How do they do it?

I'm flying of to Bangkok tomorrow which ends the 3 weeks of cat shows...

I seriously wonder how the National Winners do it...shows every weekend, the grooming (especially the longhairs!) until you reach 100 rings or more...this is the first time I've done 3 shows on 3 consecutive weekends and I'm EXHAUSTED!

For example, last year's COTY (Cat of the Year) Melositos White Owl of D'eden Lover earned something like 10000+ points which is staggering! And the cat even came to HK to show! To keep a solid white Persian WHITE is one thing... to keep it in TOP show condition is another! Plus the fact that White Owl is entire just blows me away!

I thank god I live in Asia where hitting 100 rings for now is not possible

I don't know either to be truthful. IMO its far too much on the cat and the owner to do shows every single weekend just to get a top national award.

How much stress is really put on the cat? Even if I had the money, I'd not do it. One weekend a month is fine for me (maybe an occasional 2 x a month) but not more then that.

I could not do it either. I like my home to much and would not want to be away that much. Plus the cost of a National Win is way out of my budget. I try to show once a month and have yet to show twice a month. Showing is very costly and there are other things I want to buy and have. Plus I have a 9 year old daughter to care for and kids cost a lot of money too.

Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s funny how people will go out of their way to find a judge to give their cat high marks.
I mean one to two shows a year is all my cats would need. But some people just go all out until they get what they want. I figure a cat only needs to be shown once a year, and if it doesnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t do good, show different cats until you find one that does well. And only breed the cats that do well. But some people will be set that this cat is breeding quality and will keep showing it over and over until some judge says they are right. That sure is a lot of work and a lot of money.

My roommate only did shows like once a year, when she had time and money, and they were in the city so not to stress out the cats too much, she did once manage to get one judge to say it was “the best of its breed in the world or country†donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t remember if it was world or country. Which made her really happy. I remember going to a show with her once, and she was showing a deaf white cat. She said they show the best because they are so relaxed in the environment. Donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know what the judges would think about that.

I don't like the way Cat Registries award their highest awards at all. Cat of the year or 'X' Breed of the Year should be called owner with the most frequent flyer miles of the year. I think that qualifying kitties (after qualifying over a show season) should compete head to head in a single nationals show. Or even better, each region should have a regional meet where the winners would go on to nationals.

Right now it's not a contest of what cat meets the standard the best, but who spent the most on airfare and had the most time available.

I kinda agree with that point - if you have the money to put out, you can more/less buy your top award. They try to make it fairer for those that can't go to a lot of shows by limiting the cats to a certain number of rings (for national and for regional) and taking the points from those top number of rings.

In CFA it's the best 100 rings for national - so if you go to shows with 8 rings per show, the 100 rings will add up fast.

In ACFA they go by the number of Best Cats Allbreed you get. and then average it out by the number of rings.

Still in the end if you can go to enough shows, you can get the "perfect" amount of points/Best Cats.



But you have to go to more then just one or two shows to see if your cat is good enough for showing/breeding. Each ring can only pick 10 Best cats - so if you lose in one ring, you have another chance in another ring. The goal is to show enough to produce a Grand Champion cat and that is very rare to do in 2 shows (first show is to gain championship - then you work on grand).

I agree with all sentiments... HOWEVER...If it's NOT the right cat, no matter how much money and time you throw into showing, you will never be able to make the top 25! And for CFA now, the "Nationals" are actually a misnomer... last season's best COTY was bred and owned by the Europeans, shown to the max by the ultimate Persian cat show agent, Connie Stewart.

But if they allow cats to qualify first (proving that the cat is of the highest quality) then putting them all (those that have qualified) head to head would really let the award be for the best cat.

Originally Posted by Catfur

But if they allow cats to qualify first (proving that the cat is of the highest quality) then putting them all (those that have qualified) head to head would really let the award be for the best cat.

Click to expand...

Most of the Top Cats do enter the one Great show of the year CFA speak - The IAMS- Madison Square Garden show. At that show, you can basically make out who will be that season's COTY anyway!