TICA shows require two types of forms to be submitted to enter:

1) A summary sheet. You will fill out one of these covering all the cats you want to enter. The summary sheet summarizes your financial obligation to the club. The summary sheet lists the options for prices, double cages, extra catalogs, advertising, etc.

2) An entry form should be filled out for each cat you want to enter. The information needed for this form is:  breed, color, name, sire, dam, etc.

TICA has Household pets fill out a similar simplified form indicating color, hair length, owner, birthdates, and title.

Cats do not need to be registered in TICA to be shown for the first time. If you decide you like TICA and you want your cat to compete for titles and regional/international awards you will need to register your cats with TICA.

TICA classes of entries:

All classes except Preliminary New Breed, Advanced New Breed, and New Traits are eligible for regional and international awards. Championship cats, Alters, and Household Pets are also eligible for titles.

TICA does not have color classes as CFA does. Some of the breeds that are split as separate breeds in CFA are not split in TICA. European Burmese and Burmese breeds in CFA equal to Burmese breed in TICA, which combines all Burmese.

Here is color names comparison table:

TICA accepts declawed cats because some of the owners might get a cat declawed already.

TICA regions are divided differently from those in CFA. To determine the TICA region you live in, see indicated by a two letter code rather than a number. For example, the Southeast Region is indicated by SE.

The basic process of a TICA show is the same as a CFA show. At TICA one day shows a judge judges every cat in the show on one day; in split format show has the judge judging half the cats one day and half the second day.

The TICA show number is given according to the competitive class.

TICA judging process and the awards are different and are simpler than in CFA.

All cats of the same breed and color are judged against the written standard for that breed. Up to 5 cats are selected as the best-5th representation of their breed - looking only at cats of that color. The judge awards these cats ribbons with colors indicating their placement. The best of color cat  best fits the entire written breed standard including head, structure, coat, etc for that color.

Household pets, and household pet kittens are evaluated against a written standard as well. That standard states that the cat should be in good condition, well groomed, be of the right weight for his or her frame, have clean ears, and trimmed nails. The judge then uses his or her opinion as to the household pets he or she feels are the best. If a household pet meets the basic requirements, it will receive a best of color (or HHP merit) award - even if there is more than one HHP of the same color.

Next, the judge looks at all the cats, within the breed, within the same division. In TICA division is part of a breed.

Next, the judge will look at his best cats of each division and select the top-3 representatives of the breed.

During the finals the judge names the cats he decides are the very best representations of their breeds in the class. The number of cats the judge may final depends on the number of cats in competition for the class:

Finals can be allbreed or specialty. Allbreed finals are the cats the judge feels are the very best of both the longhair and shorthair cats for that class. Specialty finals only take the longhairs or shorthairs of the class into consideration.

In TICA the show numbers of the finalists are not announced. Exhibitors have to check the numbers by themselves. 

Some shows present a best of the best or best in show presentation at the conclusion of the weekend's judging and other awards which are not scored for titles.

Titles available at TICA are:

Points come from color placement, division placement, and final placement. Standard point values apply:

Points are cumulative but finals are not. All titles must be claimed by the exhibitor using the recognition of wins form.

To obtain TICA's highest title (Supreme) you must have at least one BEST final at the previous level.

A cat only retains a Championship OR Alter title. If you are a SGC and start claiming titles as an Alter you will lose your Championship title.

Each region in TICA recognizes the 20 top cats of the show season in each  class.

The top-3 of cats of each breed and color within championship are recognized regionally and internationally.

Regional and international points are accumulated as follows: 1) the highest scoring 50 rings are used for championship cats, alters, and household pets 2) the highest scoring 30 rings are used for kittens and household pet kittens.

A ring is scored as followed:  If you made a final in the ring it's the point value for the final plus the number of cats defeated:

If you don't make a final your points for the ring is the number of cats you defeated in the breed or division.