In the early 1950’s, CFA was a very different world from what we know of now. There were only SEVEN recognized breeds. Siamese were only recognized in 2 colors at that time — seal point and chocolate point. Persians and Angoras were ONE AND THE SAME for registration purposes, and only 15 color varieties were approved to be shown at that time. At this time, CFA also had an “open registry” on all the breeds — in other words, if a cat or kitten LOOKED like a particular breed, and a judge was willing to provide a statement to that effect, the cat was registered as that breed… Certainly “purity” was a very different issue at that time than it is today.
Colorpoint Carrier (CPC)
It was at this time that the work to create a longhair cat with the Siamese pattern was first started. The Siamese was used only very briefly to establish the desired color pattern in the Himalayan, and after that time, were not used again – certainly not after their acceptance as a breed in 1957. From its acceptance as a breed in 1957 until 1984, the Himalayan was allowed to breed to the Persian, but the offspring from those breedings could not be shown. Offspring from such breedings were known as hybrids, or CPCs (Colorpoint carriers), and carried the recessive gene that causes the Himalayan point color. Because these cats were not eligible to be shown, they were all registered with 0194/0195 prefixes, which indicated AOV (Any Other Variety)… and makes looking at pedigrees from the time VERY interesting, as there is often no indication of a cat’s color, and no way to tell from just the prefix as you usually can!
1984
In 1984, CFA decided to combine the Himalayans with the Persians, and make them a separate color division of the breed. As part of that move, it was decided that the CPCs would now be allowed to compete in their respective color class as well. Soon, the CPCs were seen in the showhalls, and were often very competitive, proving that type-wise, they were every bit as good as their “pure” Persian counterparts.
Modern Times
Today, Persians have improved so much that unless you have a catalog with the registration numbers listed, there is often no way to distinguish a CPC Persian from a non-CPC Persian. At the time the Himalayan was included in the Persian breed, CFA recognized that there needed to be a way to identify a Persian with a Himalayan in its background… and thus arose a new series of registration prefixes, often referred to as “3000-series numbers”, or “3000 numbers”. Basically, any Persian with a registration number beginning with 3 indicates there is Himalayan ancestry — whether it is 1 generation back, or 20. For instance, the registration prefix for a Copper-Eyed White Persian male is 0102- , and the prefix for a Copper-Eyed White Persian CPC is 3002-.
The Challenge
Can you tell a cat is a CPC just by looking at it?
Below is a photo of two Copper-Eyed White Persians that were both National Winners in the same season. Both are stunning examples of the breed.
- The cat on the left is GC, GP, NW Char-O’s Winter of Paradiso, CFA’s 5th Best Premier 2017-18
- The cat on the right is GP, NW Cacao Westin, CFA’s 16th Best Premier 2017-18
The challenge is to answer the question; Is one Persian a CPC? Are both cats CPCs? Or is neither kitty a CPC?
What is your answer?
The answer is:
Persian #1 is a CPC. Persian #2 is not a CPC.
Were you able to tell which Persian was a CPC just be looking at it? Let’s try again…
The challenge this time is a little harder. Let’s look at THREE cats, all brown tabbies that were National Winners in CFA’s 2022-23 show season.
- GC, NW Debo’s Do You Believe In Magic?, CFA’s 2nd Best Kitten, R1-9, 2022-23
- GC, BWC, NW Vicattery Tiger of Manqing Devo, CFA’s 13th Best Cat, China
- NW Vicattery Tsunami, CFA’s 10th Best Kitten, China
Cat #2 is the only one of the three Persians that is a CPC. The other two tabbies are non-CPCs.
Final Word
Obviously, if a non-pointed Persian has at least one parent that is a Himalayan, it must be carrying the colorpoint gene. However, in practical terms, no one can reliably determine if a Persian is a CPC just by looking at it. Only a DNA test can positively show a cat is carrying the colorpoint gene.
Photo Credits
We thank the photographers who provided the images used in this article:
