The vast majority of cats found in the average household are domestic or random-bred, containing no pedigreed (cats of a known breed lineage) in their background.

A pedigreed or known breed cat's background is recorded for as few as three generations and often as many as 10 or more generations. Breeds may or may not allow outcrosses to other breeds. Outcrosses are allowed for various reasons.
- The breed may still be in development and still needs input from the parent breeds to standardize type.
- The breed may need genetic diversity to improve the overall quality of the breed.

Simply having a few of the characteristics of a known breed does not mean that a cat is of that particular breed. Not all large longhaired cats are Maine Coons, not all cats with color restricted to its points are Siamese. These are physical traits that many cats share across species, breed and non-breed alike.


Sometimes people confuse a physical characteristic with a breed. For example, a calico is not a breed, but a color pattern. Polydactilism (having extra toes) is a physical variation, not a breed.


Many breeds are known as "Natural Breeds" - They have been with us since man began defining differences in cats. Their characteristics may have changed or evolved over time, but the essence of the breed has remained the same. Persians, Abyssinans, Siamese, Russian Blues, Turkish Angoras are but a few of the natural breeds.

A new breed may develop in a number of ways:

Spontaneous mutation - a natural alteration of a gene changes a physical characteristic. Examples: American Curl, Scottish Folds, Cornish Rex, Devon Rex.

Hybridization - combining 2 or more existing breeds to create a 3rd having markedly different characteristics than either of the parent breeds. Examples: Ocicat, Tonkinese.

Established breeds may also change as breeders place differing emphasis on characteristics that they deem desirable for the breed. Through time and with selective breeding, Persian's heads have become more round, the Siamese head and body have become more elongated.

Process for developing a new breed in long and time-consuming.
A breeder cannot simply breed 2 (or more) breeds together and call their offspring a new breed. They must demonstrate that the new offspring can replicate itself with the desired characteristics.

Breeds are recognized by registering bodies based on a number of factors. These include (but are not limited to):
1. Number of breeders working with the new breed.
2. Number of offspring produced in a given time period.
3. The determination that the proposed new breed is indeed significantly different enough to warrant its recognition as a new breed.
4. Its ability to reliably replicate itself.

Each breed has a description that describes what an ideal cat of that breed would look like. It specifies characteristics such as the head shape, ear size and placement, eye color and shape, coat color, coat length and texture, body shape and size. This breed description also states what non-conforming traits may be allowed (such as a non-visible tail kink in some breeds) and what are disqualifying faults (incorrect color, a patch of white at the throat).

New breeds are usually recognized first on a provisional level. If the breed progresses in its desired goals, then it may finally be accepted as a new breed.

The number of breeds currently recognized by various registries throughout the world include:

ACFA - 46
CFA - 41
FIFe - 37
TICA - 69
These numbers include both the long- and shorthaired varieties of those breeds.

http://www.acfacat.com/breeds/catbreeds.html
http://cfainc.org/breeds.html
http://www.fifeweb.org/en/wp/breeds/breeds_ems_en.
http://www.tica.org/eo.htm