Making Color and Class Changes at a Show

February 5, 2026

And What To Do When You Get Home From the Show

Cathy Dunham, CFA Show Scorer

 

So many colors!!! What color/pattern am I?

You have done all the paperwork needed to get a CFA registration number for your cat/kitten and you enter the first show. You get there and in one ring a judge asks you to change the color description and maybe the color class of your cat/kitten to something other than is what is on the registration certificate. Now what?

The first thing you have to decide is whether to change the color description and maybe the color class as requested by the judge. If you choose to allow the change(s), you need to do two things and maybe a third in the show hall.

  1. Go to each ring you have not been in and give the new color description and color class number to the ring clerk. This allows the remaining rings time to correct their paperwork prior to your arrival in the ring so class judging can proceed smoothly. (Tip: Leave the busy clerk a written note as well as verbal advice of change.)
  2. Go to the master clerk and complete a correction slip correcting the color description and color class number for your kitten/cat.
  3. If your cat was the only cat in its class and has been in any rings prior to the change being made, you can ask the master clerk for the paperwork for those judges and politely ask if the judge would be willing to change their paperwork to be consistent with the other judges. You should do this when the judge is not busy. If a judge refuses your request do not be offended as they do not have to make the corrections. Politely thank them for their time and take the paperwork back to the master clerk.

Now that the show is over, what happens to the paperwork sent to the CFA scoring department? The scoring department does a final review and applies the points to each cat/kitten in the show. When the scoring department sees a color correction for your cat/kitten, one of two things happens:

  1. If a color correction was made to the registration certificate to match the change in each ring, the correction is made for the show and the cat/kitten is scored with no issue.
  2. If the color correction was not made to the registration certificate, then the scoring department checks a box requesting a color change. By checking that box, a message is sent to the owner’s eCat account to contact CFA. This allows the owner to submit the necessary corrections to the registration department. No title can be added to the cat’s record until the correction is addressed by the owner.

To make the scoring process go smoothly, breeders and exhibitors can help by addressing color changes as soon as possible after the show. The CFA Central Office staff is great to work with and will be happy to help you through the process.

Contacting an entry clerk is the last step to complete the process. Once all the changes have been made with Central Office and you have a new registration certificate, please contact any entry clerk and ask them to correct the registration number (if needed), the color description and the color class for your cat in the entry system. This will ensure the next time you enter your cat that everything will be correct. Of course, it is always wise to read the entry confirmation and exhibitor catalog to ensure all is correct.