Turkish Van Breed Council

BCS Reports and Updates

January 2007

Linda Gorsuch has been elected as the Turkish Van Breed Council Secretary for 2007 - 2008. Congratulations to Linda.

December 2006

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year! I have enjoyed serving as the Turkish Van Breed Council Secretary for the past four years and decided not to seek another term. Please welcome and support our new BCS for 2007-2008. Some of the things I am most proud of during my tenure are: the compilation of all the historical show data and establishment of this website as a resource on Vans in CFA; the acceptance of 3 color classes for the Turkish Vans; and our 10-year anniversary celebration. Thank you to all the wonderful Turkish Van breeders and their cats - who have made great strides over the past four years in CFA. You all are great!

The 2005-6 show season represented one of continued popularity and accomplishment for the Turkish Van cats. There was a substantial increase in the number of Turkish Vans shown during the 2005-6 show season. Not only were there more cats, but there was a greater diversity of colors shown, with all but one color represented in the show ring. Not coincidently, this was the first year that the breed went from one color class to three color classes and breeders responded enthusiastically. As a bonus, we had several new exhibitors, for both CFA and the breed, which will help the popularity of the Turkish Vans continue to grow in the future. Overall, it was another fun-filled season for our cats and their owners. Seven Turkish Vans earned their grand championship and fifteen earned their grand premiership. The boys did a little better than the girls this season, making up some ground from prior years. There were nine grand premiers and four grand champions that were male. This year's breed winner is a male brown tabby and white who is the first of that color to achieve the best of breed. In addition, one male, the second Turkish Van male to earn this honor, and one female earned their Distinguished Merit status. We were very excited to have four regional winners this season; a male in championship and a neuter in premiership from the Gulf Shore region and a female in championship and a neuter in premiership from the Northwest Region. These are the most regional winners for our breed in one year so far! Overall, we are very pleased with the progressive increase in popularity of our distinctively marked, athletic, and intelligent breed. This year we hope to have every color shown, and have more of the less common colors achieve their titles. We will also continue to mentor new breeders and exhibitors, so that the enthusiasm for the cats continues to grow. The Turkish Van breeders are very proud of the successes and advances of our beloved breed, and look forward to working together to achieve even more milestones in the future. This was definitely a year of growth for the Turkish Vans and we look forward to an even bigger and better year ahead.

Karen


Turkish Van Breed Standard Change commencing 2005-2006 show season!!!

*** click here for new color class numbers ***

PROPOSED: Separate the 'All Championship Colors' color class into three separate color classes: Solid and White; Particolor and White; and Tabby and White. OTVC will remain separate, consistent with other breeds. PASSED!!

CURRENT COLOR CLASS: All Championship Colors (red and white, cream and white, black and white, blue and white, brown patched tabby and white; blue patched tabby and white; tortoiseshell and white; dilute tortoiseshell and white; brown tabby and white; blue tabby and white; cream tabby and white; red tabby and white; and OTVC)

NEW COLOR CLASSES:

Solid and White (black and white; blue and white; cream and white; red and white)

Particolor and White (blue patched tabby and white; brown patched tabby and white; tortoiseshell and white; dilute tortoiseshell and white)

Tabby and White (brown tabby and white; blue tabby and white; cream tabby and white; red tabby and white)

Supplemental Information:

RATIONALE: All Turkish Vans have been judged in one color class since advanced to championship status in 1994. The time has come to add additional color classes for this breed. The number of cats registered and exhibited has steadily increased over the past decade, with good representation among the three proposed color classes. Data on the number of Turkish Vans exhibited was provided by the CFA Central Office. This past show season (2003-4), there were 416 Turkish Van entries compared to 373 entries for the 2002-3 show season. Of these cats, there were 74 solid and white Turkish Vans; 119 particolor and white Turkish Vans; and 223 tabby and white Turkish Vans. The data for 2002-2004 indicates that 181 solid and white Turkish Vans (23%), 387 tabby and white Turkish Vans (49%) and 221 particolor and white Turkish Vans (28%) were exhibited during that period. Turkish Vans were shown in all CFA regions. We feel that these numbers are substantial enough to justify the establishment of three color classes within the breed. Additional color classes will provide opportunities for the solid and white, particolor and white, and tabby and white Turkish Vans to earn winners ribbons as they are judged, each color class on its own merit instead of all colors competing against each other. This will be an incentive for more breeders and new exhibitors to continue to show their cats beyond the grand for regional and national color wins, and will encourage more breeders to work with the less popular colors as well. We believe that this is a natural next step in the continued growth of our breed in CFA.

Statistics of Turkish Vans Exhibited in the 2002-2004 Show Seasons (data provided by the CFA Central Office)

Color Total Entries 2002-3 Total Entries 2003-4 Total Entries 2002-4
Black and white 54 43 97
Blue and white 16 1 17
Cream and white 6 9 15
Red and white 31 21 52
Solid and white totals 107 74 181
Brown patched tabby and white 34 7 41
Tortoiseshell and white 60 100 160
Dilute tortoiseshell and white 8 12 20
Particolor and white totals 102 119 221
Brown tabby and white 11 31 42
Cream tabby and white 1 4 5
Red tabby and white 152 188 340
Tabby and white totals 164 223 387
Total Turkish Van entries 373 416 789

 

Karen Hooker

.