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JUNE 2001

Norm Auspitz, Abyssinian Breed Council Secretary

1110 Lodge Hill Rd.

Louisville, KY 40223-5510

Home/Work: (502) 244-6133/ (502) 452-4868

E-Mail: auspitzn@yahoo.com

Abyssinian Breed Council URL: http://www.AbyssinianBC.org

 

 

To the Abyssinian Breed Council, I am getting this out in anticipation of the CFA Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. There are a number of items I want to cover herein: (1) Recap of the Abyssinian Breed Council Meeting at the International Show in Kansas City, MO (2) Announcement and suggested agenda for our usual breed council meeting at the annual, (3) Information on a possibly hopeful process which may have application to Feline Amyloidosis as brought tomy attention by Carla Bizzell.

 

Finances continue to be a problem for CFA. Either CFA is in the red or barely in the black at the end of the fiscal year. This may bring new pressures on CFA to relax some of its rules of what is or is not acceptable for registration in order to increase revenue. For those who look upon WIAB as the savior and protector of the more conservative approach to our breeds, let me remind you that WIAB is a Board of Directors policy guideline only. WIAB is not embodied in the CFA constitution. Thus, like any policy guideline, it may be over ruled at the whim of the Board of Directors. So there is a continuing discussion about what needs to be done to have other colors of Abyssinians accepted into the CFA definition of the Abyssinian breed. What is protected in the CFA constitution and the show rules are the procedures which would need to be followed by the Board of Directors for changing the Abyssinian breed standard. This is where you, as breed council members, have the final say. The Board CANNOT change our standard without approval of at least 60% of the breed council membership voting in favor of the change on a bona fide breed council ballot.

 

Another possibility is that some folks may want to "create" a new breed with Abyssinians as allowable outcrosses and having all the colors not presently permitted in the Abyssinian standard, e.g., the silvers, sex linked red and its variations, chocolate and its variations. As I interpret the WIAB policy guideline, the colors ruddy, red, blue, and fawn would not be permitted to be shown in championship status but would be AOV's for this new breed, should it ever materialize. Of more importance has been the lessons learned in dealing with legislative issues which are much more of a threat to our entire hobby. Hopefully, all who attend the annual will avail themselves of the opportunities to learn more about these threats!

 

To reiterate what I wrote last year, at this time, the Abyssinian breed has remained a constant in that there have been no major changes to the standard. We have seen the Abyssinian evolve to a somewhat more stylistic cat without losing its "out of the forest" charm. Again, this year's top Abyssinians prove we still have a range of acceptable styles, all of which have done well in the show rings.

 

I have again included a page of 6 raffle tickets for a set of Mimi Cat's most special and wonderful cage curtains, to be drawn at a future time (hopefully the 2001 International Show). These tickets are $5.00 a piece and the proceeds will be used for Abyssinian health issues as decided by the breed council. Just cut along the dotted lines, and, please, please, please, try to sell as many tickets as you can. If every breed council member sold $30.00 worth of tickets, we would have a substantial sum to put towards Abyssinian specific health related issues. I have continued the raffle since response has been so very, very poor! We have taken in ONLY $120.00, a pretty meager showing from a breed council of 150 strong!!!!!!!!!! Let's see if we can get a bit more enthusiastic. After all, Abyssinians still have some health problems. In the past, we have led the way, by example, for other breeds in raising money for various health issues. I am hoping we are not faltering now. We still do not have a handle on Feline Amyloidosis. In addition, there are studies going on about Pyruvate Kinease Deficiency, Osmotic Fragility, and Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome, all of which affect the Abyssinians (amongst other breeds).

 

Also, we would like to make the Aby breed winner booklets and awards more self sufficient. Thus, we will once again be selling extra booklets. Due to ever increasing print costs and the costs of mailing, we are increasing the price (for the first time since they came out originally) to $10.00 per booklet. Every award winner gets a free booklet. So far we have had people willing to subsidize the rosettes and covers for these booklets. We have had a very nice donation towards the cost of the booklets. Eventually, however, it would be nice if booklet sales were able to cover all costs. We sold out last year, I expect we will sell out again even at the new price.

 

Respectfully Submitted
Norman Auspitz


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