NOVEMBER 1968 - SOf FANCY The E"otic II •... 10 Few Lines 12 C!S Reporter . .. 5 New Research 13 Cots Bookshelf 14 Tl Fonciers Forum 24 Birth Control 18 Picture of Month .. 17 Show Colendor 26 Glomour Puss 22 Whot's Mew. .•... 16 Show Reports 29 FEATURES Dr. LesCallette... 20 F ARTICLES Editorial. • . • •• 4 Arobello .••••.. 31 The Cot Artist . .. 8 Readers Write ••. 6 Bock Fence •..•• 38 I 100 SUGGESTIONS FOR CAT CHRISTMAS GIFTS L=:==::::=!!!!!::::.----::=JI 10 NOVEMBER 1968 THE MOD PERSIAN IN THE MINI~SKIRT".III CPA'S ANSWER admission of illicit breeding, nor what could be described as a Persian Perceiving this dilemma, one should anything of the sort be read Shorthair. The sine qua non is sufficient national association, The Cat Fanciers' into this action. It means one thing Persian somewhere in the background, Association, Inc., took a radical and and one thing only. The cat in questions not necessarily in the immediate enlightened step. It moved to protect has Persian characteristics, probably parentage, to give the Persian type the Domestic-known to it as the because of Persian ancestry in the and head. Since long hair is recessive American Shorthair-by bringing its "unknown parentage" portion of the to short hair in any case, retaining the standard back into line with its true pedigree, and can more properly be short coat while enhancing the Persian characteristics. judged in the Exotic Shorthair class conformation is not too difficult. The At the same time, by recognizing whose standard it meets than in the most obvious choice of Shorthair to for championship competition a breed American Shorthair class whose stand­ use is the American. As quick or to be known as the Exotic Shorthair, ard it does not meet. quicker results may be obtained, it created a legitimate place for those Any cat so transferred retains all however, by the crossing of Burmese lovely short-haired cats which are its previous wins and titles. Once and Persian. In some ways the Burmese Persian in appearance. It did this in transferred, it may not be transferred cat is not unlike the Persian, being a wholly realistic way. Because there back and all offspring from it must be rather cobby with broad chest, short are so few recorded generations of registered as Exotic Shorthair. A judge thick neck, rounded head contour American Shorthair on even the best encountering a cat he believes to have with a nose break, and gold eyes. of bloodlines, it is impossible for the characteristics of the Exotic One of the most striking Exotics the anyone to say with any certainty that Shorthair may request permission to writer has seen was a beautifully­ a cat does not have Persian in its transfer it to that class and judge it marked Tortoiseshell bred by a well­ background which may reappear through there and, in such a case, the owner known judge from a Burmese dam and inbreeding or linebreeding. Many of may well find it better for the cat's a Cream Persian sire. the old-timers who introduced Persian future to make such a transfer. No There are some advantages in the rather than go so far as to provide a judge is likely to make this request use of other breeds for producing false pedigree, registered the resulting lightly or capriciously, and he cannot Chinchilla or Shaded Silver Exotic kittens as being of "unknown parent­ in good conscience give wins to a Shorthairs. Chocolatepoint Siamese age", apparently believing that this cat in a class which is, in his opinion combines we 11 with Silver Persian lessened the guilt. Therefore any and judgment, the wrong one. It may and seems to result in the wanted breeder today may have cats of this not be transferred, however, without intense green eyes of a good Silver. type even though he himself may have the permission of the exhibitor, and A green-eyed Abyssinian with its conducted his own breeding operations no coercion is entailed in such a under the most rigid ethics. Those request. by Jane S, Martinke whose cats resemble the standard for BREEDING THE EXOTIC Last mcmth Mrs, Martinke covered the origin Exotic Shorthair more nearly than that This is the procedure for cats and history 0/ the Exot ic Shorthair and presented for American Shorthair may, at their already in existence who meet the the problems raised by the imroduct ion in past option and of their own freewill, transfer standard for this breed, but the delib­ years 0/ Persian genes into Domestic lines. them to that breed and there no erate creation of such cats can be This month she discusses the Exotic today-its is shaw and registration status, its pUTpose, and stigma of any sort attached to this endlessly fascinating. There are many its breeding. action. Contrary to the misconceptions ways in which they may