How many cat breeds are there on earth. How many breeds of cats are there at the moment? How many cats in the world

The progenitor of all cats in the world was a steppe species (according to another version, a forest one), which began to be domesticated 12,000 years ago. Since then, selection has been born, during which the animal acquired certain traits that are beneficial to humans, and lost others. Now it is difficult to answer how many breeds of cats exist in the world, but you can understand this issue.

The uncertainty in the number of breeds is due to the fact that there are 3 largest felinological organizations in the world at the same time:

WCF is the World Federation, the most numerous and authoritative at the moment. It was founded in 1988 in Rio de Janeiro, has more than 540 clubs.
FIFe is one of the participants of the World Felinological Congress. Created in 1950 in Belgium.
TICA - International Association, founded in 1979 in the USA, but later acquired an international format.

The main difficulty lies in the fact that these organizations do not register and recognize breeds at the same time. Most often this happens with a time interval, but sometimes a species recognized by one organization is not confirmed by the rest. In addition, several breeds are constantly being prepared and documented.

Each organization applies its own criteria and parameters to determine the purebred. Most often these criteria are:

body shape and body proportions;
eye color;
temperament and character;
features of wool;
health characteristics, etc.

At the moment, the most varieties are registered in the WCF: about 74, 9 of which are newly registered. FIFe and TICA claim 51 and 73 varieties respectively.

Classifications

The main classifications of cat species are distributed according to 4 main criteria:

by physique;
on the coat;
by color;
by drawing.

By physique

According to this parameter, cats are divided into 6 main groups:

Animals with a powerful physique (heavy type). These include the largest representatives. They have the thickest and strongest tail, powerful steady paws and a large short neck. Maine Coons or Siberian cats are considered typical representatives.
Cobby (chunky). They have a dense and stocky physique. The skeleton is characterized by a wide chest, a large head with a short and wide nose, placed on a shortened neck, which sometimes seems almost absent. Usually the legs are not very high, and the tail is short with a blunt ending. An example would be exotics or manxes.
Oriental. They have a graceful structure with high paws. There is a graceful neck and a narrow long tail. The head and muzzle are always tapered towards the nose. Typical Orientals are Javanese and Balinese, as well as Siamese cats.

Foreign. Flexible body with pronounced musculature. High paws and long tail, wedge-shaped head, oval or almond-shaped eyes. The ears may be elongated. Abyssinians are an example.
Semi-foreign. Those with average parameters are more common than others. Representatives are American Shorthair or Russian Blue.
Half cobby. Slightly stockier breeds than the previous type. A typical representative is the British Shorthair.

By coat

According to this parameter, cat breeds are divided into 5 varieties:

long-haired with wool up to 15 cm long (Burmese, Siberian, Persian cat);
shorthair (Egyptian Mau, Chartreuse, Russian Blue);
curly wool (German Rex, Cornish Rex);
Wirehaired (American Wirehaired);
without wool (, bambino, sphinx).

By color

There are a huge number of colors, but they are all divided into the following main types:

monochrome (korat, havana);
two-color (Norwegian forest, ragdoll);
motley (color-point, angora);
with specks (Persian chinchilla or American shorthair cat);
multicolor or tortoiseshell (bobtail, sphinx, persian).

according to drawing

The main variants of drawings that form the breed:

solid pattern (red, black, brown, gray, etc. breeds);
zonar color (striped, marble or spotted tabby);
white spotting (mostly a whole color with spots of different colors);
solid white;
color-pointed (light body and dark limbs);
silver (smoky, silver, chinchilla and cameo).

Some of the drawings can be viewed in the gallery:

Description of the main breeds

The main types of cats were derived from the earliest, but not always the most common, breeds. And now breeders continue to experiment with these species, achieving new results.

