The American Cat Fanciers Association was formed in 1955 by a group of Cat Fanciers seeking greater flexibility in the development of cats, the activities of cat lovers and greater freedom for growth and harmony with contemporary needs of the individual breeders and the broadening horizons of the Cat Fancy at large. It was a group of Cat Fanciers in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area, comprised of individuals highly qualified in business management, organization, legal expertise and knowledge of the Cat Fancy and show procedures that provided the prime force for this endeavor. The founders of the Association, along with many others, felt that a more democratic organization would be able to move forward more rapidly than the organizations or associations current at that time, due to antiquated legislative rules, had been able to do. Their dreams were not unfounded.

The Initiative:
Many exemplary changes were advanced by ACFA pertaining to show procedures. Modifications to existing guidelines and new policies first advanced and popularized by ACFA
include the following:
The double, triple and quadruple championship and grand championship were innovations first developed by ACFA.

For the first time in Cat Fancy history, altered cats were accepted for championship competition. These alters did not compete with the whole cats but were given their own championship classification. Still today, the alters compete in the Championship Shows under the same rules as any other championship cat.
ACFA was the first to introduce the ‘multiple’ ring Championship Show, a concept that remains standard in all associations today.   However, until ACFA introduced the four ring Show, the common format was simply one Allbreed Ring and one Specialty Ring. ACFA was the first to provide exhibitors the opportunity to go to a show and have their cat judged "FOUR" times, not just twice.   ACFA then forged ahead to introduce the five ring show, six ring show, and later, the now popular Back-to-Back show with 8 to 10 rings in a weekend.

Other firsts include: a training program for ‘trainee’ Judges and official Judges’ Schools [established for new and old judges alike] and special Breed Seminars for interested parties as well as Judges.
You will find many of these concepts are practiced by other contemporary associations.

ACFA Today:
Through the years, ACFA has progressed with the time, yet never forgetting those precepts on which we were founded. Here are a few reasons we believe our Association is the best, most unique, service-oriented organization of its type in the Cat Fancy today:
Every cat entered, judged and scored in an ACFA Show has a Master Show Record for each show year, which is logged into the ACFA computer database. A specific number of points are assigned for each win in the Show Ring during the show season (e.g., Best of Color, Best Cat in Show). These points are tabulated and the ‘average points scored’ per ring are determined. This final average is used to determine ACFA End-of-Year-Awards. Awards are designated for top three cats/kittens/alters of breed by color, overall top three cats/kittens/alters of breed and top winning cats/kittens/alters regardless of breed. Awards are presented both on a Regional and Inter-American level for cats, kittens, alters and household pets. The unique part of this system is that every Cat Fancier can afford to compete for the top awards each year. Since it is not a ‘total’ point system, exhibitors need not incur the expense of campaigning a cat every weekend to be in competition, as is the case with other award systems currently in place.