Significant Events in the History of the Australian Cat Federation (ACF) Inc.

Special Moments

June 2017, breeders, judges and exhibitors converged on Melbourne for the 45th ACF National Annual and meetings, hosted by Governing Council of the Cat Fancy of Australia & Victoria (GCCFV). Officiating over the two days of the show were judges from NLKV, one of the oldest & largest independent association in the Netherlands, CFA, TICA. NZCF and ACF. The Supreme Exhibit was Kalame Abishua a British Shorthair owned and bred by Faye Martini–Jakson, Royal Canin and OzPet continued their very generous support, in addition to state member bodies, clubs and individual breeders

The Lykoi breed often referred to as the Werewolf cat was up for recognition with ACF, Attendees were very fortunate to meet and assess two recent arrivals from the USA with excellent temperaments another observation was the unique appearance of the coat in that it looks very sparse and wiry but is in fact very soft. The following day the Lykoi was accepted, with the requirement that breeders continue to provide health reports to the relevant member body and the ACF Secretary and to continue to DNA testing.

Dr. Caroline Barrett’s BVSc, interesting and informative presentation on Nutrition of Cats at Different Life Stages, Pamela Barrett’s topic was Compare and Contrast the Birman & Ragdoll whilst Darrell Newkirk presented the Abyssinian which included a discussion on the differences between the cats in the US compared to the Australian cats. Kaai du Plessis covered Technology and judging, the negatives and positives.

The final presenter of the day was Dr. Richard Malik BVSc FACVSc PhD on the Genetic Diseases in Cats. His presentation was extremely entertaining and informative and left the audience wanting an encore.

Judges who are listed on a Member Body’s open panel of judges and have been accepted by the ACF Inc. for inclusion on its National Panel of Judges are to be known as licenced ACF Inc. National Judges (with their member body notated in brackets).

ACF (Inc.) is to develop a policy re the treatment or otherwise of Feral Cats in Australia where they threaten the viability of Australian Indigenous Species. That the policy defines specifically what is acceptable and what is unacceptable treatment of these cats as far as the Australian Cat Fancy and ACF (Inc.) in particular is concerned. On the adoption of a mutual agreeable policy, the ACF (Inc.) rigorously pursue its adoption by government instrumentalities charged with the treatment of Feral Cats. ACF was represented at the first Roundtable Seminar by the Commissioner for Threatened Species by Alison Moore and Julie Schuller participated via phone.