CFA International Cat Show


The CFA International Cat Show is a cat show hosted by the Cat Fanciers' Association. The Cat Fanciers' Association was founded in 1906 after it separated from the American Cat Association.
The CFA International Cat Show has been held on an annual basis since 1994 with the exceptions of 2007, 2010, and 2020-2022. Considered the Rolls-Royce of international cat shows, it is the largest show of its type in the US. Cleveland has hosted the event a record five times. Males or neutered males have won "Best in Show" eighteen of the twenty-seven times the show has been held. The Persian cat breed has won "Best in Show" seventeen of the past twenty-seven shows. The show was renamed the CFA-Royal Canin World Championship in 2012. Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat Litter became lead sponsor in 2013. In 2015 it returned to using the "CFA International Show" name.

Competition

In 2019, the show was held on October 12–13 in Cleveland, Ohio. The show was traditionally held the weekend before Thanksgiving in November in the United States. At each show, there are twelve to sixteen specialty judging rings, which are for both long-haired and shorthaired cat breeds, including kittens, Championship cat, and Premiership cat. Day one of the show is preliminaries for best in breed such as Persian, Maine Coon, and Tonkinese. The second and final day of the competition shows the best in each cat breed in all three categories mentioned then compete for the best in each category overall, then for "Best in Show", which the overall winner of the competition. Top five winners in each category and overall are presented.

Charity

Proceeds from the show go to the Winn Feline Foundation. Since 1968, the foundation has raised over $2 million with the entire amount going to cat health research.

Foundation

CFA Foundation was created on June 22, 1990, the original idea to having a foundation was to educate people on cat history, but has since turned into a museum, Feline Historical Museum, with a complete library full of more than 1,400 books about all things cat related