Ocicat Standard of Points (GCCF) 

The Ocicat is a medium to large well-spotted agouti cat of moderate type, noted for its “wild” appearance.  It is athletic and powerful, yet graceful and lithe.  The spots are well scattered in a distinctive pattern on the sides of the body across the shoulders and hindquarters and extending down the legs, with a well spotted belly.  The head accentuates the wild appearance, with moderately large ears and large expressive almond shaped eyes.  The body is solid, rather long, with a well-muscled chest and substantial muscle and bone development surprising in this elegant cat.  The tail is fairly long, not whippy; the coat is sleek and close lying.  The Ocicat’s temperament belies its wild appearance, though active, intelligent and demanding of attention, its agreeable nature makes it an ideal companion to man and beast.

Head
Modified wedge, longer than it is wide, showing a slight curve from muzzle to cheek, with a visible but gentle rise from the bridge of the nose to the brow.  There is no nose break as such, but a slight dip is seen in profile.  The muzzle is broad and well defined with a definite suggestion of squareness and in profile shows good length.  Strong chin.  Firm jaw.  Broad, level bite.  Moderate whisker pinch.  Head carried gracefully on an arching neck.  Allowance should be made for jowls on mature males.

Ears
Alert, moderately large and wide at base, set at a 45 degree angle, neither too high nor too low, with at least the width of an ear base between them.  The tips of the ears should be gently rounded; vertical tufts from the ear tips are desirable but not essential.

Eyes
Large, full almond shaped, and angled slightly upwards towards the ears, more than the length of an eye between the eyes.  All eye colours except blue are allowed, with no correspondence between eye colour and coat colour.  Depth of colour preferred.

Body
Solid, with substantial bone and muscle development and an athletic appearance.  The body should be long.  The chest should be deep and rather broad but never coarse.  The back should be straight and slightly higher at the rear.  Both sexes should feel surprisingly heavy for their size, with the females smaller than the males.

Legs and Paws
Legs of good substance and well muscled.  Medium length, powerful and in good proportion to the body.  Paws oval paws and compact.

Tail
Fairly long and in good proportion to the body, broad at base with only a slight taper, no whip

Coat
Short, satiny in texture with a lustrous sheen.  Close lying and sleek, with no suggestion of woolliness.   Allowances should be made for seasonal variation.

Colours
All colours should be clear and pleasing and the spotting should not be faint or blurred, although the pale colours will show less contrast than the darker ones.  The lightest colour is found on the face, chin, lower jaw and abdomen.  The darkest colour is found on the tip of the tail and the tail tip colour is the final definitive in determining the colour of the cat.  Each hair (except on the extremities) has several bands of colour, and where the dark bands fall together a spot is formed on the surface of the coat.

Pattern
The eyes should be rimmed with the darkest coat colour and surrounded by the lightest colour, giving a “mascara” effect.  There should be dark markings on the cheeks and an intricate tabby “M” on the forehead, with markings extending up over the head between the ears and breaking into small spots on the lower neck and shoulders, and rows of spots along the spine from shoulder blades to tail.  The tail should have rings of darker colour, ideally alternating with spots, and must have a dark tip.  There should be scattered spots across the shoulders and hindquarters, extending as far as possible down the legs with broken bracelets on the lower legs and often broken necklaces at the throat.  There should be larger, well scattered thumb print shaped spots on the sides of the body, forming a “bull’s eye” pattern of a spot circled by spots.  The belly should be well spotted.  Dark markings should be found at the backs of the hind legs.  Well defined spots contrasting strongly with the background colour are much more important than exceptionally large spots: but allowance must always be made for the contrast in dilutes and pale silver varieties.  Heavy tarnishing in Black Silvers is undesirable.

Withhold all Awards for:
● White locket or spotting, or white anywhere other than around eyes, nostrils, lips, chin and upper throat (except white agouti ground in silver colours).
● Blue eyes
● Reds, creams or tortoiseshells
● Cats with very indistinct spotting

Withhold Certificates or First prizes in Kitten Open Classes for:
● Oriental or British head
● Oriental or British body type
● Long, shaggy or rough coat
● Small-boned, fragile-appearing animal
● Whip tail
● Any defect as listed in the preface to the GCCF SOP booklet

Faults:
● Round or protruding eyes
● Close-set or upright ears
● Straight profile
● Pointed muzzle