Last weekend my husband Marty and I were so excited about attending the first ever cat show held in Ormand Beach, Florida. I really love the Cat Fanciers’ Association’s (CFA) shows and one of the main reasons I truly prefer attending CFA sanctioned shows is that their registry does not allow declawed cats in any division in competition. By not allowing any declawed cats to participate in their sanctioned cat shows this sends a very important message to the folks who are planning to show their cats, that the organization does not approve of declawing surgery because it is cruel and harmful to kitties.
Unfortunately there are still other cat associations that do not penalize declawed cats, allowing them to compete in all divisions. I don’t understand why those organizations continue to tacitly supports declaw surgery, and by allowing these cats to compete, I believe it sends a subtle message that it’s okay to declaw cats. Since there are many people who show their cats under the sanction of the organization, if declawed cats are not penalized and permitted to compete alongside of cats whose paws are intact; it seems to me that it gives the kitty owners permission to mutilate their cats.
I do understand that many cat lovers abhor just the thought of a cat show. They truly believe that it is cruel to “force” a cat to be handled by strangers in oftentimes crowded, show halls that can get somewhat noisy and may be frightening to the cats. But from my experience as a former breeder and show person, cats that become fractious and afraid are pulled from the show ring by their owners and not made to “suffer” under the capable hands of cat show judges. As a matter of fact, cats that are upset and afraid generally don’t show well, even though they may be perfection, meeting the breed standard to a “T”.
The cats we saw observed last weekend truly seemed to be enjoying being shown off. I so enjoyed watching CFA All Breed Judge Teresa Keiger handle the cats in her ring. I fell in love with each and every one of the cats being shown in the Premier class (the class for neuters and spays) and I think I wanted to take home a few of them. I was particularly enamored with the Japanese Bobtail with a great sense of humor. It was fun to watch Judge Keiger play with the kitty with a feather toy and to see the cat enjoying their interaction.
Do the judges fall in love with the cats they are handling? Perhaps they don’t all the time. But in my opinion watching Judge Keiger handling the cats in her ring, it was totally apparent that she loved the cats she was judging. And that love was infectious because I too fell in love with the Exotic Shorthair based upon the way she was enjoying handling the cat. As far as I was concerned that cat was a total knockout with a matching purrsonality.
Most of all cat shows have been good to me. Several months after Dr. Hush Puppy died, we began thinking of getting an Oriental Shorthair kitten, but we weren’t aware of any local breeders. Thankfully, Judge Keiger suggested that we attend a cat show in DeLand, Florida, and chat with some of the Oriental breeders. It was there that we were able to hook up with Barbara Fraizer who did have a kitten available. Had we not attended that show we wouldn’t have been lucky enough to find Aki.
What are your thoughts about cat shows? I personally think they have a lot of merit- do you? Share your thought in a comment.
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Doesn’t matter at all to me, actually, but Beverly Hills is known as a very high-end place as well as a very self-absorbed consumerist community, so it is entirely possible that he did find himself on the streets even though he may well have been “purebred” — he could have gotten out accidentally, for instance. Anyway, what DOES matter to me is that we had 7 wonderful years together, and before that, he had 14 years of love with his first human family.
I’ve been to TICA cat shows – by the way, TICA doesn’t allow declawed cats either. They have a yearly cat show in my area and I usually go there to watch the cats and to buy stuff at their market. They have a lot of really good toys you’d not find in the stores, very good sturdy cat trees and some other stuff. My cats are regular mixed breeds from the shelter, by the way.
A few good things about cat shows:
1. All of the proceeds go to the local shelters and rescue groups. People are also encouraged to bring cat food and items to donate.
2. Shelters representatives are there too selling some of the donated or homemade cat stuff – toys, pictures with cats, calendars, etc. to raise money, they also accept donations. People do donate. I usually give to several rescues there.
3. There is a large area where the shelters can show cats for adoption. A lot of time people come with an idea to buy a purebred and adopt instead when they see how beautiful the regular cats look too.
4. As Jo said, there is a lot of educational material, there is “ask a vet” table.
All of the cats I’ve ever had were regular cats from shelters, but I do go to cat shows and know a fair bit about purebreds. If your cat was rescued as a kitten from the streets, it’s not a purebred. In general, no papers = not a purebred. Purebred kittens are not thrown to the streets as they cost money, even if an owner cannot keep them, they can return them to breeders or even resell. The adults could be found in shelters since people may have relinquished them, but then, they’d have papers. In fact, there are very few purebreds in shelters, but cats are routinely mislabeled as belonging to a particular breed. For example, every large long haired cat is labeled Main Coon or Norwegian Forest Cat, but they are domestic longhair, they are unlikely to even be mixes. Similarly, every solid gray cat is often labeled by shelters as “Russian Blue” when none of them really are Russian Blues, they are gray domestic shorthairs. Sure, if a breed has very distinctive look e.g. Persians, you could guess that the cat has Persian origins. But Main Coon looks are not that distinctive.
By the way, a rescue labelled my two cats as “Bengal Mixes”, but they really are just regular tabbies.
While I don’t think purebreds are in any way superior, I actually prefer regular moggies since they tend to be healthier, I think it’s important to understand that. Purebreds often have certain genetic problems, and if you think your cat is a purebred you can worry for no reason.
I sorry if you feel I did not provide support. I have emailed you are response.
I’m so sorry if you are offended Michael.
But, I feel the loss of those who felt betrayed by your lack of support when an uncredentialed “feline diabetic expert” battered them.
I feel for my most loved friend, Dorothy, who got no support from you when she lost her beloved Yellow. And, you probably don’t even know that she lost her Bigfoot as well.
So many came to your side when Charlie was in such straits. But, you didn’t reciprocate when a beloved member’s Walter struggled with his health.
The comments from loyal visitors weren’t reciting what had already been said.
They were heartfelt and trustworthy.
Because I know the names: Missie, Benny, Charlie… it is important.
Do you know what cat names belong to what people? Damon? Jozef? Monty? Marvin?
Again, I apologize; but, I miss the “family” feel that was once here.
Would love to see nothing but that. Sort of a mega moggie adoptathon.