Tsekani eyes and showing

Hello,

I have been watching Tsekani's eyes to see if they will go all the way green or remain partly yellow.

Here is a picture of him from a few minutes ago. He turned 1 yr old in April so he will be 1.5 in October. They are supposed to have turned green by a yr and a half.

The other concern I have is that I am not finding much in the way of cat shows to enter him in locally. The closest shows were in Vancouver the last few weekends, but I have been in the final month of my M.Ed program. I figured I'd be able to find more shows without having to travel out of my province or Country, but there really aren't many on the West Coast of Canada.

I had been hoping to show him to see what his quality is before attempting to breed him. I don't have a female yet, but I am on a waitlist for a show quality female next January.

CFA speak...If you show him right now, he wont be penalised for eye color BUT eye color does account for 10 points which is a heck of a lot....

There's been a couple of new inclusions in the E Mau standards and it's mainly on eye color...IMO, show him now and if the eyes don't turn 100% gooseberry green at 18 months, don't show anymore...

As for breeding, I don't know anything of E Maus but the basic assumption would be, make sure the female has much better eye color!

Agree with Aby on this. Try to get him in as many shows as possible now. If he has other competition with better eye color, he's not gonna place high very often (unless the rest of him is typier then the other cat).

EM are not a popular breed and the competition would not be too bad - but going for points (past champion) would be difficult. He will at least get champion status.

Look for a female with OUTSTANDING eye color. Anything less and you are not improving your kittens.

Also you might want to consider a young adult female to get started breeding rather then a kitten. That way you won't have to wait for her to grow up and can check the qualities (eye color) now. That might be the better route for a breeding program.

IMO when you want to get into breeding, its better to get a young adult to know exactly what you are looking for. Then learn to evaluate kittens.

On the showing aspect, look at both CFA and CCCA...standards (at least for Abys and it looks like it for E Maus) are more or less the same...my soon to be newest queen in my cattery was shown in CCCA and is only just recently being shown in CFA. She's both CCCA and CFA registered but will only be granded in CFA before she comes to me.

If it means you have to travel, then travel. If you bought a show quality breeding cat then, get that one fact proven at least - that is - he is show quality!

Another issue would be temperament - the faster you show, the more you'll know about the show temperament of your cat - whether he is showable or not...A lot of cats are ok as kittens but not as entire adults (even neutered adults can be no-shows, no matter how top show quality they are).

I know nothing about Maus, but I'd show him ASAP even if his eye colour isn't great - I wanted to show Radar in HHP but didn't because he developed serious acne in his youth, it's cleared up now but at 2 years old he wouldn't take to the showring like a younger cat would (although that isn't guaranteed even in a kitten), better to get them used to it as young as possible when they are a little less set in their ways

Don't know if it's the same with other breeds, but with OSH here in the UK you lose some points for not having perfect eye colour but it's still worth (and still do-able!) getting them to Ch and then if breeding, select mates with perfect eye colour. Jacob's grandmother has less than perfect eye colour (fawns are difficult as their eyes can tend towards yellow which isn't desirable) but with careful breeding has produced much better eye colour in her offspring.

Thanks for the replies. I had assumed that cat shows would be a little less common than dog shows in these parts, but not quite this uncommon. The closest Canadian show I can find is in Edmonton in September. I am on Vancouver Island which makes it more difficult. I believe there is a direct flight from Comox to Edmonton however, so I am looking into it.

I have emailed a few mau breeders for some tips on where to find a suitable breeding female. Would be nice to meet them in person at a show. I'd love to find a local mentor of any cat breed, but haven't received any replies to requests I have sent out over the last year.

Is Tsekani CFA registered? Reason I'm asking is that CFA does have a mentor program which you can apply to...

http://www.cfa.org/mentor/index.html

Shows are getting hard to find I'm afraid, travelling great distances has become, unfortunately a norm, not the exception.

Show him now!! Not only for all of the reasons that GK and Abymummy stated above, but Maus are notorious for deciding that shows are not "their thing." It's well known in the breed that you have to get Maus out early and often.
I'm showing a boy right now that completely blew his condition (hope you never have to deal with hot spots ), but I've got no choice but to get him out next weekend. He's not as perfect as I'd like, but it's been a month since he's been out and I can't risk him deciding to be a brat. So we'll go to the show for more experience. He might not make any finals, but at least he won't forget how to show.

