World Cat Congress 2007

All nine members of the World Cat Congress were present. They were represented by Lesley Morgan-Blythe, delegate of the Australian Cat Federation (ACF), Cheryl U’Ren, delegate of the Co-ordinating Cat Council of Australia (CCCA), Pam DelaBar, delegate of the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA), Eric Reijers, delegate of the Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe), Betty Shingleton, delegate of the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF), Albie Jobson, delegate of the New Zealand Cat Fancy (NZCF), Kaai du Plessis, delegate of the Southern Africa Cat Council (SACC), Kay De Vilbiss, delegate of The International Cat Association (TICA) and Ortrun Wagner, delegate of the World Cat Federation (WCF).

Traditionally the annual meeting of the WCC was organized for four days, including a public seminar, a two-days cat show and an internal meeting. On Friday morning Eric Reijers, vice-president of the WCC, opened the event with a welcome speech to the seminar's attendees, followed by Anneliese Hackmann, president of the hosting WCF and Alban Morin, International Marketing Director of Royal Canin. He presented the guide "Cat Breeding", issued by RC in three languages, which was made available for the seminar's attendees.

Lecture on Hyperthrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), Dr. Susan Little

The first of two lectures was presented by Dr. Susan Little, veterinary from Ottawa/Canada, president of the Winn Feline Foundation and already well-known as excellent speaker at WCC's events. Subject of her great Powerpoint presentation was „Hyperthrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM)“, unfortunately, a quite common heart disease in cats.

Presentation of the Ural Rex, Olga Mironova

A short coffee break followed, then Olga Mironova, WCF all-breed judge from Ekaterinburg/Russia, who was ably assisted by the simultaneous translating of WCF's second vice-president Anna Rudakova, from Penza/Russia, introduced the seminar attendees to one of the WCF’s newest breeds—the Ural Rex.

Skin diseases in cats, Dr. Chiara Noli

The next speaker was Dr. Chiara Noli, veterinary from Cueno/ Italy lecturing about skin diseases in cats and focusing on the specific problems in accurately diagnosing.

Presentation of the Turkish Van white, Marion Schacht

After lunch the German Turkish Van breeder Marion Schacht introduced another breed: the all-white Turkish Van. The day after the breed began the march toward full-recognition in the WCF, when presented in the recognition show.

Parasites in cats, Dr. Chiara Noli
Feline Pediatrics, Dr. Susan Little

Then Dr. Noli took the floor again for her second presentation about  „Parasites“, before the effervescent Dr. Susan Little rounded out the seminar's presentations with her second lecture about Feline Pediatrics.

Questions from the audience

Pam DelaBar, president of the World Cat Congress introduced the WCC delegates and opened the seminar for a short  questions and answers session.

Show according WCF-rules

The following morning the doors of the Congress Center of Dortmund's Westfalenhallen were opened to the public for a two-day World Cat Federation cat show. Over six hundred cats, representing over thirty breeds were presented to the delegates of the World Cat Congress, traditionally working as judges, during the course of the exhibition: Penny Bydlinski, Pam DelaBar, Kay De Vilbiss, Kaai du Plessis, Albie Jobson, Lesley Morgan-Blythe, and Cheryl U’Ren. All breed Judge Marion Meister represented the WCF in the show ring. The Best of Best for Saturday was Tombrock’s Supertramp, a black Persian owned by Helen and Thorsten Zimmer, from Germany, and for Sunday the Best in Show was a white Norwegian Forest Cat, W.Ch. Toralf Tabaluga av Senja, owned by another German, Sybille Bauer. For more information see www.deutsche-edelkatze.de

Closed Meeting

On Monday morning, World Cat Congress president Pam DelaBar opened the WCC closed meeting. After the approval of the minutes of the previous year’s meeting, the meeting then moved on to old business, of which there were several items to discuss. The first involved establishing the WCC as a legal entity with a non-profit-making status, next was the establishment of a WCC code of ethics. After some discussion it was agreed that the WCC should not have - nor impose on its members - such a code, but should instead encourage all of its members to develop their own if they didn’t have one already. Similar results were forthcoming in their decision regarding the next item - disaster relief.

The bulk shipping of puppies and kittens to Asian countries, from mostly Australia and Russia, has been a topic of concern for several WCC members for the last two years. The Australian delegation pointed out that, for example, even though regulations were in place in Australia regarding the number of animals that could be placed in a shipping crate, the airlines were not abiding by them, nor was the government doing anything to enforce them. They asked that a letter from the WCC be drafted and sent to the relevant department in the Australian government. It was agreed.

After the meeting moved on to financial matters and fees, then on to the next item on the agenda—member reports, proposals from the members were next on the agenda. The ACF proposed that protocols for artificial insemination and registration procedures be formulated by the WCC, which would then be subscribed to by all of the members. The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy delegate, Betty Shingleton, agreed to work with the Australian delegate, Lesley Morgan-Blythe, on drawing up a draft statement to present the following year.

Pam Delabar was re-elected as president for another term, Ole Magne Grytvik was elected to a new term as vice-president and Penny Bydlinski was re-confirmed as secretary/treasurer.

While the details of the member problems are not for publication, what can be said is that the issues were put on the table and the process of mediation to find an acceptable solution in keeping with the spirit of promoting harmony in the cat fancy was begun.

Ms DelaBar, representing the Cat Fancier’s Association and the host of next year’s WCC, informed the delegates that the venue was still being decided, but would probably be Washington, D.C., Houston, Texas or Las Vegas, Nevada. Cheryl U’Ren said that the Co-ordinating Cat Council of Australia would be happy to host the 2009 meeting and there was a suggestion that this could be in conjunction with New Zealand Cat Fancy.

The tranquil atmosphere in the cat fancy today is proof that the WCC has lived up to its slogan. The WCC provides a very effective means of mediation to bring about the friendly resolution of problems and differences among—and between—its member organizations, and as a result, this tranquility is sure to remain in the years to come.

Source: Bob Schwartz, Press Release (shortened and summarized)