Fanciers Breeders Referral List (FBRL)

The Fanciers Breeder Referral List (FBRL) is the largest and oldest dedicated cat breeder referral service on the World Wide Web.

The Fanciers Breeder Referral List (FBRL) is the largest and oldest dedicated cat breeder referral service on the World Wide Web. Created in November 1994 by a cat breeder for cat breeders, the FBRL has devoted itself exclusively to the pedigreed cat since that time.

The FBRL is run entirely by one person -- me (Barbara French). I bred Somalis for ten years under the CFA cattery name Tarantara, but a mild cat allergy forced me out of breeding and showing. While I can have two or three cats as pets, the number of cats required for a viable breeding program, not to mention spending weekends in poorly ventilated showhalls with a few hundred felines in states of active grooming, was more than my respiratory system could handle. So I choose to support my beloved pursuit in another fashion.

The two other "staff members" of the FBRL are my morale officers -- my shorthaired brown classic tabby Scottish Fold Grand Premier Linanci's BooBoo B'ear of Tarantara (BooBoo, shown at the right), born in 2000, and Goblin, a blue and white domestic shorthair born in July 2006. Smudge, a bluecream and white domestic shorthair born in August 1990, succumbed to CRF (chronic renal failure) on August 9, 2007. She supervised the FBRL's day to day operations for many years.

I was also a regular feature writer for CATS Magazine, and have published articles, mostly centering on pedigreed cats and related subjects, in several other cat-related magazines and journals.

The list started as a simple cross-reference on the old Fanciers web site in connection with the original Fanciers e-mail list, but quickly grew into a popular breeder referral system. In 1998 the FBRL struck out on its own (partly due to the fact that it was so popular it outgrew its free hosting, partly due to the 20-30 hours per week I was now devoting to keep this huge service going) and became a paid advertising service. In May 2001 I was able to make the important step of quitting my "day job" to devote my full-time attention to the FBRL.

Today the FBRL averages more than 500,000 monthly page views and high standing on all the popular search engines, including Google, MSN Search, AOL Search, and Yahoo.

www: www.breedlist.com/