Cat Person , I forgot to answer your question about why the California Spangled didn't get full championship in TICA. I'm not saying I know the inside scoop for sure. but will make some guesses
I actually think they may have been at one time in what is now called the Championship Advancement program.
To move up to Championship status, you have to meet certain requirements for number of breeders , number of regions, number of cats registered and cats shown in the New Breed Classes
To be honest I don't know what the exact rules were in the 1980s.
But it may be that they just were not organized enough or didn't have enough breeders motivated enough to meet those requirements , so they got put back to Registration Only.
I seem to recall hearing something that with the publicity they got from advertising in Nieman Marcus luxury catalog, they did get a lot of demand for kittens, but then the small number of breeders got more into "filling orders" than really developing the breed for the long term. I dont know if that is true. may just be other people were envious of the publicity. I do think some people in the fancy thought that ad was sort of tacky and I suppose that might have given them some problems.
Meanwhile, the Bengal was first accepted for registration in 1983 and in a couple years got Championship. So that was starting to take off and some people who wanted a cat with an 'image' of being like a wild cat, wanted one that really was a hybrid.
On the other hand you had an older domestic spotted breed, the Egyptian Mau. Then you had the Ocicats that had started in the 1960s and were recognized in the mid to late 1980s by both CFA and TICA. They may have just got more breeders interested in them, and they may have just played their cards better.
I think people from some of the other domestic spotted shorthair breeds questioned the need for yet another one.
I was not involved in any of these breeds so keep in mind this is not first hand info.
I actually think they may have been at one time in what is now called the Championship Advancement program.
To move up to Championship status, you have to meet certain requirements for number of breeders , number of regions, number of cats registered and cats shown in the New Breed Classes
To be honest I don't know what the exact rules were in the 1980s.
But it may be that they just were not organized enough or didn't have enough breeders motivated enough to meet those requirements , so they got put back to Registration Only.
I seem to recall hearing something that with the publicity they got from advertising in Nieman Marcus luxury catalog, they did get a lot of demand for kittens, but then the small number of breeders got more into "filling orders" than really developing the breed for the long term. I dont know if that is true. may just be other people were envious of the publicity. I do think some people in the fancy thought that ad was sort of tacky and I suppose that might have given them some problems.
Meanwhile, the Bengal was first accepted for registration in 1983 and in a couple years got Championship. So that was starting to take off and some people who wanted a cat with an 'image' of being like a wild cat, wanted one that really was a hybrid.
On the other hand you had an older domestic spotted breed, the Egyptian Mau. Then you had the Ocicats that had started in the 1960s and were recognized in the mid to late 1980s by both CFA and TICA. They may have just got more breeders interested in them, and they may have just played their cards better.
I think people from some of the other domestic spotted shorthair breeds questioned the need for yet another one.
I was not involved in any of these breeds so keep in mind this is not first hand info.
