Any Tips for Someone NEW to Showing??

Such wonderful advice from all of you.

Nial- That is wonderful to hear that you're going to be at the Raleigh show!!! It would be great to meet you and your gorgeous kitties.... and of course it would be great to have someone show me the ropes on how to "properly" show a cat. I know that you have plenty of experience!

Abymummy- Thanks for the training steps. I think that I'm going to do that! The bath should be interesting, but I'm going to give it a whirl. Do you think that giving Rowdy a bath now would set back (or help) the process of introducing him to my girl? Since his smell would change, I wasn't sure if that would matter.

MissyMotus- I love that picture of Demetri! So funny. It would make sense that confident cats would make good show cats..... so hopefully that will be true for my little Ace. "Look at me, everyone! Look at me!!"

GoldenKitty- I appreciate all of your encouragement and advice as well. I'm sure that Charlie will develop beautifully and achieve the coveted Grand. In my eyes he already looks like a grand!!! I'm no expert on Oci type, of course, but he's gorgeous. I'll try to stay calm at the shows, ask for critique, and not expect any ribbons. I'll be happy if he just makes it through the whole show without a fuss! That's my main goal. Ribbons would be icing on the cake, but I just want him to successfully "show"- regardless of whether or not he finals.

Does anyone have any good tips on bathing technique? How well do you lather? How do you approach their faces (if at all)? Etc?

Well since we got Nial to wash his Bengal (and then he has a problem cause the cats want to play in the water ALL the time now), he can advise you on the shampoo to use.

I suggest you wash him now so he doesn't totally freak out. Charlie's 1st bath; you could hear him in Canada! He was NOT thrilled at all. But he's had several baths since and now loves it and is very cooperative.

Try washing him on a Thursday (as if for show on the weekend). See how his coat feels/lays, etc. Most wash the cats one or two days before a show. You don't want to comb him while drying - just keep slicking down the coat with your hands; air dry him in a draft-free room (no blow dryer).

You want to trim nails first. Put a towel or mat in the sink/tub. Wet him from neck down (use a washcloth in warm water to wipe his face/ears before you put him in the water). Don't need a lot of shampoo but need to get him clean to the skin. The more shampoo you use, the harder/longer it will take to rinse it all out.

After you shampoo him, then start rinsing it all out. Rinse, rinse, then rinse again till all the soap is out of the coat. Have a warm towel (2) to wrap him in and do partial drying. After you dry him off with the first one, use a 2nd one to keep drying more out of the coat. Then put him in the room you choose to let him finish drying himself.

The shampoo I am using is Kenic Sno-flake Pet Shampoo.

http://www.jefferspet.com/ssc/produc...R89&pf_id=1253

Demetri is really good about having a bath, I used to put a few inches of very warm water in the tub but now I'm just using a shower hose attachment that goes on the faucet I find it much easier to rinse him off that way.
Similar to this one http://i5.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/a2/aa/d2fb_1.JPG

I use Bio-Groom silky cat shampoo.

Yeah Charlie loves the shower head with the warm water spray to rinse

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Yeah Charlie loves the shower head with the warm water spray to rinse

Click to expand...

Such good advice, everyone! You make this seem like a piece of cake. hee hee. How warm is the warm water? Above luke-warm, but cooler than my usual bath water?

Do most of you leave a little water in the tub or JUST use the spray head?

Yeah, warmer then lukewarm - remember they do get wet and chilled, so you want the water on the warmer side. I initally put in about an inch or 2 in the bottom to get him totally wet and shampooed. I use a wash cloth to help wet him down to the skin - flip the fur backwards so you get it wet to the skin.

Then drain the tub and turn on the showerhead and use that to rinse him off. I usually start at the back end so his head doesn't get wet. He loves the warm water spray - even on the belly. Use your hands to feel for soap as you rinse.

Thanks, GoldenKitty! I think he is going to enjoy his bath. I'm going to get one of those spray heads and hopefully give it a try this weekend. I'll let you guys know how my adventure unfolds!!!!!!!

Yeah and if you can, get someone to take pictures - nothing cuter (not from cat's view tho) then a "drowned rat" cat

And not sure if it was mentioned but TRIM the NAILS before you do a bath!

Here's how I do it.

(Since I occasional give a pre-show bath to the cats now, thanks to the egging-on of certain TCS members)


After putting on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, I fill the tub 1/3 to 1/2 full of water that is a comfortable temp for me. Then I get in, but remain standing.

My wife hands me the bengal victim. I place him/her in the tub and we shut the glass doors so there can be no escape.

My cats seem to make the connection very quickly, that if I'm standing in the same water they are, it must not be so awful and they aren't going to drown.

One thing they don't like is the sound of water running like crazy from the tap into a tub full of water that they are wading in. It works much better, if it's just a big pool of water in the tub, with no incoming water.

I talk to them in a normal soothing and encouraging voice, as if nothing weird is going on. I also encourage them to play with floating ping pong balls or other toys in the water. I let them explore alot, to include checking all possible exits to escape as many times as it takes for them to realize, there is no escape until I say so.

Then when they seem fairly calm, I apply the water to their pelts and shampoo them. There is usually some complaining during this part. Signing up for the water park tub ride was fine, but nobody told them the stinky shampoo was part of the deal.
I make sure not to shampoo their head or ears.

I have a large pitcher full of clean rinse water, to help remove all the shampoo, once it's time to rinse off. Our shower head doesn't detach, so I have to improvise.

By the time the rinse is done, they're pretty much ready to get out of the tub. Last step is to use my hands to squeegee them off, then they get handed to my wife to towel dry.