be produced, about this misunderstood breed, such as any Shorthair breed may be used ticking can also be used profitably a step does not imply in any wayan with Persian to accomplish the aim of for Silver breeding. The strong Persian type may be a little slower to emerge from these combinations, however. Some not too well versed in the uses and purposes of. .hybrid breeding have decried the \permissiveness of the us e of any Shorthair in the \pro­ duction of the Exotic Shorthairand profess to see in this a downgrading Cream of the high standards and strict reg­ and Red Tabb}' istration rules which we all admire. Exotic This outcry is heard with the appear­ Kiuens ance of every new hybrid breed. Indeed, Courtesy it is heard very loudly over the intro­ Linda duction of new colors in the old and Lopez well-established breeds. In a breed which is created through open and intentional hybridizing, however, it is unimportant whether there are two breeds or ten in the background, pro­ vided only that all breeds used have been sanctioned for this purpose. The important thing is the cat itself and its offspring. CAT5 MAGAZI NE 11 Also overlooked is the basic built-in safeguard against mongrelizing inherent in such a breed. These cats are bred to a specific standard which is fully as rigid in all respects as the standard for any of our time-honored natural breeds, and it is expected that judges finding unworthy specimens of the breed in a show will exercise their right and duty to refuse to grant a win to such a cat. Nor can any downgrading of the breeds used in the production of such a hybrid breed result, for all the offspring of an Exotic Shorthair must be registered as Exotic Shorthairs. NEED FOR THE EXOTIC This is a type of cat for which the cat fancy had a genuine and growing need-a need which those with the responsibility for the future of a pro­ liferating cat fancy had the vision to recognize and the courage and wisdom to act on. Often in our world such needs are recognized only by the few until the remedy becomes a reality. The world did not really know it needed the synthetic fiber Nylon, hybrid if you will, until the imagination, vision and hard work of the research Exotic Shorthair - Irene Powell chemists at DuPont gave it to the providing in its rules the necessary and there simply are not enough homes world, yet milady's wardrobe has been remedy for this problem. to go around. This has held back the richer for it and the other man-made WHERE BRITISH BLUES BELONG many ethical breeders from doing the fibers which followed. Nor did these Another useful purpose has been amount of experimental breeding with fibers supplant the natural ones of served by the creation of this breed. Domestics needed to bring them to silk, cotton and linen. Instead they Many people do not realize that the perfection. However, everyone has at complemented them and they have been British Shorthair cat is not the same some time or other heard a child (and combined with them to produce even cat as our Domestic Shorthair, but is perhaps even some grown-ups) boast more interesting materials with unique rather, even in England, a breed dis­ pridefully that "My cat's mother was a qualities of their own. tinct in itself and has Persian on the full-blooded Persian" or "My cat has Exotic Shorthairs are a very new pedigree in most cases, this being a Siamese father" when both cats in breed recognized JUSt two years ago permitted by British registration rules. question appear to be "just plain cat". and eligible for competition only during Up until the creation of the Exotic There is snob value here and there is the 1967-68 show season. There has Shorthair, British Shorthairs brought always a home to be found for kittens not yet been time for many of them to to this country had been classed as whose one parent is a pedigreed cat. appear in the shows. It takes more American Shorthairs in CFA and had How much more then will people be time and thought and work to produce competed in those classes. The facts willing to accept a lovely kitten, a worthy specimen of a hybrid breed on their background came to light at both of whose parents -are registered than it does from a natural breed. Only about the same time that the Exotics cats and which is eligible for regis­ in the last couple of years have we were recognized, and since they pro­ tration itself, so that even the culls seen really sizeable clas ses of Him­ vided the perfect class for the British from the litters bred for show purposes alayans at most shows even though Shorthairs which were produced in the will be able to li"e happy lives as they were recognized a long time ago, same manner, CFA directed that these honored members of cat-loving families.