British. They became the ancestors of two main lines: British Longhair and Shorthair, the older of which is the Shorthair. Both species are characterized by an ideal coat, which is very easy to care for: it does not roll and does not shed as actively as other representatives of the cat world.
. In color, they resemble wild rabbits, for which they received their first name - “rabbit cats”. Very accommodating, with a good disposition and graceful body.
Scottish. There are 2 main forms - straight and lop-eared. The base was straight-eared, and the lop-eared was the result of genetic experiments, during which it was possible to fix the gene responsible for the regression of cartilage tissue.
American Curl. The main distinguishing feature is the ears, which are bent inward or backward at different angles. The inner surface of the auricle is densely pubescent. American Curls are very active animals, playfulness and activity remain with them until old age.
European Shorthair. Experts believe that this breed was formed with minimal human participation. It is quite difficult for a non-professional to distinguish these cats from ordinary yard cats, since they are as close as possible in terms of genotype and appearance.
Angora. There is an opinion that she became the predecessor for all long-haired thoroughbred groups. A distinctive feature is the absence of undercoat and a thick collar around the neck.
Egyptian Mau. Of all the species currently known, Mau is the most ancient. For the first time her image was drawn 3 thousand years ago. Her eyes look very unusual: they seem to be lined with eyeliner, and a pattern in the form of the letter “W” is visible between the ears.

Cats are the most common domesticated animals. Indeed, there are so many of them that each person can choose the right cat just for himself. They are all unique and amazing creatures. For any color, size, with or without hair ... Many people are interested in the question, how many breeds of cats exist in the world?

Who can answer this question?

Of course, today in the world of the Internet, you can enter this question into a search engine, and you will be shown whole lists of various cat breeds. However, they may not be entirely accurate, because in practice, even the most experienced specialist will not be able to indicate the exact figure.

Moreover, a lot of disputes have been held between breeders about their breeds, because many cats have existed for a long time, but have not yet been officially recognized.

Naturally, such a process is very serious, otherwise any person could cross two pets and demand that their offspring be registered as a new kind of kittens. For example, all pet lovers know a mestizo cat, but some people who have formed their own circles claim that they have a different name - a designer breed.

Therefore, this issue is dealt with by special organizations.

Also, no one will ever be able to say for sure the exact number of common breeds, for the reason that such official registrations are maintained to this day.

Many lovers of fluffy quadrupeds are concerned about the same questions: what breeds of cats exist? What breed is the most common? How do new animal species appear? However, let's first deal with another issue.

What kind of cats can be considered purebred?

It is clear that not all cats can be included in the list of thoroughbreds. Murkas and Barsikas, known to us all, are ordinary street cats. However, thoroughbreds are those who have a pedigree and it is written in their document.

And such a document is issued by a special club, the so-called felinological organizations. Felinogoli are those people who are engaged in divorce, maintenance and selection of cat breeds.

Therefore, such an organization includes various clubs, and it is in one of them that your thoroughbred lady should be. Such organizations are very well developed and serious, and must be distinguished from the usual associations of felinologists.

Only the club breeds purebred cats, and it distributes animals according to:

breeds;
coat color;
patterns on wool;
sizes;
gender;
character
age.

It is the club that develops and breeds existing breeds, but it also happens that they manage to breed a breed of a non-standard color familiar to everyone or a completely new one. But the club cannot approve this on its own, because this issue will be dealt with by the highest organization, which includes this club.

So let's do it again! Only large organizations that include pet breeding clubs can establish kitten breeds.

First of all, they consider the question of how many such individuals were born. This is necessary in order to avoid various incidents. For example, they could recognize a cat as a new species, which is only one, and in time it died. It turns out that this is the end of the story of the new breed? For such reasons, there should be at least 2 new kittens.

Further, if the kitten is suitable for the list of purebred species, then the associations describe it and decide whether it can participate in exhibitions. It is after going through all these processes that new types of cats are recognized. But that's not all. It seems that it is enough to officially register the animal and that's it, but it's not.

You need a suitable organization that can register the appearance of a pet, but there are a lot of them. There are many large associations, not to mention the fact that there are various regional ones.

For these reasons, that there are too many organizations, it is impossible to establish the exact number of pedigreed males and females.

After all, some of them are built on deceit, that is, they do not care about the standard, quality and how the cat appeared, the main thing is that they are paid. That is why the number of registered kittens is completely different everywhere.

As you can see, it is not possible to accurately determine the figure. For example, in an organization called WCF, there are 70 varieties of purebred cats. Others have completely different numbers.

The main thing to remember is that only professional breeders in specialized clubs have the right to cross animals. And this is very hard work. Therefore, pay attention to the clubs, how many years they have already worked, to the documents, standards and quality of service before buying a pet from them.

