Understanding FIFe Cat Categories and the Easy Mind System (EMS)
The Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe) organizes recognized pedigree cats into four competition categories and identifies every breed, coat color, and pattern using the standardized Easy Mind System (EMS) code.
| FIFe Categories | Categories 1, 2, 3, 4 + Preliminary |
|---|---|
| Coding Standard | Easy Mind System (EMS) |
| Primary Authority | FIFe (fifeweb.org) |
| Format | 3-letter uppercase breed code (e.g. MCO, BSH) |
The Four FIFe Competition Categories
Category 1: Persians (PER) and Exotics (EXO).
Category 2: Semi-Longhair breeds including Maine Coon (MCO), Norwegian Forest Cat (NFO), Ragdoll (RAG), Sacred Birman (SBI), Siberian (SIB), and Turkish Van (TUV).
Category 3: Shorthair and Somali breeds including British Shorthair (BSH), Bengal (BEN), Abyssinian (ABY), Burmese (BUR), Chartreux (CHA), and European (EUR).
Category 4: Siamese (SIA), Oriental (OSH/OLH), Balinese (BAL), Devon Rex (DRX), Cornish Rex (CRX), and Sphynx (SPH).
How to Read an EMS Code on a Cat Pedigree
An EMS string starts with the 3-letter uppercase breed abbreviation (such as MCO for Maine Coon or BSH for British Shorthair), followed by lowercase letters for coat color (e.g. n for black/seal, a for blue, d for red) and two-digit numerical codes for coat pattern, white spotting, tail length, and eye color.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are EMS codes used across international cat shows?
EMS eliminates translation ambiguity across languages: a judge or breeder in France, Germany, Brazil, or Spain reads the exact same alphanumeric genetic phenotype without language barriers.
Die Inhalte dienen der Orientierung und ersetzen weder die tierärztliche Untersuchung noch offizielle Zuchtordnungen.