Tsekani's TICA show

Well.. that was an interesting weekend. My first TICA show and I have to say that I preferred the ACFA show. But this may have been an off show for TICA. A lot of people I talked to said that they weren't impressed. There was hardly any litter available, and no direction on where to put used litter (I brought my own anyway). The venue was hard to find and not convenient for getting in an out of. Our cats were more crowded than we liked, and were so close across the aisles from each other that there was some hissing going on. When the spectators came in, it was chaos trying to get your cat out and through the crowds to the rings. They also ran out of show calendars the first day, so 2 day showers were out of luck. I kind of expected a TICA show to be more professional than the ACFA show I attended earlier this Fall.

Again, Tsekani was the only Mau there so I didn't get to see any comparisons. He got 500 points in 10 rings, but didn't final in any rings. He was up against 62 championship cats. I was discouraged, but was told that there was a lot of heavy campaigning going on with multiple supreme grand champions vying for top 5 placings to gain regional and international points. A lady pointed out 6 off-duty judges who were there just to show their best cats.

One of the off-duty judges took time out to go over my cat with me and she gave me some really good pointers. Some of the stuff I already knew, but it was nice to hear from a judge. She told me what to look for in a good breeding female for my boy.

Again, I was awed by the Oriental Shorthairs and just loved the few Cornish Rex cats. The Singapuras were amazingly cute. All in all I am glad that I went, but I can see from that show what could be improved.

I would blame the cat club that put the show on. It's not TICA's fault.

Some cat clubs just don't do a good job.

You are right, but I guess I also meant the club. I was expecting a large, efficient show considering it was in Vancouver, while the ACFA show was in the smaller city of Victoria.

Another thing was the judging, which would be TICA controlled and not the club. At the ACFA show, the judges handled each cat quite extensively and commented to the spectators about them. The TICA judges seemed to barely look at them, and not just my cat. I was watching all of the rings. One judge out of the 8 made any sort of comment to the spectators at all, and he was amazing. He even gave my cat a whisker massage and explained some of the Mau history to the crowd.

I hope to attend a CFA show this Fall and will be looking to see how the judges behave at that show.

These are just my observations of the two shows that I have been at. After 100 shows I am sure I will know a lot more. I am in a corner of the world where cat shows are few and far between.

Originally Posted by Sohni

Another thing was the judging, which would be TICA controlled and not the club. At the ACFA show, the judges handled each cat quite extensively and commented to the spectators about them. The TICA judges seemed to barely look at them, and not just my cat. I was watching all of the rings. One judge out of the 8 made any sort of comment to the spectators at all, and he was amazing. He even gave my cat a whisker massage and explained some of the Mau history to the crowd.

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Some judges are more conversational than others. Some judges talk, but only about the breeds they really know/like/make them look good. Some judges try to get through as many cats as possible because they need to catch an early flight. Many things can influence the pace of the show, but I would hope more than 1/8 of the judges took the time to JUDGE Tsekani!

When you enter a cat in a show, you're not paying for the chance to get points. You are paying for a professional opinion. I'm sorry to hear the only judge who helped to give you an assessment wasn't even being paid!

We have some really great talkative judges at the Baltimore show. And if they're not big talkers, then they are known as good handlers. So I can assure you that you will be either entertained or pleased with the attention given to the kitties. The show is a 6-ring/2-day, so the pace will be slow. You might even get to see Melanie do some judging!

Keep your mind open about TICA, though. Even the show hall can do a lot to influence a show's atmosphere. Some of my favorite shows are held in small towns

I just booked my flight!!!! Going to an East Coast CFA show!

Originally Posted by FerrisCat

You are paying for a professional opinion.

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That's actually what I said to a lady I was sitting beside. For the fees that I paid, plus travel, I was hoping for more response from the judges. They didn't even announce the breed they were looking at so I was telling spectators around me who were asking each other, "what breed was that?"

With 5 rings per day, I imagine the judges did need to boogie through. Our cats were up in two rings at once all day so we were ferrying cats straight from one ring to another.

KaiBengals is correct though, the fact that the cages were rusty, the lack of litter and general un-friendliness, were a result of the club, not TICA.

Through TICA, Tsekani has enough points to become a champion, so now he needs one final in a top-ten all breed. Will maybe take him to Wa in January, it's a smaller show.

The one TICA show I attended, I agree that the club was at fault for the setup/layout of the show. Not only was it pushed too close for the aisles, they had the aisles very very long; which made it hard to even get your cat from its cage up to a judging ring.

The thing I didn't like about how TICA sets up judges is using the same exact judge two days in a row - one day they judge the cats as specialty; the next day - same cats get judged as allbreed. My rex got nothing from the judge as speciality; yet the next day this same judge gave him a top 5 allbreed final!

I stick to ACFA and CFA. I found that, of the 3, ACFA was the most friendly (judges/exhibtors) association. Will look forward to your opinions on the CFA show and how you compare them with the other associations.

We each have our preferences. I've been showing cats for more then 25 yrs and still have the same opinion of them (took a break for about 8 yrs) as far as how the associations set up, etc.

One thing that just may help: if a particular judge does a good job in judging/talking about the breeds, etc. make sure you let them know you really enjoyed sitting and listening to them. My hubby (novice to cat shows) complimented judges he felt were kind enough to explain the breeds. He's a fast learner too. He can tell the spectators about the Ocicat (history, standards) and he's only been showing with me for the past year (about 6-7 shows total)