How many quality-points does your cat litter get?
- A responsible breeder wants to breed
high-quality cats and wants to contribute to improvement of
his own breed.
- A responsible breeders just does not want
to breed cats for selling them.
- A responsible breeder wants to breed
healthy and high-quality cats.
But is this ambitious goal reached?
Do you make a quality assessment of your cat litters?
Or do you just compare your kittens with those cats winning frequently in shows?
Mostly only that part of the standard is read, which describes
the characteristics of the cat breed. Then eventually the colour table is studied.
But the scale of points is skipped. This scale is full of numbers and looks like
an evaluation, and figures and numbers are suspicious in the cat fancy.
One can get the impression that also the cat judges only learned that scale of
points for the examination, but when judging they do not really use and apply
that scale. To apply this scale of points is estimated to be inappropriate, as a
cat has to be judged as an entire entity, where the evaluation and judgement of
this entity is subject of subjective interpretation.
But this scale of points is a very useful tool for judges as
well as for breeders and can work as measurement of a cat's quality.
How can the scale of points be used for quality assessment (and measurement)
of cat litters and kittens?
Necessary ingredients:
|
The most important characteristics of the cat breed |
These characteristics - which are important for a cat breed,
are described systematically in the standard:
| Head |
- Shape of the head
round, wedge-shaped, triangular, trapezium-shaped
- Forehead
flat, arched, rounded
- Cheeks, cheekbones
rounded, high set, prominent
- Nose
short, long, straight, curved (mostly concave), with
an indentation, with a stop
- Profile
long, straight, curved
- Muzzle
with whisker-break, broad, fine, rounded, square
- Jaws, bite
broad, fine, pointed
- Chin
firm, in line with the nose tip
|
| Ears |
- Shape
rounded, pointed, broad at the base
- Size
small, medium in size, large
- Placement, how they are set
erect, upright, high set, deep set, set wide apart,
tilted forward, set close together
|
| Eyes |
- Shape
oval, almond-shaped, round, oriental
- Size
medium in size, large
- Color
even, dark, deep, brilliant
- Placement, how they are set
set wide apart, set at least one eye width apart,
slanted, oblique, straight
|
| Body |
- Boning
medium, strong, solid, fine
- Shape (structure) of the body
long, elongated, short, sturdy, cobby, slender,
lithe
- Shoulders
broad, well developed, muscular, narrow
- Back
muscular, arched, short, straight, level, rising
toward the hindquarters
- Chest
broad, arched, deep, fine rib cage
- Musculature
hard, compact, firm, sinewy
|
| Legs |
- Legs
long, slender, sturdy, short, thick, elegant, fine,
hind legs longer than front legs, straight front
legs
- Paws
large, round, dainty, oval, firm, compact, long toes
|
| Tail |
- long, short,
- thin,
thick,
- tapered,
- broad at the base,
- Bobtail, Rumpy
|
| Coat texture |
- Texture
fine, dense, coarse top coat, guard hairs,
silky, smooth, glossy, plushy, crispy, hard,
wavy, curled,
lying close to the body, standing off from the body
- Length
long, short, varies in length, medium in length
- Undercoat
little undercoat, dense undercoat, woolly undercoat,
no undercoat
|
| Color and pattern |
- Color
even, sound, bright, deep, pale, distribution of
colors
- Markings - pattern
contrast, ticking, clearness, points, tipping,
distribution of colours
|
|
|
A scale for evaluation from 1 - 10 |
Each characteristic is evaluated according to a scale from
1-10:
| 1 |
poor |
| 5, 6 |
medium,
average |
| 8 |
fits (sufficient) |
| 9 |
good |
| 10 |
very good |
|
|
A table, where the kittens and their evaluation are
entered |
All kittens and all characteristics are entered in this
table. The points for each characteristic are calculated
and entered into the table.
-
As health is the most important factor, it is evaluated
and entered independently from all other characteristics!
The points given according to the scale 1-10 are
multiplied with 10!
- The calculations of the points is
simple:
points given according to the scale 1-10 X points
according to the standard.
|
|
|
Let us assume the following scale of
points of a fictive cat standard:
- Head: 25 points
- Body: 30 points
- Coat texture: 20 points
- Color, pattern: 25 points
In the following example-table the left
number in the multiplication is the evaluation according
to the scale 1-10, the right number are the points listed
in the standard.
For example, calculation for kitten C:
- Health was evaluated with 8 points
according to the scale.
