Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

This will only work for you if you don’t have certain obvious allergies. ;)

I’ve only ever been to one cat show before, but I decided to go to one last Sunday because Sean, a friend from out of town, and his wife were showing their bengals and really, I hadn’t seen my friend in almost ten years. So I rode down to the fairgrounds, had my hand stamped with a paw print, and went in search of my friend, who spotted me as I was about to text “Here I am.”

A cat show is a visual feast of feline bliss. The intitial odor of cat poop times several hundred quickly fades into the background when offset against the excited, happy buzz and the sight of so much wonderful felinus domesticus.

First I was introduced to the bengals, and in fact to the breed itself. Underneath it all is a “basic” black cat, but these cats are bred either for their spots or their stripes, have long slim bodies, and are bright and alert.

Sean then gave me a guided tour of the different creatures on show. There were many kinds, from the textured, bald Sphynxes to the regal Persians with their unfortunately squashed faces (sorry, Persian fans). All were pristine, many were vocal, and many a paw and nose investigated us as we passed.

Particularly amusing, to me, were the curly-haired cats. There are only three breeds with this characteristic fur–Cornish Rex, Devon Rex and Selkirk Rex. The amusement for me was not that they look funny–they are sweet and no, they don’t look funny–but that the Selkirk Rex was bred in Montana, and the breeder chose “Selkirk” so that the breed’s name had the same feel as Cornish and Devon Rexes.

The only trouble with this is that in the British Isles, Cornwall and Devon are at the extreme southwest of England, and Selkirk is in the Scottish borders, to the north-east of Scotland and hundreds of miles away. I couldn’t help thinking that someone needed a geography lesson.

Aside from learning more about cats, including a mini-lecture from an enthusiastic breeder of delicate, pretty Egyptian Mau cats, I asked to see a show and get an explanation of what was going on. One of the Bangles Bengals cats was due in the ring, so I went along. This was the kitten contest and a number of cages were set up, each with a numbered card.

The breeds were in one at a time and you were called by number. The judge interacted with each cat, checked its major points (each breed has a standard and the ones that best adhere to that standard are the winners) and brought each one out for an inspection. Then, some of the numbers are removed and those owners remove their cats, because they didn’t place. Finally, tabs are added to the cage for winners 1 through 5. My friend’s cat placed fourth for color. There is also another set of winners but the details of how these prizes are won is hazy.

Then the bengals were taken out and replaced by the next breed of kittens. The air was buzzing with calls to the various shows and people carrying their cats back and forth. The good-humored judge had a conversation with the winning cat–who was busy attacking the tablecloth through her cage. ;)

I went there expecting to be in and out within an hour, but was actually there for nearly three hours. ;) It was fun getting an insider’s scoop and peeking into a different world.

Suggestion: go to a cat show. Better still, go to a cat show as the guest of a breeder, or at the very least spend time talking to the different breeders and asking questions. People seem very pleased to tell you about and show you their cats, and there’s a lot out there to learn.

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