Takes about 30 mins or so for them to dry themselves off by grooming and just air drying.

So far I haven't scared any of our bengals away from the bathroom. They hear the water running in the tub, or the shower and they come running to investigate. It's funny to see 5 bengals lined up peering into the tub, and at least one trying to get in.

P.S. Clipping the claws prior to the bath is probably a good idea, although I don't do it. I have not been scratched yet.

Haha- It just seems like such a funny picture to me. I can't wait to see how this unfolds. I would think that it would go over pretty well just because he doesn't mind water very much. (He doesn't move an inch when I squirt him with the water bottle). However, I realize that semi-submerging a cat and rubbing them with shampoo is a different matter. I'll try to get my husband to cooperate and take pictures!

We don't have a glass-enclosed tub, unfortunately, so that might be a bit of a challenge. I'll just close the door, have my husband handy, and hope for the best!

Awhile back I gave my Bengal girl a foam conditioning "bath" (no water) and I ended up having some results that backfired on me. She obviously didn't like it (not as agreeable as Rowdy) and she was trying to groom all the lingering scent away. In the process of doing that, she licked a bald spot on her back! It took FOREVER to come back in!! Has anyone else had this experience?? I know that the foam shampoo was a little different, but I wouldn't want that to happen to my show kitty.

Just some random things that come to mind. . .

One tip an old hat at showing gave me was to write my cat's number on my wrist. Sometimes, it really helps to see the number you wrote down when your cat is suddenly called in for a final! At a show back in March, my sister's Turkish Van was called up for a final. We were sitting and waiting for this other person to bring up their cat. . . waiting and waiting. . . until I checked the number on my wrist! My Mau, Bailey!!

Make sure that the card with your boy's holding cage is blue. I once saw a Tonkinese go from female to male and champion to premier in one show! Poor little guy, what a day. . .

Another tip is make sure your cat never makes eye contact with another cat in the show. This can really bother them. . . and if your cat is really stressed by other animals, you can request the ring clerk that your cat be placed behind the judge where he cannot see any other cats.

It's great that you're working with him as a kitten. It will only make him more confident in the ring as an adult.

Good tips!! I'll have to remember to do write down Rowdy's number. Showing is stressful enough... he doesn't need an identity crisis, too! haha- That was pretty funny.

I'll try to work with him- it's hard to make time to do all of these things but I'm trying to do as many of them as I can. Haven't had time to give him his bath yet this weekend, but I might still try to do it tonight....

OK, so I took Rowdy on a little car ride to nowhere on Sunday and that went well. I need to try that again this afternoon.

Last night I gave him a "practice bath". I filled the tub with a couple of inches of warm water and put some little floating toys in there. I turned a wire basket upside down for him to stand on without being "wet". I put him on the wire basket and he immediately jumped in the water. He was a little surprised to find out that he was wet, but didn't seem disappointed. He just kinda lifted his paw and shook it a little. He was interested in the toys but didn't go pouncing. When my husband saw me doing this, he got a little upset because it was close to bedtime and he didn't want to have to deal with drying him off. That being said, I cut his bath-visit short, and took him out of the water.

We started drying his little paws (that was all that was wet). When we put him down, he immediately jumped back in the tub! When he did this he started slipping around (there wasn't a mat in there... I didn't think I'd need one with the supervised visit. I will remember for next time!). Since he was sliding, he started to panic a little bit. He started leaping towards the side, but the tub is pretty deep and he would just fall back in.... getting soaking wet, of course. All of this is happening very fast- we weren't just staring at him struggle- FYI! We were finally able to grab him and get him out of the water. He was fairly scared but let us dry him off. He then started run around the house.... wasn't sure if he was excited or scared or what. I'm thinking it was a nervous run.

He isn't afraid of the blow dryer so I took it out and turned it on low. He seemed to be interested in challenging it to a duel, so while he was swatting at it, it was able to dry his feet and tail a little bit more.

::whew:: I hope that adventure didn't leave a bad taste in his mouth towards the tub! He seemed to like it at first, but obviously the second trip wasn't nearly as much fun. I'll take pictures the next time we try this! Last night was a spur-of-the-moment sort of thing.

Funnyyyyyyyyy

However, do NOT be using a blow dryer on him when giving the real bath. You just towel him dry (2 towels), and use your hands to smooth him down. The put him in a room with no drafts and let him air dry/lick himself dry. During that time (maybe once or twice check on him and smooth down the coat again with your hands - no comb, no blow dryer

OH ok- That being said, was it bad for me to use the blow dryer at all? Does it hurt him? I just want to make sure that I didn't damage my baby!!

No it didn't hurt him as you were only using it on feet and tail (I'm assuming from your post) but you don't want to use it like you would to dry a longhair. It will mess up the coat - make it too dry and maybe frizz it. I do know that blow dryers on a rex coat will make it frizzy!

Friend of mine that I sold a kitten to (didn't listen) and blew dry the kitten - I showed the kitten for her at a show. She dropped the kitten off in the morning for me to take. I didn't have time to redo the kitten but the coat was really dry.

After the first day of showing I called her up and asked her WHAT did she wash the kitten with - she used what I told her but added "I didn't want her to get chilled so I blew dried her"! I kinda chewed her out nicely. REwashed the kitten that nite and when the kitten was shown next day (properly groomed), the kitten took one or two finals! She apparently didn't believe me when I told her not to blow dry

Ahhhh... well that makes sense! It's backwards with my hair- no blow dry, lots of frizz!

I'm just glad I didn't damage his skin or something- that's what I was worried about. I'll be sure not to blow dry him for a real show. (his paws and tail were all that were affected last night).

Thanks!!