Registering a Litter with the GCCF: A Breeder’s Walkthrough

Registering a litter with the GCCF need not be the nerve-wracking task it is sometimes made out to be. In over twenty years of breeding Siamese and Orientals, and judging for the GCCF since 2014, I have completed and checked a great many registrations, and I can tell you that the breeders who find it painless are almost always the ones who kept good records from the start. This walkthrough explains what you are actually submitting, how to get the details right, and how sound record-keeping turns registration into a five-minute job rather than an evening of stress.

One important note before we begin: Perfect Pedigrees is a record-keeping and pedigree tool, not a registering body. The GCCF is the registering authority, and you register your litter directly with them. What good records do is make that process simple and accurate. Always follow the GCCF’s current forms and guidance, as procedures and fees are updated from time to time.

What you submit

At its heart, registering a litter is about telling the GCCF exactly which cats produced which kittens, and what those kittens are. The core information you will be asked to provide includes:

• The sire: his full registered name and registration number.
• The dam: her full registered name and registration number, and confirmation she is yours to breed from.
• The mating and birth dates: when the queen was mated and when the litter was born.
• The number of kittens, and the sex of each.
• The colour and pattern of each kitten, expressed as an EMS code.
• The breed and the register or section each kitten belongs on.
• The names you wish to give the kittens, including your prefix if you hold one.

None of this is difficult in itself. The trouble only ever arises when one of these details is missing, guessed at, or copied across incorrectly, which is exactly where good records save you.

Getting the colours right

The single detail that trips up newer breeders most often is the colour and pattern, recorded as an EMS code. EMS, the Easy Mind System, is the standard shorthand the fancy uses to describe a cat’s colour, pattern and other features in a compact string of letters and numbers. Getting it right matters, because the registered colour follows the cat for life and appears on every pedigree it ever features in.

My advice is to take your time over each kitten and, if you are at all unsure, ask someone experienced to confirm before you submit. Some colours and patterns are genuinely hard to call in very young kittens, and there is no shame in seeking a second opinion. A judge, an experienced breeder in your breed, or your breed club can usually help. It is far easier to get the colour right first time than to correct it later. If you would like a fuller explanation of how the codes are built up, we cover that separately, but for registration the key point is simply this: be accurate, and check before you commit.

Register classes and sections

The GCCF places cats on different registers or sections depending on their breeding and eligibility, which in broad terms governs what the cat can go on to do, such as being shown or being bred from within the recognised programme for its breed. Where a litter sits depends on the parents and the breed’s own rules. For most breeders producing kittens from two registered parents of the same recognised breed this is straightforward, but it is always worth checking your breed’s current registration policy, as these are maintained by the breed advisory committees and do change over time. If anything about your particular pairing is unusual, ask before you register rather than after.

Timing

Register in good time. You will generally want the kittens registered before they go to their new homes, so that you can pass the paperwork to your buyers and they have proper documentation for the cat they are taking on. Leaving registration to the last minute, just as kittens are ready to leave, is a recipe for a rushed and error-prone submission. Build registration into your litter timeline as a deliberate step a few weeks after the birth, once you are confident of the colours and sexes, rather than an afterthought. Do check the GCCF’s current guidance on registration windows and any time limits that apply.

How good records make registration painless

Here is the real secret. Almost everything the GCCF asks for at registration is information you already had to hand if you kept proper records along the way: the sire and dam’s full names and numbers, the mating date, the birth date, and the details of each kitten. The breeders who struggle are the ones hunting through emails, paper certificates and scribbled notes to reassemble it all under time pressure.

This is precisely the gap a good record-keeping system fills. In Perfect Pedigrees you hold your cats, your matings and your litters together in one place. The sire and dam are already in the system with their correct names, numbers and verified pedigrees, drawn from a curated pool of around 90,000 cats checked by a GCCF judge, so there is no retyping and no transcription errors. When the litter arrives, you record the kittens, their sexes and their colours against the mating, and everything you need for the registration form is sitting in front of you, consistent and correct.

Because the system builds GCCF- and TICA-correct pedigrees, the lineage you hand over is right from the start, and you can produce a proper pedigree for each kitten to go to its new home. Adding cats is genuinely quick, too: you can type them in, or simply upload a photo or PDF of an existing pedigree and let the system read it in, with no typing at all. It costs nothing to build your records up, and you only pay when you actually print. The result is that by the time you sit down to register the litter, the hard part, the accurate gathering of all those details, is already done.

A registration checklist

• Confirm the sire and dam’s full registered names and numbers.
• Note the mating date and the birth date accurately.
• Record each kitten’s sex.
• Confirm each kitten’s EMS colour code, checking with an expert if unsure.
• Check the correct register or section for your breed and pairing.
• Decide on names and apply your prefix if you hold one.
• Submit in good time, following the GCCF’s current forms and guidance.

Do the groundwork as you go, and GCCF registration becomes one of the most satisfying moments of the whole process: the official confirmation that the litter you planned so carefully is now properly on record, ready to begin lives of their own.

Written by Ross Davies — GCCF Full Judge, breeder and exhibitor of 20+ years, and a qualified feline behaviourist. Perfect Pedigrees is a breeder’s record-keeping and pedigree tool, not a registering body.