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The FIFe Easy Mind System for Identifying Cats

The FIFe’s Easy Mind System (EMS) simplifies and replaces the combination of letters and numbers used to identify cats. In that system, identification codes were not always uniform across breeds. In the EMS they are. A black cat, for example, is always identified by the small letter “n” no matter what its breed. A pointed cat, regardless of breed, is always identified by a “33″ in its code. The first part of the EMS code, written in capital (uppercase) letters, denotes the breed.

Recognized Breeds

Category I EXO = Exotic PER = Persian Category II ACL = American Curl longhair ACS = American Curl shorthair MCO = Maine Coon NEM = Neva Masquerade NFO = Norwegian Forest RAG = Ragdoll SBI = Sacred Birman SIB = Siberian TUA = Turkish Angora TUV = Turkish Van Category IV BAL = Balinese OLH = Oriental longhair OSH = Oriental shorthair PEB = Peterbald SIA = Siamese SYL = Seychellois longhair SYS = Seychellois shorthair Category House Cat HCL = Housecat, longhair HCS = Housecat, shorthair

Category III ABY = Abyssinian BEN = Bengal BML = Burmilla BRI = British BUR = Burmese CHA = Chartreux CRX = Cornish Rex CYM = Cymric DRX = Devon Rex EUR = European GRX = German Rex JBT = Japanese Bobtail KBL = Kurilean Bobtail longhair KBS = Kurilean Bobtail shorthair KOR = Korat MAN = Manx MAU = Egyptian Mau OCI = Ocicat RUS = Russian SNO = Snowshoe SOK = Sokoke SOM = Somali SPH = Sphynx DSP = Don Sphynx

Conclusion

With this information you should be able to work out your cat’s EMS code without looking at its pedigree.

• First, locate the three-letter code for your breed. When you write it down, remember that breed codes are always capitalized.
• Second, find your cat’s colour in the colour codes, which are always indicated by lowercase letters. Leaving a space after the three-letter breed code, write the colour code. If your cat is a silver, it will always have an “s” after its main colour code. For example, a black silver is “ns”, a blue silver is “as”.
• Next, if it is a patterned cat, find the code that corresponds to its pattern. All patterned cats except smokes must be identified by a pattern code. Persians, British and Burmillas can be shell or shaded. A chinchilla is a shell, which means that only the tips of the hairs have colour on them. The code for shell is “12.” Thus, a Persian chinchilla would be identified by the code “PER ns 12.” (Note that there is a space between the colour and the pattern codes, too.) A shaded silver Persian, whose tipping goes farther down the shaft of each hair, is written “PER ns 11.”

The EMS, which is not a genetically based system, is intended to be both easy and logical. With a little practice any cat breeder should be able to speak EMS as fluently as his or her native tongue.