The Fédération Internationale Féline (or FIFe) is a federation of cat registries

Cat registry

A cat registry is an organisation that registers cats for exhibition and breeding purposes. A cat registry stores the pedigrees of cats, prefixes or affixes of catteries, studbooks , breed descriptions and the standards of points for those breeds; lists of judges qualified to judge at shows run...

. There are currently thirty-nine member organizations in thirty-seven countries. Membership spans Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

.

Founded by Madame Marguerite Ravel, the federation was unofficially started in 1949 in Paris, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. At their first General Assembly in Ghent, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, the federation was officially founded. The original name was Fédération Internationale Féline d'Europe or FIFE. In 1972 the Brazilian Cat Club joined, making it necessary to change the Euro-centric name of the federation. The "d'Europe" was dropped, and the abbreviation was changed to FIFe.

The emphasis of the federation is on the health and well-being of their cats.