Of course, if a person loves purring animals very much, then he will be glad to any new friend of his. After all, love and relationships with a pet are not built on whether he has a document with a pedigree or not. But, think about whether it is worth supporting scammers who deceive people and profit dishonestly?

It is not possible to count all the cats living on Earth, if only because they constantly breed and die. Long-haired and short-haired, large or small, with a rounded or wedge-shaped muzzle, with or without a tail - each variety includes an innumerable number of individuals. From the article we will find out how many cats there are in the world: wild, domestic and purebred.

Wild cats

It is also impossible to determine how many felines are in the wild on planet Earth. Their representatives live on all continents except Antarctica. Some species are quite adapted to the neighborhood with humans. So, the lynx in total has about a million individuals in the world. But some cat populations are dying out before our eyes, despite the constant offspring, and therefore it is difficult to say exactly how many cats there are on earth. This is due to human activities and environmental degradation.

There is such data about endangered species.

lion - currently lives less than 20 thousand;
cheetah - less than 15 thousand;
tiger - no more than 6 thousand;
Asian leopard - approximately 100 individuals;
irbis - a snow leopard with the most beautiful fur in the world - less than 100 individuals;
white lion - a few dozen.

Domestic (mongbred) cats

Studies have been conducted that have proven that over 400 million cats are kept at home. An adult cat at a time brings up to seven kittens. Not all owners limit the breeding of ordinary cats. Village pets regularly bear offspring about three times a year. Only the reproduction of purebred individuals is constantly monitored, and therefore the number of cats in the world is difficult to calculate accurately.

The “livestock” of stray felines in settlements around the world cannot be counted either. Stray animals live near markets and warehouses, in the basements of residential buildings, and sometimes in garbage dumps.

purebred cats

There are not many cat breeds today. These animals were first bred in Asia. Breeds have always been registered by International Phenological Universities. They also monitor the purity of the breed. The American Association officially registered 40 breeds. Only 3% of all domestic cats are purebred. What is meant by breeding? First of all, specific exterior features:

unique color and pattern;
the presence or absence of wool and its type;
body, tail and paw length;
skull shape;
the structure of the auricles;
chest width;
eye color.

There are also secondary signs, for example, features and habits. It is possible to confirm that a cat is a representative of any breed only on the basis of an appropriate document. It is issued to each phenological-typical thoroughbred animal. In cats, the supporting document is a pedigree, and in newborns, a certificate.

Standards

For each breed of cats there are standards compiled by the Association of Felinologists. The standard specifies all the main and secondary requirements and possible disadvantages. The standard explains which conformation features are grounds for disqualification. The variety of breeds is great.

Only by type of wool, a large amount is isolated:

shorthair: Thai cat, British and many others;
long-haired: Persian cat, Siberian and others;
hairless cats: Don, St. Petersburg and Canadian Sphynx, Ukrainian Levkoy.

Take as a basis for the classification of cats and sizes:

small, weighing within four kilograms: toy bean, balinese, minskin and others;
large (up to 15 kg): bob-tails, Maine Coon, Turkish bath, shousi, Siberian, Norwegian forest.

In all countries of the world, clubs require the owners of thoroughbred animals to agree on each mating, as they monitor their frequency. Expensive cats are booked in advance, although not everyone can afford them. Knitting of these breeds of cats just like that, without an order, is not done.

Unfortunately, even the World Cat Congress does not name the exact number of purebred cats. After all, each individual Association and each club maintains its own records of purebred cats, and the number of cats in the list of one organization may not coincide with the list of another. So, from the article, the reader learned that there are approximately 40 cat breeds in the world and they are all different in terms of standards and classification.

July 13, 1871 is a date that everyone who professionally breeds cats knows. The first English exhibition showed 170 cats in 1871, but did not definitively answer the question of how many cat breeds there are in the world. The fact is that the organizer of this event was Garrison Weir, who almost single-handedly compiled a classification of cat breeds, made all the descriptions of color, shape, size.

According to the exhibition in London, Garrison Weir managed to collect 25 breeds. For the first time, Europeans could see Siamese cats among all the animals on display. It seems that it was not possible to objectively assess at that time the compliance with the standards of the cats presented at the exhibition and how many cat breeds there were.

