Interview! Vickie Fisher - President of The International Cat Association (TICA)

"We cherish both pedigree and non-pedigree cats. We just want the world to value cats as companion animals."

Vicki Fisher had a successful career in finance & management, but in retirement, she has really been able to devote more time to her passion: CATS! She is the President of the Albuquerque Kennel Compadre, which is an affiliate of the Animal Welfare Department. She recently received the Albuquerque mayor's Good Samaritan award for all of her great work in this arena, and she has also created two coloring books for children on how to take care of cats. You may also remember that TICA was one of the sponsors of the recent Online Cat Conference that we just held! We're so thrilled to have her on the podcast!

Vicki has always been an animal lover and got into feeding cats outside her door ... which soon became inside the house. She has had cats for decades and has shared her love of cats all over the world. She even showed cats for many years, which helped her get involved in TICA.

TICA, which is kind of like the AKC (for dogs), is international. They register cats and sanction shows. Show cats can either be pedigreed or non-pedigreed. TICA is more interested in just getting people involved by making it fun to show your cat, no matter their breed or type. TICA is an overall registry and also does a significant amount of education and outreach, especially with children, regarding how to take care of cats as pets.

Vicki has an incredible knowledge of all the different types of cat breeds, along with their history and how many started out as alley cats. She shares some of this history with us, along with how science now gives us a lot of opportunity to make sure cats are bred properly to pass along good genes.

Finally, Vicki discusses the Winn Feline Foundation, where she is the Treasurer, which fundraises exclusively for cat research. They work on ways to focus on curing different feline diseases, particularly Feline Leukemia. They are also involved in different ringworm studies in a shelter environment.

To learn more about TICA, visit www.tica.org, and to learn more about the Winn Feline Foundation, visit www.winnfelinefoundation.org.