The Rewards Of Showing In Cat Shows

Showing your cat is an expensive business, eve if the animal has championship potential. The rewards are likely to be pride in your and your cat’s achievements, a rosette and perhaps a silver cup or a supply of commercial cat food rather than prize money.

Apart from the cost and maintenance of your pedigreed cat, there are equipment and traveling costs as well as high entry fees to consider.

However, for the committed cat fancier, the person who is interested in breeding and showing pedigree cats, there are many other rewards. Cat shows present the ideal opportunity to find out about the various breeds.

You can make valuable contacts with breeders and look out for your next new kitten or for suitable mates for your queen. You will become part of the cat fanciers’ network, check out the latest breeds and commercial cat products, make friends and fill in your social calendar with cat related events.

Whether your cat actively enjoys the show or not is debatable. Most cats are so adaptable they will tolerate being confined to a pen for the best part of a day.

Others may have a shy or timid nature, or may be particularly active; in either case it would not be fair to subject them to the show scene. If you introduce a kitten to showing at an early age, it is more likely to adapt.

Some cats even appear to relish the attention and admiration from passers by. If you are taking a cat to its first show, keep a close eye on it, if it is unhappy, it will let you know.

It is through being judged at shows that new breeds gain acceptance and established breeds keep up to scratch. If a new breed does not make it through the various levels of judging, from local show to national championship, it is unlikely to survive.

When judges study a cat, they are making sure that it conforms to the standards set for that breed. If they spot signs of, say, an aggressive temperament, or a deformity in an up and coming breed, they can disqualify the cat and stipulate that it should not be used for breeding.