California Spangled
Inspired By the Wild Cats of Africa

History

California Spangled

In the 1970's, Paul Arnold Casey Jnr, author and Hollywood screenwriter, visited the anthropologist Louis Leakey in Africa. Casey was drawn to the plight of the African wild cats, particularly the Leopard that was being indiscriminately poached for its fur or killed because it was hunting livestock on land that was previously wild-cat territory.

On his return from his trip to Tanzania, Casey, encouraged and inspired by Leakey, initiated a breeding program. The purpose of this program was threefold:

• To highlight the plight of the poached leopard in Africa
• To discourage the fashion-conscious from purchasing fur coats. Who would want a fur coat that resembled their pet cat?
• To fulfill the need of cat lovers for a wild-looking spotted cat - in other words those wanting a leopard at home.

The breeding program commenced in earnest in the mid 1970's. Several cat breeds were used to 'engineer' the California Spangled cat. There seems to be some debate on which domestic cats were used, but the commonly held belief is that it included British and American Shorthair, Abyssinian cats, Siamese cats, Manx, Egyptian Mau (or feral cats from the streets of Cairo, Egypt) and Asians (or a house cat from Malaysia) and an Angora-like spotted tabby.

It took about 11 generations of breeding before the type was fixed. The experimental breeding program finally achieved a domestic cat that resembled the wild spotted cats of Africa.

Unbeknown to Casey, Virginia Daly had already made huge inroads into the development of a wild-looking spotted cat. Daly launched her beauty, the Ocicat, at a cat show in 1986.

Casey launched his cat in 1986, in an elaborate, Hollywood style campaign! His 'creation' was showcased to the world in the Nieman Marcus Christmas Catalog at a premium price.

It apparently infuriated anti-fur campaigners who disapproved of a cat being advertised in a catalog selling fur coats. Cat Breeders were furious as the breeding program was conducted without external observation or the blessing of cat registries. Nieman Marcus was also angry when they realized that the advertisement was in fact intended to discourage buyers from purchasing fur coats!

Despite the cat's beauty and Casey's good intentions, the launch was a disaster from which the cat never truly recovered. Whilst many rumors abound that breeding may be revived, the California Spangled has become a 'ghost breed' with almost all breeding abandoned. This is a very rare cat breed and despite an extensive search we were unable to find a single breeder.

For the latest updates regarding their Championship Status consult the all breeds of cat governing body in your country.

For additional cat information on this 'wild-looking' cat breed visit:

California Spangled Cat - cat breed facts.

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California Cat Picture Courtesy of:

Wiki Commons author Flamingice007sg