SOUTHERN AFRICA CAT COUNCIL

ALL BREEDERS AND EXHIBITORS

 

Please take note of the Southern Africa Cat Council’s Health policy that has been formally adopted at our 2026 AGM. To read all details, please find the full document on the Registrar’s Page and the Governance Page. It can also be found in the Media sections of the SACC Fb Page and SACC Fb Group. The policy will also be included in the Summer 2026 Newsletter.

 

SACC FELINE HEALTH POLICY

 

The Southern Africa Cat Council encourages all breeders and pet owners to have the health of their breeding cats as a priority in their breeding programmes and homes. When health issues are identified, breeders should determine, with the help of veterinary experts and research; whether a health issue arose from an environmental, genetic or medical/ congenital problem. Once the problem has been identified, a breeder/ owner should immediately work towards correcting the problem.  Details regarding medical, environmental and genetic issues in the full document.

 

DEAFNESS in BLUE EYED WHITES and CATS PATCHED WITH WHITE

1. There is a likelihood that blue eyed white and high grade blue eyed patched-with-white cats are deaf. The exceptions are whites masking points (i.e. with 2 genes for point restriction).

2. No white-to-white matings may be done in any breed, irrespective of eye colour.

3. No Blue eyed and/ or odd eyed cat may be bred to another blue eyed and/or odd eyed cat.

4. The only exception is pointed breeds: Siamese, Birmans, British, Colourpoint Persians, Ragdolls, Siberians, etc.

5. Before being used for breeding, any blue eyed white or blue eyed patched-with-white cat must have its hearing tested to ensure the cat can hear A BAER test (Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response) should be done to determine whether a potential breeding cat is deaf or not.

6. Pointed cats masked by white do not have to have this test done. If there is any question that a potential breeding Blue Eyed White cat might be a Colourpoint carrier and not have 2 copies of the cs gene, a BAER or DNA test should be done.

7. Once the cat has passed the hearing test, the result of the BAER test together with the cat’s microchip number, the cat’s name and registration number must be submitted to the SA Cat Registrar who will provide the owner with a breeding number. (Breeding numbers will be allocated to cats cleared by DNA test, BAER test or other medical screening tests; where required.) [Similar to a stud number]

8. Deaf cats of any breed, colour or pattern may NOT be bred with.

 

DOMINANT BLUE EYED AND (DOMINANT ODD EYED) CATS

 

Dominant Blue-eyed variants have been discovered in coloured cats with minimal white spotting in Russia, Kazakhstan and the Netherlands, and consequently breeding programmes were developed with Dominant Blue-Eyed cats in the last decade or so. Research is showing that there are several variants of the PAX3 gene.  In some cases, the variants have been bred together. Recent research programmes are showing that deafness and other skeletal abnormalities are sometimes linked to these PAX3 variants. The PAX3RE  strain revealed the presence of latent cats in the line.

 

SACC Governing Council has decided that no cats with Dominant Blue eyes or Dominant Odd eyes (DBE/DOE) will be accepted for registration in SACC at this time; nor will cats with DBE ancestors in the pedigree be registered. It is believed that more research into the various strains should be done to exactly determine the health risks in the various PAX3 strains.

 

Breeders who plan to import cats from Russia, its neighbours and Western Europe must make sure that they study pedigrees very carefully before going to the expense of importing to avoid being disappointed and frustrated when their cats are not permitted to be registered with SACC.