Saquib Salim Pathan: Feline Club of India

The Feline Club of India is the first and the 'only' cat registry of India. It is working for the betterment of cats in the country through series of conventions, registration drives, and cat shows.

Creature Companion Magazine had an opportunity to have a conversation with Mr. Saquib Salim Pathan, key person behind the Feline Club of India. He took an initiative in the form of this club to bring together like minded people and cat lovers in order to educate them and make them aware about cat issues in India. He shared with us a few excerpts from his journey of bringing about this change and his mission for cat population in India.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START WITH THE ‘FELINE CLUB OF INDIA’? WHY YOU SPECIFICALLY CHOSE FELINES AMONGST ALL OTHER PETS?

I have been a cat lover all my life; I have had multiple cats at my home for years. But apart from just having a cat, I was very keen on knowing the best practices in cat’s upkeep. So I tried searching for it and found that we in India lack tremendously in knowledge about cats grooming, show culture, and breed standards as compared to dogs, where the show culture is much developed and the breeding practices have improved due to it. Sadly, this was not the case with cats. We lack behind western countries and even some Asian countries when it comes to general awareness, breeding practices/ standard, knowledge among cat parents, breeders, and even veterinary practitioners.

To fill this knowledge gap, we thought of bringing together like minded or rather cat crazy people where we can educate them, share each other’s experiences, and ultimately improve the cat hobby in India. We analysed the problems faced by the cat parents, what India lack as compared to other countries, and decided to tackle them with our own ways and that is how Feline Club of India was started.