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THERE were eight distinct families or racial groups from which all cats derived, said Steve Crow, chairman of the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF), the feline equivalent to the Kennel Club. Speaking at the meeting in London on June 10, he explained that these were naturally occurring breeds, and had arisen as cats had started to expand through the world from northern Africa, mainly via trade routes. As cats settled in different parts of the world and mutations occurred, these families were created. Each group had specific phenotypes reflecting where they came from; for example, fur length dependent on the climate.
Unlike dogs, the concept of cat breeds was a relatively new one, he said, and 200 years ago, there had been no such thing. Dog breeds had tended to originate through the selection of traits that were good for work, such as hunting or herding, and crossing these breeds, but mixed breeds in cats were descended from random-bred cats.
The first official cat show took place in Crystal Palace in London in July 1871. It had over 150 exhibits and followed the fashion in the late 19th century for exhibitions and shows for small animals such as dogs, poultry and pigeons. Five breeds were on show: the Persian, the British shorthair, the Manx, the Abyssinian and the Siamese, along with some hybrid wildcats.
The show was incredibly successful and another took place only six months later. This led to the development of cat shows and cat clubs. At the time of the first cat show, cat breeding was very much a 'hobby of the rich', and, like today, people looked for traits in breeds that made them different. They wanted the exotic and unusual, and sometimes even the unique, and this started the public's interest in cat breeding.
'We can't put the genie back in the box with the Bengal and the Sphinx, but we will not add any more'
Today, there were almost 100 cat breeds worldwide, of which the GCCF recognised 38. Phenotypes had changed over the years,...