Cat Shows

In my work I attend at least a couple of cat shows a year. The past several years I’ve attended the Houston Cat Club Charity Show, and January 5-6 this year I signed books there again. One of the cat vendors sponsored a raffle for a gorgeous cat tree--that’s Tyler, a LaPerm kitty (has wavy fur) testing the prize and conferring with me before they had me draw the winner’s name.

If you’ve never done so, please don’t miss the opportunity to visit a show! I call it “cat juggling” because the longhair kitties like Persians get swooped through the air to show off their flowing tresses, while the sleek, svelte shorthair varieties are stretched out like some aerodynamic slingshot ready to be flung across the room. Not that any cat would ever stand for such a thing.

Even the cats in the show hall entertain passersby. While waiting to be judged, each cat stays in a private cage festooned with fancy trim, and often adorned with warning signs: “I don’t bite, but my OWNER does--do not touch!” That’s because too many pettings might spread illness. Here, a lovely Cornish Rex cat shows his trick when asked to beg.

Every cat show offers a wealth of prizes, including trophies and ribbons. There are categories for spayed and neutered felines (Premier class) as well as intact cats.

Some shows, such as the Houston venue, also include adoptable shelter cats.

Many cat shows boast the “Household Pet” category that include cat-next-door random bred felines like my Seren. I don’t show Seren, though. She already knows she’s beautiful and she has an aversion to strangers handling her. And I have an aversion to her head spinning around as she morphs into “devil cat” in public. I’m funny that way.