We multiply now this value for health always with 10, as
health is most important!
- The head was evaluated with 5 points
according to the scale, the standard gives 25 points for the
head. Therefore we multiply 6 * 25, which gives 125
evaluation-points.
- The body was evaluated with 6 points
according to the scale, the standards gives 30 points for
the body. Therefore we multiply 6 * 30, which gives 180
evaluation-points.
- and so on.
|
Kitten |
Evaluation of the characteristics |
Total points |
| |
Health |
Head |
Body |
Coat texture |
Color and pattern |
|
|
A |
6 * 10 = |
7 * 25 = |
8 * 30 = |
8 * 20 = |
8 * 25 |
|
|
60 |
175 |
240 |
160 |
200 |
835 |
|
B |
8 * 10 = |
8 * 25 = |
9 * 30 = |
7 * 20 = |
9 * 25 = |
|
|
80 |
200 |
270 |
140 |
225 |
905 |
|
C |
8 * 10 = |
5 * 25 = |
6 * 30 |
7 * 20 = |
7 * 25 = |
|
|
80 |
125 |
180 |
140 |
175 |
700 |
|
D |
9 * 10 |
7 * 25 = |
8 * 30 = |
8 * 20 = |
8 * 25 = |
|
|
90 |
175 |
240 |
160 |
200 |
865 |
|
E |
6 * 10 = |
9 * 25 = |
8 * 30 = |
9 * 20 = |
9 * 25 = |
|
|
60 |
225 |
240 |
180 |
225 |
930 |
|
F |
9 * 10 = |
6 * 25 = |
9 * 30 = |
9 * 20 = |
8 * 25 = |
|
|
90 |
150 |
270 |
180 |
200 |
890 |
|
Why are kitten A and E marked with red color?
Kitten E has got the highest amount of points?
The most important principle in breeding cats is:
Kittens, which reach a number of points for health below 80 = which are
evaluated with less than 8 points according to the scale, will not be considered
further, and are not used any further for breeding.
Therefore kittens A and E are marked with red color, because
their health was evaluated only with 6 points according to the scale. Both
kittens are not considered further, and the breeder should put "not permitted
for breeding" on them.
Now we rank the kittens according to their total number of
points reached:
|
Kitten |
Evaluation of the characteristics |
Total points |
| |
Health |
Head |
Body |
Coat texture |
Color and pattern |
|
|
B |
8 * 10 = |
8 * 25 = |
9 * 30 = |
7 * 20 = |
9 * 25 = |
|
|
80 |
200 |
270 |
140 |
225 |
905 |
|
F |
9 * 10 = |
6 * 25 = |
9 * 30 = |
9 * 20 = |
8 * 25 = |
|
|
90 |
150 |
270 |
180 |
200 |
890 |
|
D |
9 * 10 |
7 * 25 = |
8 * 30 = |
8 * 20 = |
8 * 25 = |
|
|
90 |
175 |
240 |
160 |
200 |
865 |
|
C |
8 * 10 = |
5 * 25 = |
6 * 30 |
7 * 20 = |
7 * 25 = |
|
|
80 |
125 |
180 |
140 |
175 |
700 |
Please hold in mind, the body receives the highest amount of
points in our fictive cat standard, followed by coat color and head, which receive
equal points.
Although kitten F is ranked on the 2nd place very close to kitten B, its head
was not evaluated very high.
Kitten C will not be considered any further, because the evaluation of its
characteristics was medium and reached an average level.
Although kitten D is ranked after kitten F, the evaluation of its head was
better than that of kitten F, and therefore kitten D will not be dropped from
our considerations to use it in our breeding program.
|
Evaluate each litter in your cattery according to this method!
The example-table shown above is very simplified. Of course
more characteristics must be evaluated for the kittens, and the various body
parts have to be split into further characteristics.
But do not evaluate to many characteristics in the beginning, as long as you
have little experience.
Please consider also the following factors:
- What are THE characteristic features of a certain cat breed?
- The evaluation you make according to the
scale 1-10, how many points you attribute to each
characteristic, depends on your objectivity = your critical
evaluation of each kitten.
- The evaluation also depends on your
detailed knowledge of the standard (scale of points).
You may download two Excel-tables from here (see at the left
in the yellow box!):
- A table of the scales of points for the
most known cat breeds in several organizations.
- An example-table for the evaluation of
your kittens including the most important characteristics.
Note: In the table formulas are used, which you should not
overwrite.
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