Fédération Internationale Féline

Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe) (lit.'International Feline Federation') is a globally operating federation of Felidae animals (mainly domestic cats). In 2026, the federation had 42 members from 40 countries. FIFe is one of the nine members of the World Cat Congress, making it one of the major and reputable cat registries for pedigree registration of cat breeds worldwide.

History

FIFe was founded by French cat-lover Madame Marguérite Miggy Ravel in 1949. The federation unofficially started in 1949 in Paris, France, at a meeting between the Fédération Féline Française ("French Cat Federation"), the Royal Cat Society of Flanders, and the Associazione Nazionale Felina Italiana ("Italian National Feline Association"). At the organisation's first general assembly, in Ghent, Belgium, the federation was officially founded. For the occasion, all participants received a cat shaped statuette, in pink sandstone, that Marguerite Ravel had commissioned from the sculptor Jan Martel.

The original name was Fédération Internationale Féline d'Europe (FIFE). In 1972, the Brazilian Cat Club (Portuguese: Clube Brasileiro do Gato) joined, making it necessary to change the Euro-centric name of the federation. The d'Europe (lit.'of Europe') was dropped, and the abbreviation was changed to FIFe with a lowercase 'e'.

Recognised breeds

FIFe currently recognises 48 official breeds of cat for championship competitions. All breeds are divided into four categories and identified with a three-letter code, according to the Easy Mind System (EMS), used by FIFe and all its members to easily identify cats by alphanumeric codes.

Members

See also

• List of cat breeds
• List of cat registries
• Fédération Cynologique Internationale for dogs

External links