The York Chocolate (or simply York) was an uncommon
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
breed
A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...
of
show cat
A show cat (also known as a purebred cat or pedigreed cat) is one that has been judged to be close to the physical ideal for its cat breeds, breed standard at a cat show. Not all pedigreed cats are show cats, many are just pets but the ones with t ...
, with a long, fluffy coat and a tapered tail and most of them were mostly or entirely chocolate-brown or the dilute form of brown, known as lavender. The breed was named after
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
state, where it was established in 1983. This breed was created by color-selecting
domestic long-haired cats of mixed ancestry. The breed was not widely recognized by
cat registries. It was not recognized by the major organizations such as The International Cat Association (TICA), the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA – North America) or Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe - Europe). By 2015 there was only one listed breeder of York Chocolates (Debbie Reber). By 2016, no registry carried its breed standard, there were no breeder websites and the breed is considered extinct. Although similar looking random-bred cats can be found today, without pedigree papers these are not York Chocolate cats.
As “Il Gatto Cioccolato” it found favour in Italy and the International York Chocolate Federation (IYCF) was founded there in 2003. The site can now only be found on the Internet Archive, having become dormant since. The IYCF claimed affiliation with the German Feline Federation Europe (FFE)/Bavarian Cat Fanciers' Association (BCFA), which published a standard (minus colour information) in 2004. It also claimed affiliation with the Russian World Felinological Federation (WFF), although the latter does not recognize the York Chocolate as breed.
History
The breed was created by Janet Chiefari in 1983. The father was a black longhaired cat and the mother was a longhaired black and white cat.
Their
Siamese ancestors created the brown coloring in one kitten: Brownie. Brownie had a litter that subsequent summer with a black longhaired tom. There were two kittens in the litter: a chocolate male and a white and chocolate female. Upon noticing similarities in coat and body types, Chiefari began her own breeding program.
The breed is recognized, under the shorter name York, by the recently founded
World Cat Federation
The World Cat Federation (WCF) is an international association of cat clubs. It was founded in 1988 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and continues to have a strong presence in Latin America, Western Europe, and in countries of the former USSR. It ...
based in Germany, and with some differences from previously published standards,
[ A ]PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
versio
is available
most of which seem to be lost. The breed is not recognized by any major, long-established international
cat fancier organizations, such as
The International Cat Association (TICA), the
Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) or
Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe), nor even US national groups such as the
American Cat Fanciers Association (ACFA). In March 1990, the
Cat Fanciers' Federation
The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of t ...
of the
New England area of the US recognized York Chocolates as an "experimental" cat breed, and allegedly gave it championship status within the group in March 1992, but publishes no breed standard or any other information about the breed today.
[The Cat Fanciers' Federation (CFF) mentions the breed name in it]
list of breeds
, but provides no information about it at all, not even its status, much less a breed standard. It was supposedly granted champion status by the
Canadian Cat Association in March 1995, as well, but while the CCA published a breed standard in 1995,
, the organization no longer advertises it, and it includes outdated wording.
[The Canadian Cat Association (CCA) ha]
a placeholder page for the breed
on their website, but it is empty of content. The PDF version, cited above, includes references to 2004 cut-off dates for outbreeding, as if still in the future.
A small
breed club Breed clubs are Voluntary association, associations or Club (organization), clubs with activities centered on a single, specific breed of a particular species of domesticated animal. The purpose of the association will vary with the species of anima ...
, the International York Chocolate Federation (IYCF) was founded in Italy, but seems to have been dormant since 2004.
It claims affiliation with
Feline Federation Europe
Feline may refer to:
Zoology
* Loosely, Felidae, a member of the cat family, which includes the subfamilies Pantherinae and Felinae (conventionally designated a felid)
** Following the taxonomic convention, Felinae, the subfamily of Felidae that i ...
(FFE), which since 2004 publishes a York Chocolate standard (missing the color information)
and the
World Felinological Federation (WFF), a Russian group, which does not recognize this breed.
Temperament
The York Chocolate was a very friendly, even-tempered breed that was very content as a lap cat.
They loved to be held and cuddled.
The cats were described as intelligent, energetic, and curious, happily following their owner around. They were good companions and good hunters.
They are sometimes shy.
References
{{Commons category, York Chocolate
External links
YorkChocolate.org a website devoted to the breed
with early pedigree and history.
Cat breeds
Cat breeds originating in the United States