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By CATHY SCARBROUGH

Cat pedigrees are a map to the history of a cat. Colors, titles, breeds, birthdays and generations of ancestor's names are all compacted on one piece of paper. So much valuable information!

And the value depends on what you are looking for.  Some folks look at a pedigree and see all the titles and awards of relatives.  Others are looking to see if cats are related to others in the pedigree for linebreeding or outcrossing. 

Some are looking for colors to see if the cat carries dilute or golden.  Some are looking at the numbers to see if a cat is "pure" or colorbred, or if there is another color in the line. Some are looking at the numbers to see how far back an Exotic or Himalayan line starts. 

Others look at birthdays and want to know if that cat is still alive and thriving.  More
want to know how inbred a cat may be. Still others are looking for certain traits that may or may not resurface. Lots of information there if you know how to read it.

I have talked to many people who have these valuable bits of information and do not know how to read it.

Reading a CFA pedigree
When reading a CFA pedigree, the top will give you information on that particular cat, breed, name, number, sex, color, birthday and a title at this point in time.  I always wished that all our
pedigrees would be dated because that would at least give a progression of titles and names associated with the cat.  Titles change as the cats are shown. It is very possible, and highly probable, for parents, grandparents and even greatgrandparents of a cat to earn titles after that pedigree is printed/written.  (To see the entire pedigree closer up, click on the image in the right. The image will open in a new window.)

And cats change ownership. 

In most registries, cats that change hands can easily change names. It is only a matter of sending some money and have "of Cattery" added as an extension of an existing name and then, as the cat changes hands, to have that change to "of NewerCattery." But the name is limited to 35 characters. Even if it is "certified", meaning validated by the registry of that cat, some of these options can change.  So a pedigree can have variances over the lives of the cats. What is certified today may not be the same as what is validated or finalized 10 years down the road.  So our pedigrees change constantly when acquiring new information.

The first four numbers of a cat registered in CFA tell the breed, color and sex.  A zero in the leading number means the cat is "pure" Persian.  (Am NOT going into what determines "pure" here for sure!)  A "7" in the first position indicates that the cat is an Exotic (a short-haired Persian?) and that 7 leading digit will never go away for any future offspring.  A "3" in the first position means that the cat at some time was bred to a Pointed Persian (a Himalayan) and that indication will never go away on the offspring either. It is part of the history of the cat in the CFA association.

The second and third position of the number indicates the color of the cat.  And the last digit of the first four digits indicates the sex. If the last digit is an even number, the cat is a male.  If it is an odd number, the cat is a female.

For example, 0130-XXXXX is a Persian, Chinchilla, Male. 0133-XXXXX is a Persian, Shaded Silver, Female. The last digits started with -001 and the last one I have is in the 9xxxxx, soon to be 7 digits following. That is a lot of cats.  But another numbering story.

Looking at the body of the pedigree, it will be divided into two parts: the sire and the dam.  The males will always be listed first.  Therefore, the top part of the pedigree is the father of the cat, the bottom part is the female.

Likewise, each branch of each generation attached, usually with brackets, the sire will always be attached above the cat in question and the female will be attached below. Always! So when talking about a cat, the sire is always first and then the dam.  It is written Dad X Mom. Always.

Linechasing: an addiction?

Being a Persian (Exotic and Himalayan) linechaser by hobby, it still amazes me, but I no longer feel threatened, when I ask for a pedigree and people get all out of sorts! These sacred numbers are on public websites, in show catalogs and on pedigrees!  And I belong to several linechaser lists who
allow no stone unturned.  We are always looking for that next generation.  Some cats have been chased back as far as the 1890s.

Today, most linechasers are a dedicated group of individuals that get pedigree information from studbooks, cat magazines, old handwritten pedigrees, yearbooks, almanacs, cat catalogs, journals, websites. It is mostly done online, but not all linechasers have computers.  There are
several linechasing lists, and one that is for silvers and goldens only.  Pedigree software varies and it is very competitive.

Why do we do it? 

One thing that comes to mind is that at one time a cat did not automatically earn the title of Distinguished Merit.  DM is a title that is earned by a male who sired 15 Grand Champions or DMs.  Or a female who gave birth to five Grands or DMs.  Each owner had to apply for the DM status. 

Our group has "DM'd" over a handful of cats where the owner did not know the cat had earned the title.  Those owners were thrilled.  And many a time, we have been able to provide CFA with information to help them find data that has been scattered in their records. It is not unusual for a dedicated linechaser to have more than 100,000 Persian cats in their database.  It is one
of few lists where there is information is being constantly added too, voluntarily, with no emotional overtures.  Just the facts from written pieces of paper.

And it is fun.

To me, it is like a big jigsaw puzzle.  Why do some feel so threatened when asked?  I remember at one time 25 years ago, I was told to protect that information.  But for the life of me, I can't remember why now!  What can someone else do with it?

I do know that when the last studbook was published in the early 1960s, there are now big gaps in pedigree information and that the line-chasers are forever on the lookout for catalogs and publications from that era.  So don't just pitch them out when cleaning that closet!

Pedigrees are to be shared, that is the history of the cat. They are to be studied, as they are a learning tool.  That pedigree is the only thing that distinguishes a registered cat from the cat of the streets.  We know who the parents and grandparents are!

Hey, might you be a linechaser, too?

Cathy Scarborough is a longtime breeder of shaded and chinchilla persians under the cattery name Carictor.
About Pedigrees