Cat fur

Cat leather and cat fur mainly comes from East Asia and is used as fur collars on clothing or for stuffed animals. Up until the 1970s, cat skins were sold as rheumatic protection in Europe by pharmacies.

According to estimates, two million cats and dogs are processed worldwide this way every year.

Cat fur is forbidden to sell in a lot of countries. According to REGULATION (EC) No 1523/2007 and by the German Animal Products Trading Act (TierErzHaVerbG), it is generally prohibited to sell cat fur and dog fur, as well as products containing such fur in the EU, or from the EU to other destinations. Transporting these across borders for non-business reasons though is permitted.

However, these regulations relate only to the fur of cats and dogs. There are no restrictions on sales of hairless leather of dogs and cats or animal hair without skin. Teeth, claws or bones are also not subject to any restrictions. There is no explanation for this.

The consumption of cat or dog meat is regulated in Germany. This is prohibited in Germany according to § 22 of the Food Hygiene Ordinance.

In order to avoid the word "cat", which sounds unpleasant to the western customer, traders often use names such as "Lipi", "Genotte", "mountain cat", "wild cat" or just "orthopaedic leather". End consumers never know that usually all these items are made using domestic cats.

Even for professionals, it is difficult to recognize which animal a fur is from. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that such furs or leather are processed in Asia and imported into Europe.