The International Cat Association
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| Abbreviation | TICA |
|---|---|
| Motto | Fabulous Felines…Fun…Friendships |
| Formation | June 22, 1979 |
| Founders | Georgia Morgan, Larry Paul, Arthel Schuermann |
| Founded at | Branson, Missouri |
| Location | |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Members
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6,000 |
|
President
|
Fate Mays |
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Vice President
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Bobbie Tullo |
| Fate Mays, Bobbie Tullo, Motoko Oizumi, Mike Vasquez, Susan Adler, Gloria Mahan, Donna Madison, Ralph Stadter, Ellen Crockett, Wendy Klamm, Laurie Patton, Alexandra Chisolm, Phil Cornwell, Luiz Paulo Faccioli, Damien Bourreau | |
| Website | tica |
The International Cat Association (TICA) is the world's largest genetic cat registry. Originally a North American organization, it now has a worldwide presence. The organization has a genetic registry for pedigreed and household pet cats and is one of the world's largest sanctioning bodies for cat shows.
TICA's activities include:
TICA administers the rules for the licensing and management of hundreds of cat shows annually in 104 countries. The TICA show season runs from May 1 to April 30 of a given year at which point all Regional and International Award points are reset. All TICA shows are open to the public.
A TICA cat show is a number of smaller shows all running at the same time in various “rings” throughout the show hall. Each ring is run by a licensed TICA judge who evaluates each cat based on a written standard that describes the ideal for each particular breed. Household pets and household pet kittens (cats of random or unknown breeding, or pedigree cats that for one reason or another cannot show in championship classes), are not judged against a standard but instead are evaluated on overall condition, health, appearance and personality.
TICA recognizes cats for competition in 8 classes. Each class is judged separately. For example, alters are not judged against kittens. Each cat entered in the show is assigned an identifying number based on its class and coat length so that exhibitors know when their cats are needed in a ring.
In the rare instance where there are more cats than fit in the range of numbers, the next class starts with the first available number. For example, if there are 55 longhair kittens, then those kittens are 1-55, the shorthair kittens would start at 56.
A typical judging ring is usually made up of an L or U shaped arrangement of cages, with the judge’s table in the center. Three people normally work in each judging ring: the judge, clerk and steward.
All TICA judges are trained and licensed to thoroughly evaluate each breed of cat in order of how well they represent their individual breed standard.
The clerk acts as an executive assistant to the judge. They are responsible for the accuracy of all records of the ring. Each clerk keeps a marked catalog of the results of the ring and validates that what the judge writes in their own records is how the awards were presented in their evaluation to the audience.
A steward helps keeps the cages clean and disinfected in between cats in order to prevent illnesses from spreading.
There are two types of judging rings at TICA shows, Allbreed and Specialty. Allbreed rings will have all longhair cats and shorthair cats within each class judged together in competition with one another. In a Specialty ring, longhair cats within each class are only judged against longhair cats and shorthair cats are only judged against shorthair cats.
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