Only 3 people sat on the jury, and among them was Harrison's brother, his friend, and the same Harrison Weir, in person. By the way, he also put his blue tabby on trial. In his memoirs of this exhibition, Ware proudly noted that no one could surpass his pet in brightness of color, either then or later.

But we must pay tribute to Weir, because after this event, cat shows began to take place regularly. The price of such pleasure as the content of a thoroughbred individual has increased significantly. Actually Garrison Weir, whose main occupation was painting, did not set out to calculate how many breeds of cats there are in the world. He just wanted to draw people's attention to the beauty and grace of these animals, to instill love for them.

Today, special international organizations have been created - associations of cat lovers, which keep a strict record of existing breeds and their characteristics. There are 26 of these around the world. Some of the associations are part of the most important body - the World Cat Congress (WCC).

But, unfortunately, even this serious organization will not indicate the exact number of cat breeds. After all, each individual organization maintains its own records of pedigreed cats, where the exact description of the standard is documented. Therefore, each felinological organization has an individual list, the number of which may not coincide with another similar body.

If any of the international structures has the right to enter the World Cat Congress, then they recognize the pedigrees, judging, standards of this association. Each association, in turn, includes a certain number of cat lovers' clubs that breed one or another breed.

Each association itself decides on the timing of pedigreed cat shows, their number, organization of judging, prize fund, etc. A thoroughbred cat is considered only if it has a pedigree, which is issued by the club of cat lovers. Therefore, it is simply not possible to name the exact number of breeds.

However, the figure of the approximate number of cat breeds in the world still exists. If you take into account different sources, then the range ranges from 237-256. Therefore, more often, in order not to be mistaken, the number of pedigreed cats "more than two hundred" appears.

It is not uncommon for amateurs in the field of cat breeding to cross two purebred individuals and demand their recognition as a new breed. The Association, before recognizing a "new phenomenon", takes into account a certain number of similar individuals over several years, in which the same characteristics are repeated. This painstaking process is only possible for professional breeders.

If there is a desire to purchase a thoroughbred purebred cat, then you need not only to check the availability of documents for the animal, but also the status of the club. Even in these organizations there are cases of fraud. It must be understood that the same breed can have varieties: long-haired, wire-haired, short-haired. These are not individual breeds of cats.

How many breeds of cats exist, so many signs exist. An important factor is not only the size, but also the color of the coat. In some breeds, it can be only one or two colors, in others a wide variety is recognized. So, a Siamese cat must be silver-white, with blue eyes and dark markings on the muzzle, ears, paws and tail. And the Bombay purebred cat has only a black color.

It happens that by all indications a cat can be attributed to a thoroughbred, but the wrong eye color or athletic defect is found. Such an individual will not even be allowed to the cat show, they will be rejected. For example, a Thai kao mani cat can only have blue and yellow eyes. It is considered normal even if one eye is blue and the other is yellow.

If it is not easy to answer the question of how many cat breeds there are in the world, then it is even more difficult to calculate how many purebred varieties. Experts give an approximate answer - over 700. It is not at all easy for an ignorant person to understand such a quantity. To choose a thoroughbred pet, it is best to contact a trusted, reliable organization. Otherwise the money will be wasted.

Of course, most cat lovers love their pets not because they are so exceptional. But when a cat is purchased for a subsequent business on her offspring, then you need to be extremely careful when choosing. Such pleasure costs from 300 to 7 thousand dollars. How many cat breeds in total, which are recognized as the most expensive, can be said more precisely.

The most expensive breeds are considered to be Savannah, Chausie, Cao Mani, Safari, Bengal, American Curl, and about a dozen more cats, including the well-known British and Russian blues, Scottish fold, hairless sphinxes.

In the list of the most expensive, you can find the breed of a curly cat - LaPerm, which appeared quite recently (1996) in the process of involuntary crossing. The high cost of such a cat is explained not only by its exotic appearance. It does not cause allergies.

Felinologists, experts in the field of setting standards for cats, testify that for each breed, in addition to its characteristic external features (color, coat length, animal size, presence and length of the tail, head shape), certain character traits are also inherent. when choosing an animal for the home, they must also be taken into account.

