Singapuras rare breed in the U.S.
THere's Your Chance To See Rare Singapuras

The Seattle Times, February 4, 1996.
By Ranny Green.

A onetime street cat that foraged for its next meal, the tiny Singapura today ranks as one of The International Cat Association's rarest and most highest-priced breeds.

Its origin is bathed in controversy but most signs point to the streets of Singapore. Yet some think it was the basement of a Houston breeder's home.

Recognized by TICA for 16 years and first imported into the United States 21 years ago, only a couple hundred Singapuras are registered with TICA, says Snoqualmie breeder-judge-author Alice Rhea, who owned one last year before selling it to a party interested in breeding.

"It's a delightful breed," says Rhea. "Litter sizes are small, only one or two. The adult weighs only about six pounds (some authorities say it is the smallest of all recognized breeds), but is very lively, affectionate and definitely is right at home on your lap."

Because of its rarity, the price tags on pet-quality Singapuras range from $1,000 to $5,000.

You're in for a real treat when a pair from Paris will be exhibited at the 18-ring Evergreen Cat Fanciers show in the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall Friday through Sunday. One of the two owned by Ruben Robert was TICA's Southern Europe region's top cat last year and ninth best internationally, "an incredible achievement from a breed as rare as this," raves Rhea.

The 230-cat entry will feature mainstream breeds such as the Persian, Siamese, Abyssinian, exotic shorthair, British shorthair, American shorthair and Maine Coon. And if you enjoy the unusual, check out the Pixie Bobs, La Perms and Munchkins, all of which have created quite a stir in TICA show circles. And, of course, you have the entertaining household class, which produces budding superstars of who knows what ancestry.

On the natural side, the Singapura has been likened to an Abby; on the wild side, a miniature cougar.

The Singapura wears a short, silky coat - accented with dark seal brown ticking on a warm old ivory ground color, producing a delicate almost sparkling effect. "It has a thermal coat," says Rhea, "which means that the hair closest to the body (base of hair shaft) or in the warm areas of the body has a lighter coloration than the outer tip."

Its medium-length, semi-cobby body is stocky, firm and muscular. But one of its alluring trademarks is the hazel, green or yellow almond-shaped eyes.

The breed's origin is a mixmaster of dispute, explains Richard Gebhardt in "The Complete Book of the Cat" (Howell Book House, 1991).

An American, Hal Meadows, who was living in Singapore in the early 1970s, found four of these brown-ticked cats on the streets of the city. He paid a crewman on a ship bound for the United States, to transport them to Houston, where a friend, Tommy Brodie, was living.

A former all-breed judge and Abyssinian breeder, Brodie allowed three of them to reproduce, but no records were maintained. Meadow and Brodie were married shortly thereafter and both went to Singapore in 1974 to live when Meadow, a geophysicist, transferred his business there.

However, because the nature of Meadow's work in Singapore was purportedly politically sensitive, he insisted his wife not reveal the origins of the cats.

When the Meadows left Singapore and returned to the United States in 1975, they announced their foundation stock had come from the streets of Singapore and that they intended to establish a new breed.

Their story was accepted until an American, Jerry Mayes, went to Singapore in the mid-`80s in quest of additional street cats to bring back to the U.S. When residents looked peculiarly at Mayes after he inquired about the felines, he began investigating and found that the Meadows' import papers listed their three cats as "brown Abyssinians."

He brought this information to the attention of Sandra Davie, a Singapore newspaper reporter whose interest was prompted because the city's tourist board was preparing to launch a major promotion of the creatures.

Davie phoned Tommy Meadow about the discovery of the "brown Abyssinians" and Meadow admitted fabricating the story about finding cats on the streets of Singapore in 1974.

In the quest to further document the breed's origin, Hal Meadow's presence in Singapore in 1971 was substantiated but not the shipment of the three original Singapuras to the U.S. No import or export papers were completed, yet they were cleared for entrance into the U.S. by the Department of Agriculture in Galveston, Texas.

The plot thickened when Hal Meadow testified at a 1991 Cat Fanciers Association board meeting that the three "brown Abyssinians" were instead grandchildren of the original 1971 quartet of boat cats.

Eventually, the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board was satisfied with the Meadows' later explanation that the foundation stock did indeed come from the city's streets, and as a result continued with their promotion.

The Seattle Times February 4, 1996. By Ranny Green.
Singapuras rare breed in the U.S. February, 1996. By Ranny Green.