When you say a cat hates showing, what does that look like? Will they hiss and cower, or do they show they displeasure in other ways?

Tsekani is very outgoing and will arch his back up to meet whoever is leaning over to pet him. I have a lot of new people through the house and he is not very shy. I'll be leash training him this weekend and I'm sure he'll love being outside. He shipped from Cali to Ont and then from Ont to Vancouver Island last November and was great in his crate both times. I'll be doing more traveling practice with him over the next few weeks.

Usually the ones that I showed that didn't like it started getting very hissy and making it hard for the judge to take them out of the cage or put back in.

Or they would not cooperate on the table and show off. Granted one or two rings they might act up a bit, but if its ring after ring, then you know the cat doesn't like it.

For Ling (our HHP) she was scared in the 1st ring, but by the 3rd ring it was obvious she did not like all the other cats around her. DH (who only had been to one other show) said "let's pull her from the rest of the rings.

I like to try and get kittens out as soon as possible to get them used to things. I understand your frustration on lack of shows. We only have 2 CFA shows now in the area within driving distance (Sept/January). If I wanted to grand in CFA I'd have to do major traveling out of state and I don't have the time/money. In ACFA I have 7-8 shows a season that are fairly reasonable to show at. I do better at ACFA shows then at CFA shows.

Holy smokes - I hadn't heard of ACFA. I just looked it up and found a show in Victoria at the end of September. I had only looked up TICA and CFA and was having little luck.

Doesn't Canada have their own cat association?

You can show him in one show without registering, but after that you have to register him there too. Personally I think the people/judges are more friendly in ACFA then CFA.


And yes Canada has their own association, but not sure how many shows are put on.

I don't show myself but have been to a fair few including attending some with the breeder of my pedigree boys (why I don't show mine would take a while to explain and is a bit boring so I'll spare you the details! I would show if I could and will one day have cats to show I am sure)

Cats that don't like showing can react in all different sorts of ways - usually if they are used to it but go off it they start being difficult when handled - cowering, struggling when picked up, pacing in the cage, nervous facial expression etc. Even if their displeasure is minor, a cat that looks and behaves nervously just won't do as well on the bench as a cat that is relaxed and alert, firstly because the judge wants to see good temperament, and also because it makes it difficult to view and judge the cat fully if it is struggling or trying to hide.

A cat that's really scared may pee in the cage, spray, hiss, growl, or nip and scratch through fear. Obviously it's wrong to even remain in the show hall with a cat that is that distressed, it should be withdrawn and taken home where it feels safe, and the judges won't handle a cat if it is in an agitated state anyway. It does happen sometimes, but is less likely if you start showing at a young age.

I honestly believe that the best thing you can do is to start showing young (the minimum age here is 4 months for kitten classes and 9 months for championship) and see how it goes. You don't need to wait for your cat to fully mature and develop, some longhairs and semi-longhairs for example don't have their full coat until 3 years old - but for most cats that is too old to start adjusting to the showring, judges are used to seeing cats that are not fully mature, will take age into account, the worst that can happen if you have an otherwise show quality cat is that a few points will be deducted.

I am taking him to two shows this Fall.

I have been putting a harness on him in the house, and while he doesn't love it. He will walk around with it on. Today I took him outside with the leash and he was so happy. He purred the whole time and tried to eat all the grass.

I'll drive him around town in his crate next and get him used to travel again. I can probably bring him to work next week and get my coworkers to fuss over him.

You are SOOO lucky to be able to bring him to work...I'm jealous

One other "hint" - practice like a judge would judge him on the table. Go over his head (hold it still, check muzzle, etc.), his body, stretched him out and make him stand on two back legs. Hold him stretched in the air. Use a feather toy or other small handled toy to tease him with when he's on the table.

I've seen many cats object to the handling on the table if they are not used to it. You want him to be cooperative. That's about the only training they would need

Thanks GK. I have done that stuff since he first came to live with me. I have an extra tall bed in one room, and a level of the cat gym in another room. I have trained him to jump onto either surface when I am near, and I go through all the stretching motions. He loves to have his face scratched, and I give him a mini massage each time. I don't give him treats, but he is such a love bug he thinks he's getting a reward just by being fussed over.

The Tsekani-man.

Out in the wide world he is alert but not really scared. He is slinky with his harness on.

Beautiful picture