a pinch of salt. My intention is not to undermine the people who did the survey, which appears to have taken quite a long time, but to simply provide my opinion.

America needs an animal sentience law

I recently wrote about the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which is a proposed animal welfare law going through UK's Parliament at the moment. It will enshrine in law the principle that animals are sentient. What this means is that the fact that animals have feelings and feel pain will be recognised in law and it will ensure that people, their policies and activities must not clash with the basic principle that animals are sentient creatures.

American needs animal sentience legislation. Image: Pixabay.

It is like a bedrock, a common standard, a thread that should run through all laws and activities in a country. When any new law or existing law clashes with this basic principle of animal sentience then it should be reviewed by a committee set up under the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act, as it will become when it is enacted.

It is a beautiful piece of animal welfare legislation (provided it is well drafted) because it automatically protects animals at a fundamental level. Of course, many people will object to it. However, the people who object should not be listened to because they are the ones who are abusing animals or who are indifferent to animal abuse. It is already far too late to stop animal abuse and exploitation. Humankind can do much better.

It is time that humankind stopped exploiting animals for their own benefit. I don't feel that we have the right to do it. And the world is moving in that direction. The world is catching up with my thoughts on this. Of course, the world is developing at different speeds which is a great barrier to harmony on the planet but the UK and America can lead on animal welfare.

This piece of UK legislation authorises a body of people, a committee, to investigate activities and policies which rub up against this sentience legislation. But the committee will not be able to make any orders or legal demands. They can simply advise and suggest. That is a weakness but it is probably a compromise. There will be many objectors, as mentioned, particularly the conservative elite or the rich Republicans in America (their equivalent).

They are the people who like to go sport hunting or trophy hunting. They are the ones who take enjoyment in killing animals. Fishing is a problem too. People think fish are inanimate objects but they feel pain. This has been proved in a study. One day fishing will be banned I suspect but it will be a long way off. This sentience law would impact angling for pleasure in my opinion

It would also dramatically and fatally impact the declawing of cats in America, which is perhaps the major reason why I love this proposed act of Parliament. If America had something similar going through their federal legislation it would spell the end of declawing, there is no doubt about it. Declawing is unsustainable in a moral society which genuinely regards cats as sentient beings.

This legislation will change attitudes to animals. Laws can do that. They infiltrate the minds of the citizens of the country to the point where they gradually absorb the law as a societal norm and accept it. This is one of the great benefits of well written legislation. At that point, when the principles of the sort of law are fully integrated into society, enforcement will be far less important and the standards of animal welfare would have been raised substantially.

In the UK, the sort of people who are objecting to it are those who are engaged in countryside pursuits such as shooting birds and foxhunters, even though foxhunting is banned but it still takes place under the radar. The farmers might object but provided a law is well written farmers shouldn't because it should not impact them unless they are abusing livestock.

The only people who would complain are those who are unjustifiably harming animals. There is never a justification for abusing animals and thereby if a farmer did abuse them, they should feel the full force of the law against them. An aspect of farming which may be impacted is the provision of halal meat. This is arguably a cruel process because the throats of animals are slit without being stunned. UK veterinarians wanted this to be banned or they wanted some restrictions placed on it. An animal sentience act such as the one mentioned would impact the production of halal meat in my view.

This law has the power to infiltrate all aspects of humankind's relationship with animals. It would take time for people to adjust because there is plenty of animal abuse even in the UK. But adjust they will and the animals will at least have an umbrella law protection.

Tenting for termites killed 6 community cats in South Beach Miami

SOUTH BEACH, MIAMI - NEWS AND COMMENT: Six community cats were killed by a fumigation chemical possibly colorless sulfuryl fluoride when they entered a building that was being 'tented'. There are businesses which cover a building in a tent so no gases can escape from it and then they pump in fumigation chemicals to kill every termite and nasty organism inside the building to render it completely free of these pests.

This is a file photo from Wikipedia of a tent fumigation process in Los Angeles, Calif.

Clearly it is a dangerous process because the chemicals can harm animals and people. Therefore, there must be strict rules on how they go about fumigated buildings in this way. They have to check to make sure the building is free of all life before they pump in the chemicals. They have to make sure there's no means of an animal getting into the building.

In this instance, six cats did get into the building or to buildings that were being tented and were trapped after they draped the tent over the building. It seems that nobody checked to make sure the building was clear and as a consequence they were poisoned. They were community cats which means that they were domestic cats living in the community being cared for by volunteers.

CLICK FOR PAGES ON KIDS KILLING CATS

The volunteers got to know these cats very well and they become their pets. One such person is Holly Whalan who lives in South Beach, Miami. She said that three of the cats who died were come into her home and snuggle with her on the sofa. One cat, Sol, would hug her. They had become her pets she said and she is extremely distraught. She said: "I can only imagine their fear. Being suffocated to death and having nowhere to hide."

The 6 cats killed by tenting. Montage: 7News Miami.

Three of the cats, Maru, Sol and Chloe were known to Whalan. They were three of 15,000 community cats living in Miami Beach. A local non-profit caring for the cats in partnership with the city, SoBe Cats, emphasised that they were not feral cats and that they were looked after in all respects including veterinary bills, by volunteers.

