Organisation

75 Years the Best for Cats

The FIFe can be considered as the United Nations of Cat Federations. In fact it is a federation of national members representing, at present, 40 countries with 42 Members, but whose numbers continue to grow. These Member organisations have chosen to follow the same rules with regard to breed standards, breeding and registration, cattery names, shows, judges and student judges. This common interest has, over the years, been consolidated to create the high standard and international reputation of the FIFe.

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History
Organisation
Statistics
Introduction to FIFe
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One lady’s dream becomes reality

The idea of an international European cat federation was the dream of Madame Marguérite (Miggy) Ravel, a French cat lover, who first began working towards her goal in the early thirties. Finally, at a meeting in Paris in 1949 between the Royal Cat Society of Flanders, the French Cat Federation and the Italian Cat Society, her efforts bore fruit with the unofficial founding of the Fédération Internationale Féline d’Europe (FIFE).

The site of the 1st FIFe show in Paris, 1949

The first FIFe show was held in Paris in 1949 at which over 200 cats were present with the exhibitors coming from France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands. By today’s standards, 200 cats would be considered a relatively small show—one of the FIFe World Shows had more than 1,950 entries with exhibitors coming from all over the world.

On 10th December 1950, the new federation held its first General Assembly in Ghent, Belgium and, with the acceptance of its statutes and rules, was officially founded. To mark the occasion, Madame Ravel presented each delegate with a cat, sculptured in pink sandstone, which she had especially commissioned from a French artist, Jean Martel.

The FIFE becomes the FIFe

The federation grew considerably over the years. With the acceptance of the Brazilian Clube Brasileiro do Gato in 1972, the FIFE had expanded beyond Europe and thus had to change its name, which it did at the following year’s General Assembly, becoming the Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe).

Each of the National Members of FIFe retains its own identity, with the FIFe guaranteeing their complete uniformity with cat breed standards, breeding and registration, cattery names, shows, judges and student judges training.

The accent within FIFe is on healthy and happy cats which is reflected in its rules with their emphasis on health and welfare.

Organisation

The Executive Board of the FIFe is the co-ordinating body on the international level. The Board is made up of six people from the Member countries who are elected by the Members; they manage the organisation according to its Statutes. There are six supporting Commissions whose responsibility is to implement the decisions of the General Assembly and the Board. These are: the Breeding & Registration Commission, the Health & Welfare Commission, the Judges & Standard Commission, the Show Commission, the Public Relations Commission and the Disciplinary Commission. The democratic structure of the organisation guarantees each Member equal voting rights at the General Assembly, which convenes annually to discuss and vote upon the proposals of the Members, to elect new functionaries, debate new regulations and accept common strategies.

FIFe has always had good relations with all the major cat organisations of the world. Its official seat is in Luxembourg and its official languages are French, German and English. The Secretariat is administered by the FIFe General Secretary, who handles the daily affairs for all the Members; these include the co-ordination of show dates, the processing of cattery names data and the administrative work of judges’ examinations.

The name of FIFe is synonymous with quality and unity

Statistics

41 Members in 39 countries
1 Patronage Member
well over 200 International Judges
well over 100 Student Judges, of which about 30 candidates training in their first category
well over 100,000 individual members within the Federation
well over 100,000 pedigrees and 1,500 cattery names a year are registered
well over 500 shows per year with more than 200,000 cats exhibited