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What is a pedigree?
Pedigreed cats have a pedigree, which has
a similar structure in all organizations:
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Name of organization |
Registration-number |
| Name of the cat |
Date of birth |
Sex |
Breed and colour code |
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Breeder |
Additional information |
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Parents
1st generation |
Grandparents
2nd generation |
Great-grandparents
3rd generation |
Great-great-grandparents
4th generation |
| Sire |
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| Queen |
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In some organizations the pedigree form is in landscape, in some it
is in portrait format.
Depending on the organization 3-generations-pedigrees, or
4-generations-pedigrees are issued, but also pedigrees with more
generations.
The cat has a name, mostly consisting of a first name and a
cattery name.
Each organization registers cattery names (quasi the family
name of the cat) by its own. There is no central registration of
cattery names for all organizations; thus the same cattery name may
exist in different organizations for different breeders.
The cattery name is chosen by the breeder and is an artificial name.
Each organization has its own regulations, how a cattery name must look
like, how many letters are permitted for the cattery name, if the
cattery name is used as prefix or as suffix. Mostly those regulations
depend on the technical equipment of the organization, i.e. how
intelligent their database is and which pedigree program they have.
Also the first name of the cat is chosen free. There are
also very different rules in each organization.
In some organizations the names of the kittens of one litter must
start with the same letter, in alphabetical order. The 1st litter must
start with the letter A, the 2nd with B, the 3rd with C, and so on.
Some organizations order, which letter is used for all litters for the
entire year, independent from the breeder all litters must start with
the same letter.
Some organizations have no rules, thus the name of each kitten of a
litter may start with another letter.
Also the registration number is very different in each
organization.
Some organizations have 2 registers, a LO-register and a RIEX-register.
Cats whose ancestry are all of the same or a closely related breed,
are registered in the LO-register.
Cats resulting from cross breeding (sometimes also resulting from
certain colours) are registered in the RIEX-register (experimental
register). Some organizations have very detailed rules, which breed is
permitted to be mated with which breed. Other organizations have no
rules.
Then LO or EX resp. RIEX is added to the registration number, which is
mostly a consecutive enumeration.
Some organizations do not make a difference between "normal" breeding
and experimental breeding.
Some organizations also register the registration-number of origin,
where one can see, in which registration body a cat was registered for
the first time.
Each pedigreed cat belongs to a certain breed and has a certain
colour and pattern. This is encoded in every organization.
These breed- and colour codes are very different.
CFA uses a number-system, GCCF uses breed numbers, numbers and letters
for the colour-code, FIFe uses 3 letters for the breed and numbers and
small letters for the colour-code, etc.
Mostly in the first 2 generations the colour and pattern is fully
written, but also the naming for colours and patterns might be
different.
At
http://www.eurocatfancy.de/en/nav/faq/colourcode_system.html
you find a table of the various breed- and colour-coding systems.
One must study those codes to understand them.
Many organizations transcribe the pedigrees from other organizations
to their own system, which is not for free, of course.

Titles of cats Each organization has its own titles,
because it has its own show system.
You find an overview, which titles exist in which organization, at:
Shows/titles.html
In some organizations cats having a title from its own organization
are written with red or bold letters. But, not every organization
transfers the titles from another organization.
If the titles are transferred, they are marked with a special sign or
written in brackets. Such cats are mostly not written in red or bold
letters.
There is no consense amongst the various organizations concerning the
titles or how the titles are abbreviated.
There is also no consense, if titles are transferred or not. 
Additional information If there is any additional
information of the cat recorded on the pedigree, depends very often on
the breeding rules of an organization, if it has any.
An additional information may be:
 | Test results - if a cat has for example a negative PKD-test
result, or if a cat has a hearing certificate (audiometric test in
white cats).
Unfortunately it is not ruled in every organization that certain
tests are mandatory. |
 | Blood typing - which blood type a cat has, which might
save the survival of kittens, if the blood type of the sire fits to
the blood type of the queen.
Most of the cats have blood type A. But there are breeds, like
British Shorthair, Exotic, Cornish Rex, Devon Rex, Somali, Sphynx,
which have a rather high percentage of blood type B. And this can
cause severe survival problems for the kittens, if their mother has
blood type B and the father has blood type A, as very strong
antibodies are built in blood type B against blood type A. |
 | Microchip number - still not all breeding animals are
microchipped. Also here the rules vary strongly in each
organization.
It would be much better to use the microchip number instead of a
registration number, because the microchip number is unique. The
same registration number can exist in different organizations,
because there is no consense between the organizations. |
 | Litter size - Also this figure is not recorded in every
organization. One can see from the litter size, how a breed
developed during the last years, when the litter size has decreased,
which is already a fact in some breeds. |

What is a pedigree? CFA gives the following definition,
what a pedigree is:
| PEDIGREE - A form on
which a cat and its background is recorded for three generations
back.
PEDIGREED CAT - Usually refers to a cat whose heritage is
known, documented, and registered. Allowable exceptions are
those specified under individual breed registration
requirements.
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| See:
http://www.cfa.org/articles/glossary.html |
In TICA it is presumed that everyone knows, what a pedigree is.
Also in FIFe it is presumed that everyone knows, what a pedigree
is.

Transfer
What is that?
Many organizations register, when a cat gets a new owner, especially
when kittens are sold by the breeders.
Green Slip
In CFA the new owner receives a green slip, where the dates of the
cat, as described above, are recorded, and where sire and queen and
the breeder are recorded.
With this green slip the new owner may apply at CFA for a full
pedigree.
It is not common practice that pedigrees are issued for litters. A
breeder registers his litters, but nothing more, and does not receive
pedigrees automatically.
Blue Slip
In TICA the new owner receives a blue slip, where the dates, as
described above, are recorded, where the sire and the queen and the
breeder are recorded.
With this blue slip the new owner may apply at TICA for a full
pedigree.
It is not common practice that pedigrees are issued for litters. A
breeder registers his litters, but nothing more, and does not receive
pedigrees automatically.
Transfer in FIFe
Each FIFe-member has its own form, because FIFe does not have a
central registration, each FIFe-member issues its own pedigrees.
It is mandatory for FIFe-breeders that his own club issues a transfer
paper.
It is also mandatory that cats (also kittens or neuters)
can be sold or transferred to a new owner only with a pedigree.

© katzenzeitung 3/2007 |
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