Whalan said that the building had a crawlspace which allowed the cats to get in which was subsequently fixed. She says that it was a code violation to leave that crawlspace access open to the cats. She claims that it was a code violation. SoBe Cats made a complaint to the city about the fact that the openings were not covered properly.

A further three were also killed in the same way. These cats were Oreo, Barbie and Lemon. Another South Beach resident was very fond of them. A local news media business, 7News, said that the city had known about this problem for a long time and therefore it must have happened before without any action being taken.

The city say that they cannot pass laws regulating fumigation companies because it is the state's responsibility. In the meantime, the volunteers wonder what can be done to protect community cats under the circumstances.

Comment: based upon the report on 7News it is clear that the fumigation business was negligent but they not been punished because of a lack of evidence, apparently. And it seems that nothing will be done in the future in the way of proactive steps to stop a recurrence.

Ragdoll Kittens are available again from 'American Ragdoll Kitten'

I wouldn't normally do this and in fact this is perhaps the first time that I have done it but I'm going to promote an American Ragdoll breeder - American Ragdoll Kitten - because they emailed me. They saw the potential for emailing me which tickled my fancy! I don't know how good or bad they are but they look good. Their website looks good. You can click on the link below to go to their website. As they say, Ragdoll kittens are available again. It is that time of year for them.

Ragdoll Kittens are available again from 'American Ragdoll Kittens'. Photo: the cattery from their website. These are satisfied customers with their gorgeous Ragdoll cats.

When I think of the Ragdoll cat, I think of a cat which is probably the best suited to modern life. They are perhaps the only purebred cat where the breeder is concerned about both appearance and a specific character. Normally the appearance is 90% of the task for a breeder but in respect of the Ragdoll it is a 50-50 situation. 

The Ragdoll is built around their laid-back character. They pretty well have to have this character to be described as a Ragdoll. Which is why I think they should be suited to living full-time in the home which is a growing trend for various reasons, one of which is because more people live in the urban environment.

Although Covid has changed that, certainly in the UK where a lot of people have moved out of the country to work from home on a permanent or semipermanent basis. This may also be relationship between human and cat for the better it should be said.

The Ragdoll is in the top 5 most popular cat breeds and is gaining in popularity. It is a better cat than the flat-faced Persian which topped the popularity charts for years. Click the link below to read much more:

• Ragdoll cats - a range of articles
• Ragdoll cats - a specific article on the breed.

American Ragdoll Kitten say this about themselves:

We are a CATTERY of Excellence and Distinction with TICA and CFA. American Ragdoll Kittens located in USA, serving all round the States and the international community!

They ship internationally which should interest the citizens of countries other than the US.

The first domestic cats in North America?

 The first domestic cats in North America? No cats visible in the 
picture! But there were some and they were the first domestic
cats of North America. Picture in the public domain (assessed).

We don't know exactly the date of the first domestic cats in North America but it's likely that the English and European settlers who first arrived in 1607 and thereafter in the 1700s brought domestic cats. These were the first domestic cats in North America. They settled at Jamestown which is located as per the map below:

Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas on Oct 12 1492 but we don't have any record of cats being aboard that ship! What if there was a ship's cat and it came ashore? It would have been the first domestic cat in North America. He made landfall in the Caribbean.

The Europeans settled on the east coast such as Maine. These cats were the forerunners of the Maine Coon cat.

I have nothing more to say as I have answered the question. I hope! :)  -- I forget to mention one thing: there were no native domestic cats in North America, never have been, which is why they had to be imported. In other words no small wild cat was domesticated in N. America. The bobcat was and is too big and the ocelot has the wrong character.

Does TNR Work?

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Mass Trap Neuter Release Planned For Kauai, Hawaii

Kauai, Hawaii is a small island about 45 kms in diameter. I guess they have lots of seabirds. It is the sort of place where seabirds are the primary wildlife and they are potential prey for feral cats. You'd have thought with that in mind the authorities would have taken effective proactive steps years ago to ensure that cat owners behaved in a responsible way towards their duty in ensuring that their cats did not breed and did not wander to the point where they became feral.

But no, so the island has the classic "feral cat problem". Fortunately the authorities have set up an 11 member task force to use humane methods to reduce and control the feral cat population. Although the methods will not be totally humane - there is likely to be some killing but at present we don't know how much.

The target is no feral or stray cats on the island by 2025. How long does it take for trap-neuter-return to take full effect and reduce the feral cat population to zero? They have 11 years. I'd thought that was not enough time. In fact, I am pretty sure it is not enough time. It assumes a short lifespan for each feral cat but some may live longer than planned and the target requires completely successful (100% of cats neutered) TNR program across the island. This is probably unattainable and the TNR may take years putting the target back. It may have been wiser to set a more relaxed target so that success was more likely.

The plan is to TNR until 2020 combined with rigorous record keeping to monitor the progress. The aim is to achieve 90% feral cats TNR'ed by 2020.

It seems that they plan to TNR adult cats and try and adopt out kittens. There is certainly an admission that there will be some killing occurring in conjunction with the TNR.

Phase II will place strict requirements on the keeping of cat colonies. Where there are groups of cats they will have to be on private, fenced property and registered, certified etc.. I presume this refers to multicat households of those people who wish to care for feral cats. Most feral cat carers won't have the means to comply in my opinion.

At least the task for director has the correct starting point and attitude:

"It has to be done humanely, but we can't just leave this problem to sort itself out."

Source story.