History of the Singapura Cat

Today’s Singapuras remain unaltered from the early imports and are recognised as being the smallest breed of cat.
They are alert, healthy, and small to medium sized cats of foreign type.

They have noticeably large eyes and ears and are to have the illusion of refined delicate colouring. All Singapuras come in one colour, which is sepia agouti also known as brown ticked tabby. sTheir muzzle, tummy chest and inner legs are all an un-ticked ivory. They have noticeable barring on the inner front leg and back knees only and cheetah lines that start from the inner corner of their eye and finish just behind their whisker pad.

Singapuras origins are from the Island of Singapore where they were referred to as the Singapore drain cat and later they became known as Kucinta, or the Singapore Love Cat. In 1990 Singapore chose to use the Kucinta as their national mascot and have statues of a Singapura cat and kittens alongside the river.

The breeds name Singapura comes from the local Malay name for the island “Lion City”. The Singapura was first imported to the USA from Singapore by Tommy and Hal Meadow.

These were three ticked, sepia coloured Singapore drain cats (Tess, Tickle and Pusse). They were imported to the USA from Singapore in 1975.

In 1980 another cat (Chico) was chosen and imported from Singapore to be used in the breeding program and so began the Singapura. The breed reached Championship status in the USA in 1988, the same year that they were first imported here in the UK.

Carol Thompson brought in the first UK imports. The first cat being the pregnant female that was Imagos Faye Raye of Usaf, who kittened while in quarantine giving birth to Mimi, Muffy and Kuan. Sricoberys Indah followed shortly after as a suitable stud. Debbie Van Den Berg and her partner fell in love with the breed a little later and the Singapura breed becoming recognised

In the UK was largely thanks to a lot of hard work and dedication from them. At the National Cat Show in 1997 the Singapuras were awarded their first merits and found Provisional status in 2002. Finally it was in 2005 and after a lot of dedicated work from early breeders the Singapura reached Championship Status with the GCCF. On the 17th November 2007 The icing on the cake for the UK Singapura was when Imperial Grand Champion Valisa Bertie Bassett and Imperial Grand Champion Goldlay Worththewait gained their UK Imperial Grand Champion titles. A massive achievement for the breed and the Singapura cat community in the UK.

The Singapura has been increasing in popularity and is proving that it is a cat to be reckonedsing with their endearing looks and the fact that they are an absolute pleasure to be around.