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The KKÖ is the first cat
fancier's organisation of Austria which registered already cats when the
Persians of our days had been called Angoras. The KKÖ owns one of Europe's
oldest breeding books in which the cats had been registered uninterrupted
from 1996 up to now and which has been saved over the second world war.
The foundation of the clubs took place in December 16th, 1925, the club was
registered in 1926 with the high-sounding name "First and only club for the
promotion of cat breeding and cat protection in Austria which is entitled as
the only registration body to keep a breeding book.".
Meanwhile the KKÖ is not the only club in Austria, but the KKÖ has overcome
all tendencies to split up the club, besides the club had survived the
second world war, and now the KKÖ is the largest cat club in Austria. |
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The 5th International cat show was organized in June, 7th and 8th 1930 under
the protector ship of baroness Maria von Popper-Podhragy, better known with
her name as artist Maria Jeritza, one of the most famous opera singers. The independency of the club was interrupted in the year 1938 when the club
was incorporated in August, 20th 1938 into the Third Reich's "Reichsverband
der Kleintierzüchter". Already in December, 18th 1947 the club could
continue with its independent work and got its current name "Klub der
Katzenfreunde Österreichs". |
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The first cat show after the war was held in 1950 in the building of the
Viennese stock exchange. President at that time was the winner of the Nobel
prize, the scientist for studies in behaviour Mr. Konrad Lorenz, well known
for his studies and projects concerning the grey goose.
In the general assembly of Turin in April 24th, 1959 the club was the first
to join the international federation Fédération Internationale Féline FIFe
which had been founded ten years before. |
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In the years from 1975 up to 1980 the famous actor of Burgtheater Mr.
Richard Eybner preceded the club. In the following years it got still in the
club which had kept the motto "Pure bred cats help poor cats" on its flag.
With the year 1990 once more the KKÖ received a fresh impetus which
organizes now the largest shows in Austria and has renewed its original
determination as the club had been registered before the second world war,
"promotion of breeding cats". Consequently the KKÖ was the first club in
Austria to register the Ocicats and is still the one where these cats are
bred. Logically the KKÖ was the first club in Austria where Ragdolls had
been bred. The KKÖ was also the first club in Austria where Colourpoint
British Shorthair and Bengals had been bred. And the most recently
registered breed in Austria are the American Curls. |
The breeding rules of today are quite liberal as the board of the club is
deeply convinced that its members are breeding with great care and sense of
responsibility for the cats. Advice and support of our breeders are one of
the utmost important tasks of the KKÖ. Restrictions and sanctions for the
breeders will not have any effect for the benefit of the cats, to breed for
healthy and vital cats. An open mind for new ideas and serious support of
our breeders' problems will be the guarantee of our breeders' success. The
cats bred by the KKÖ's breeders have a well known international reputation.
The old motto "pure bred cats help poor cats" had been redirected to its
origin and adapted to the needs of our days as the club does not spend money
in some anonymous pots to satisfy its conscience, but the club supports
concrete projects to protect cats and has taken over several sponsorships
for cats to pay their food and care.
A very serious problem the KKÖ is facing today are the practices to import
cats from countries of the former eastern block and to sell them in pet
shops or even to sell them directly on the parking space in front of larger
malls. We have several members in our club who spent a fortune of money at
the veterinarians to recover their little kittens which they had bought with
an age of 6-8 weeks in a pet shop. But also in that case restrictions will
not solve the problem because the ones who will suffer first are the
innocent cats imported from eastern countries. Only advice and instructions
about the facts will convince people to buy their cats from breeders and not
to buy in pet shops. This project of information and consultancy the KKÖ has
undertaken is not a spectacular one and success cannot be gained over night.
But we are convinced that this long term project to convince people to buy
healthy and vital cats from breeders will garantee a long lasting success
for the cats in future, as supply with imported cats will decrease with
decreasing inquiries in pet shops. |
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Another point of main effort are the International shows the KKÖ organizes
today. The club organizes six to eight International shows during three to
four weekends per year, where
also the quality of the exhibited cats is a main point. We consider that it
is very important that exhibitors and their cats feel comfortable with the
customer friendly atmosphere of our shows. Despite concurrence fairness and
competition in friendship are important on the shows organized by the KKÖ. |
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Therefore the club consequently had chosen one of the most beautiful show
halls, the Design Center in Linz, to celebrate its 70 years' jubilee in
March, 2nd and 3rd 1996 where more than 650 exhibited cats made it possible
to celebrate this jubilee with dignity and great success.
Also our 75-years anniversary was celebrated with an exhibition in November,
24th and 25th 2001, in the very famous city of Bad Ischl, the city of
emperor Franz Joseph I. and the operetta composer Franz Lehár. The jubilee
dinner was celebrated in the world famous K&K pastry house of Zauner, which
had composed a special cake for our jubilee. |
Villa of the operetta composer Franz Lehár |
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