Siamese Breed Council Newsletter

March 8, 2005

First of all I would like to apologize for the lateness of this newsletter. I had intended to have it out shortly after the Board meeting, but I have been under the influence of a nasty virus for the past month, which has wreaked havoc with any self-imposed deadlines I have set.

Although many of you are already aware of this, if you are on the Breed Council email list or a member of the National Siamese Cat Club, I am still very happy to share the good news from the recent Board meeting. The Board has reinstated the eight generation pedigree for the Siamese breed. The vote to do so was unanimous. The Board has considered all of the reasons why it is important to preserve this breed, and also considered all the reasons why the eight generation pedigree should be part of that effort, and decided in favor of our Breed Council's wishes. I want to thank all of you who wrote to the Board members and urged them to vote for retaining the eight generation pedigree. Your words as well as your votes helped to sway them towards this important achievement.

The Board has also honored our request to have the albino class removed from the breed standard. Tom Dent has requested that we vote next year on removing the color class from registration as well. Apparently just removing it from the standard does not prevent Central Office from registering these cats, so we will need to vote on this housekeeping requirement next year.

The actual vote was as follows: 130 ballots were received.
     • Retain the eight generation pedigree: 87 yes, 42 no
     • Remove the Albino color class: 98 yes, 31 no

One other note from the Board meeting: there has been no report on the Breast Cancer Study to the Winn Foundation committee yet. As soon as we receive the results of the first study I will be sure to pass it on to the membership.

On a personal note, I would also like to thank the Breed Council for giving me the opportunity to lead the membership for another two years. I would like to continue to move forward in the areas we are currently working on, continuing the efforts to consolidate the history of the breed, raising additional funds for the next stage of our Breast Cancer research project, and expanding our Annual Breakfast as new ideas are presented from the membership.

This year's Annual meeting is fast approaching and it's not too early to think about sponsorship of your favorite cats. If you know of a cat who will be receiving an award this year you may contact Kathy Baron and reserve the sponsorship of that cat now. The amount will be the same as last year, $30. The awards open for sponsorship are the top ten of kittens, championship and premiership, the best and 2nd best of color for all four colors and the DM awards. Kathy can be contacted by phone or email at: 302-229-0735 or kdon2@webtv.net.

Our guest speaker this year is Susan Little, DMV, who will speak on the latest developments in FIP research. Please be sure to let friends who may be interested in this topic and who are not Siamese breeders know that they can reserve a seat just for Dr. Little's presentation. The cost is $10.00 and they would make arrangements through CFA.

We did not receive any nominations for the Lifetime Achievement Award this year. Remember, you can submit a name for this award at any time, so if you had someone in mind that you feel is qualified, please get a biography together and submit it to the committee as soon as possible. It will be reviewed and will come up for consideration for the 2006 Annual. All biographies can be submitted to Sharon McKeehen-Bounds, LAA committee chairperson.

I would also like to request that all shows put on by Siamese Breed Clubs or that are sponsoring rings that honor Siamese send a copy of the flyer to either Mike Franks or Mary Kolencik so that they can be posted on the website. These flyers should be sent as early as possible, in order that Siamese breeders can have enough time to plan to attend these shows. Too often we find out about the shows when its difficult to make plans to attend, and I am hoping that if given enough notice, more Siamese breeders will try and get to the shows that are held in honor of our breed.

Last year we had an interesting discussion on color and what we would like to see the judges do in that area on our Breed Council email list. I have presented our concerns to Joanne Cummings, who will in turn present them to the judges' list. We will have to see if this makes a difference or not in the way our judges recognize and award color. It has taken a back seat to type for a long period now, and its time to begin to bring the judging back into a more balanced approach.

And please don't forget our ongoing history project. Susan Beuerlein has been working very hard at gathering information for it but needs all the help you can give her. This project will take a couple years to complete, and is also intended to be always ongoing, so that when more information is received it can be added at any time. Please contact Sue at susan_cb@bellsouth.net or call her at 478-922-9154.

Thank you,

Debbi Stevenson
Siamese Breed Council Secretary
shimasu@citlink.net