Cat breed - Definition and Overview

A cat breed is an infrasubspecific rank for the classification of domestic cats. A cat is considered to be of a certain cat breed if it is true breeding for the traits that define that breed. Only three percent of owned cats belong to a cat breed, and an even smaller percentage of those are suitable as show cats. A breeding certificate proves that a cat belongs to a cat breed by showing the cat's pedigree back to at least four generations. The whole concept of cat breeds is a relatively new one. Two hundred years ago there was no such thing. Today there are almost a hundred cat breeds. Varieties of domestic cat can also be identified by characteristics other than breed.

See selective breeding for more indepth detail on purebred animals.

See also

• List of cat breeds
• Cat types
• Cat Fanciers' Association

External links

• Is my cat a purebred? (http://www.breedlist.com/faq/purebred.html)
• Cat breeds FAQ (http://www.travelswithtigger.com/fanciers/breed-desc.html)
• The Cat Fanciers' Association recognized breeds (http://www.cfainc.org/breeds.html)