Cat Association of Southern Africa www.casawcf.co.za

CASA – The first World Cat Federation club in Africa

On 1 March 2007, South Africa and the African continent joined the ranks of the World Cat Federation, when the board voted for the acceptance of The Cat Association of Southern Africa as a member under patronage. Full membership was granted officially during the GA meeting in August 2008.

The World Cat Federation is one of the largest, if not the largest, Pedigreed Cat Organisation in the world and is a founder member of the World Cat Congress. It is difficult to accurately determine the number of clubs, members and cats involved, as clubs register members and their cats individually and not centrally, as many of the other large international bodies do. It is not possible to directly compare figures. A visit to the website proves the impressive number of confederations, federations and clubs Licensed to WCF, the large number of recognised judges and the large number of shows taking place somewhere in the world throughout the year. Now that the African continent also has representation, WCF covers the globe for all practical purposes.

An abstract from the website summarizes it very well as follow:

About World Cat Federation
The WCF was founded on 1988 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by three clubs which were seeking for more democratic and human procedures in the cat fancy, more than other existing federations ever had. Right now the WCF consists of more than 540 clubs throughout the world covering all continents including the United States.
The WCF is registered in Germany as "eingetragener Verein" (registered association) and since the European community is ready - in Brussels as an European Federation, too.
The WCF takes part at consultations, arranged by the European parliament in Strasbourg, and is responsible for animal welfare and legislation in some working parties and hearing. A WCF member, whether it is a club or a federation, is independent in his business.

The philosophy of WCF is one of inclusivity, rather than exclusivity and it accepts all cats registered with any member body of the World Cat Congress, as well as cats registered with most of the other major non-Licensed cat organisations on it’s shows, without the need of re-registration. WCF was a founder member of the World Cat Congress (WCC) and strives for global co-operation in the cat world, while most of the local affairs of clubs, shows and registration remains with the local club, allowing for cultural differences and ensuring that most of the revenue from registrations, shows, etc. remain with the club and it’s members.

South African cat lovers has never practically had access to international competition. That has all changed now, as WCF awards (titles, as it is referred to internationally) are recognised internationally and an award attained in South Africa would count if a cat is exhibited in any other WCF show in the rest of the world.

A cat may only receive one award per day at WCF shows and all classes are separated according to the title of the cat, breed, colour, pattern and sex (and age groups in kittens).

WCF shows are classified as National, International and World shows and are officially licensed by the board and published on the website.

WCF allows only one major award per class, to the cat awarded an Excellent 1 placing, if the cat is of sufficient quality to receive the required point score. Titles are awarded as follow:

Champion/Premier – 3 CAC/CAP at national or international shows from 3 different judges. 93 points required for this award.

International Champion/Premier – 3 CACI/CAPI at 3 international shows from 3 different judges in 2 different countries or regions. 95 points required for this award.

Grand International Champion/Premier – 3 CAGCI/CAGPI at 3 international shows from 3 different judges in 2 different countries or regions. 97 points required for this award.

European/Continental Champion/Premier – 3 CACE/CAPE at 3 international shows from 3 different judges in 3 different countries. 97 points required for this award

Grand European/Continental Champion/Premier – 3 GCACE/GCAPE at 3 international shows from 3 different judges in 3 different countries. 98 points required for this award.

World Champion/Premier – 3 CACM/CAPM at 3 international shows from 3 different judges in 3 different countries on 2 different continents. 98 points required for this award.

World Shows – One award received at a world show, where a judge from the extended board of WCF must officiate, counts as an award received in another country or continent. Only one world show per year is allowed per country, under special license from the board.

CASA has had many successful shows already, in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Western Cape, Northern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal.

There are several WCF Champions/Premiers and International Champions/Premiers in South Africa.

The philosophy of CASA is to enjoy our wonderful hobby in a spirit of friendly competition, complimentary to any other existing cat organisation and to use our energy to promote, build and improve in an environment where we feel welcome and appreciated. Let’s hope that all our members will be allowed and able to live our dream for a long time to come.

Apart from the standard classes on WCF shows, there are also additional side classes and rings which can be entered on a voluntary basis.

“Specials” are additional fun events, where cats of the same breed, or other defined category compete in a side show (or side class.) There are no specific rules and no specific titles awarded. However there is a lot of prestige associated with doing well in a special. This side class is usually judged by a judge well known to have a special interest in the breed. Winning “Best” in a special is indeed a special event, while being place very high in the scores really tells the owner and breeder of the exhibit something about the quality of the exhibit. The specials are not only fun, although that is an important part of it. This open style judging is often also very informative, with the judge discussing certain important of unique features of the breed and giving advice on some of the aspects in breeding and presentation, etc. of the breed. Cats doing well in the specials will most of the time automatically end up in the Best on Show line-up as well. There are also extra prizes to be won in the special side classes.

The WCF ring, which is additional to the standard classes, is open to any registered exhibit on a WCF show, and is probably the fairest system for calculating points towards Regional and National Top Cat scores and may be used in future for this additional purpose. If the rings are popular and practical in the registered section, it may be also be introduced in the domestic section in future. See below the rules on the rings, as published on the WCF website.

Johan Lamprecht - President – CASA

WCF-ring
A WCF-ring may be conducted by each club, federation, which is a member of WCF. The distribution is as follows:
Kitten-ring	Kittens with an age of 10 weeks to 10 month, regardless the class and sex.
Neuter-ring	Neuters, regardless the breed, colour and sex.
Adult-ring	Cats older than 10 months, regardless the breed, colour and sex.
Every cat, which was entered into the exhibition, may participate. There may be awarded 10 prizes per ring as maximum. The minimum number of participants is 4. If four cats participate, 2 cups can be awarded, if six cats participate, 3 cups can be awarded, if twenty cats participate, 10 cups can be awarded. Split of the WCF-ring Up to 39 participants the ring cannot be split, if there are more than 39 participants, the ring may be split. That means, starting with 40 participants in a ring, the ring may be split, but there must be at least 4 cats present in the second ring. If 43 participants are present, a second ring may be organized, the split is voluntary
WCF-Master-ring
This ring is organized once per year and per country, permission is granted by the office of the WCF. Participation in the Master-ring In general the winners of the 1st and 2nd place of a WCF-ring, the winner of a Best in Show, the winner of Best of Best and World Champions / Premiors may participate in the Mater-ring, which is conducted once per year. But if the WCF-rings are split, there is only one winner and the winner of the 2nd place may not participate in the master-ring, only the winner of 1st place of each part-ring can participate. The winner of a Master-ring is entitled to be called MASTER and this title is registered in the pedigree. Split of the Master-ring The Master-ring may also be split in case of a sufficient number of cats present. The split is made in the way as for an ordinary WCF-ring. There must be at least 39 cats present in the first ring and 4 cats present in the 2nd ring, otherwise adult cats compete together with the kittens and the neuters in one ring. South Africans can now also compete for the Prestigious "Best Cat of WCF" title and various other international positions, based on the local wins of their cats. An explanation of the system and rules can be found on the WCF website.