Once upon a time, cats were wild animals. Even now, there are individuals who prefer to live in the steppes and forests, and not next to a person. We domesticated them, thanks to which now mustachioed pets coexist peacefully with us. Gradually, work is underway to universalize animals, in other words, new breeds are being developed - diverse, having not only a different appearance, but also a character, habits and other important factors.

A breed is a group of animals that differ from other members of a family or species in a set of certain characteristics. It is clear that for each of us who is the happy owner of a funny fluffy animal, there is no difference what breed he has. We just love him, and the pedigree has nothing to do with it.

A cat is classified as a particular breed if it has and passes on to offspring the traits characteristic of that breed.

However, you need to know that the total number of purebred cats among pets does not exceed 3 percent. Here are the requirements that a particular breed must meet:

Pedigree

Compliance

No disqualifying signs

Pedigree refers to the documents that are issued by the respective club. It can exist only in one case - if the cat is the carrier of all the genetic traits of its breed, which are passed down from generation to generation. The pedigree includes a description of the parents.

This refers to external signs, thanks to which it is possible to accurately determine the belonging of an animal to a particular breed. There are many such factors:

head shape;
the structure and length of the ears;
body length;
coat length or lack thereof;
coat color;
eye color;
tail length and position.

In addition to these signs, there are many more minor ones. So matching the breed is not such an easy task for a pet.

The description of the standards necessarily includes positions in which the cat cannot be considered purebred. These are the so-called disqualifying signs.

For example, an animal is considered a thoroughbred, but it does not have the same structure of the ears or the shape of the face, the color is broken, etc. Mostly this is a consequence of the "mutt" or genetic abnormalities.

It is important to understand that not all deviations from accepted breed standards can cause disqualification. Minor defects only reduce the value of the copy. This is expressed, as a rule, in a price reduction. Existing defects must be indicated in the documents.

It seemed that it could be easier than answering this question. It is enough just to look on the Internet or leaf through the corresponding directory. But in fact, not everything is so simple. The vast majority of experts are unlikely to be able to give an exact figure, not to mention ordinary amateurs.

Why are there certain difficulties here? The thing is that breeds are not taken out of thin air - they are bred, appropriate standards are developed, documentation is made, and a new variety of cats is registered. Naturally, this is done by specialists of a specific profile. All of them work in organizations of felinologists.

Organizations of felinologists

This is a special structure that brings together specialists in the maintenance, breeding and selection of cats.

This organization is the only one of its kind that has the right to recognize a new breed. The association is studying the number of individuals of a new species, on the basis of which an appropriate decision is made. If there are enough of them, then they begin to draw up standards for this species of animals.

Organizations of felinologists - the only one of its kind that has the right to recognize a new breed

To date, there are a large number of such associations. Some of them are very famous and, in fact, set all the rules regarding the classification of domestic cats. These, for example, include the WorldCatFederation (WCF) and the American The CatFanciers' Association (CFA).

There are also less well-known organizations, but this does not mean that they do not have the right to stipulate the standards of existing and new breeds. Another thing is fake associations, which, unfortunately, also exist. They are not interested in the quality of the breeds, they only want money. For an appropriate reward from the owner of the cat, they are ready to recognize it as perhaps the rarest copy of the most common street Barsik in the world. Of course, it is strongly not recommended to cooperate with such unfortunate specialists.

Special clubs

Most of those who own a pet fluffy know what a cat club is. These are organizations where you can buy a cat, get the relevant documents and certificates, which are engaged in exhibitions, etc.

But only a few people know that the clubs are an integral part of the associations of felinologists. In fact, it is their structural unit. Each such organization can include either one or dozens of clubs, depending on the degree of its development. In turn, the clubs include kennels.

The task facing the clubs and their catteries is obvious - it is the breeding of cats according to existing standards. That is, these structures are responsible for maintaining the breed.

A cat club is an organization where you can buy a cat, get the relevant documents and certificates

Club specialists are engaged in the selection of animals, based on parameters such as:

appearance;
color;
character;
temperament;
wool pattern, etc.

Sometimes, during the selection process, it is possible to get a pet that is not similar to other representatives of its species, however, at the same time, it does not have obvious disqualifying signs. In this case, the question of recognizing a new breed may arise. Naturally, the club does not deal with this - it transfers the necessary information to the association of felinologists, which makes the appropriate decision.