I was at a household cat competition this weekend, at the Chicagoland Pet Expo. I took Harlequin and her brother Mr Grey. The household cat show at the expo isn't affiliated with any cat organization like TICA or CFA (although the judges are TICA judges) so they do it a little differently. They had 2 judges on Sat and 2 on Sun, both pick their top 10 for finals. Sunday they also did a costume contest and trick contest, and after the judging they add up all the points for both days and do the top 10 best in show. Last year Harlequin got Best in Show and the year before that my polydactyl Maine Coon Roxy got Best in Show...
This was Mr. Grey's first show. He was nervous on Saturday but didn't seem especially scared when being judged, although he did try to hide behind the litterbox a lot in the benching cage. Sunday he was more relaxed. On Sunday I also brought their brother Spot along because he was invited to one of the vendor booths.
Harley was at the show last year and a TICA show last fall but hasn't done any since then. I was surprised that she didn't play much on the judging table at all because she is usually very playful and she did at the other shows (she's a little older now though, she was 8 months old at the show last year.) She was comfortable but not playful. The only time she really played was in the judging cages. One of the judges got out a laser pointer when the cats were in the judging cages. The other cats just glanced at it but Harley went crazy playing with it!
There were 15 cat entered in the show. On Saturday Mr. Grey got 8th place in both rings, Harley got 7th and 6th. On Sunday Mr. Grey got 8th place in one ring, Harley got a 5th and a 2nd. When they did the best in show finals, Mr Grey got 10th best and Harley got 4th. Not bad. The Best in Show winner was a 13-year-old tortie and white and the 2nd place was a Aby/Scottish Fold mix owned by the same person as the 13-year-old cat.
I am kinda mad at myself for not thinking to take more photos! After the cat show was finished I took the cats to a vendor booth. We met this vendor last year, she had dog clothes for sale and I brought the cats over to see if anything would fit them. She asked if she could measure the cats because she wanted to start making cat clothes but only had one cat and wanted to know what sizes she should make. Later we emailed back and forth and she sent me some clothes to try on my cats so she could fine-tune the fit. I told her I'd come by at the show as well to try some more clothes and in return she gave me a t-shirt for each of the kitty 'models'.
After that I took Spot and Harlequin to the booth for the clinic that has the animal blood donor program Spot (and my dog) are participating in. They had invited us over so people could see some of the blood donors. I really wish I had gotten a photo of them at the booth because they were so calm and relaxed even with all the people passing by and petting them and such. There were two BIG dogs at the booth who were also blood donors and the cats didn't mind them at all, even when one came and sniffed the carrier. I wish I had gotten some photos of that but I didn't think of it until after!
I also talked to some people from one of the cat shelters about their animal assisted therapy program because I'd really like to do that with Spot and Harley.
Most of my photos didn't turn out very good because all the cats eyes are glowing in the flash, but here are three. The Sphinx is the cat who won the costume contest, she was "Cleocatra".
This was Mr. Grey's first show. He was nervous on Saturday but didn't seem especially scared when being judged, although he did try to hide behind the litterbox a lot in the benching cage. Sunday he was more relaxed. On Sunday I also brought their brother Spot along because he was invited to one of the vendor booths.
Harley was at the show last year and a TICA show last fall but hasn't done any since then. I was surprised that she didn't play much on the judging table at all because she is usually very playful and she did at the other shows (she's a little older now though, she was 8 months old at the show last year.) She was comfortable but not playful. The only time she really played was in the judging cages. One of the judges got out a laser pointer when the cats were in the judging cages. The other cats just glanced at it but Harley went crazy playing with it!
There were 15 cat entered in the show. On Saturday Mr. Grey got 8th place in both rings, Harley got 7th and 6th. On Sunday Mr. Grey got 8th place in one ring, Harley got a 5th and a 2nd. When they did the best in show finals, Mr Grey got 10th best and Harley got 4th. Not bad. The Best in Show winner was a 13-year-old tortie and white and the 2nd place was a Aby/Scottish Fold mix owned by the same person as the 13-year-old cat.
I am kinda mad at myself for not thinking to take more photos! After the cat show was finished I took the cats to a vendor booth. We met this vendor last year, she had dog clothes for sale and I brought the cats over to see if anything would fit them. She asked if she could measure the cats because she wanted to start making cat clothes but only had one cat and wanted to know what sizes she should make. Later we emailed back and forth and she sent me some clothes to try on my cats so she could fine-tune the fit. I told her I'd come by at the show as well to try some more clothes and in return she gave me a t-shirt for each of the kitty 'models'.
After that I took Spot and Harlequin to the booth for the clinic that has the animal blood donor program Spot (and my dog) are participating in. They had invited us over so people could see some of the blood donors. I really wish I had gotten a photo of them at the booth because they were so calm and relaxed even with all the people passing by and petting them and such. There were two BIG dogs at the booth who were also blood donors and the cats didn't mind them at all, even when one came and sniffed the carrier. I wish I had gotten some photos of that but I didn't think of it until after!
I also talked to some people from one of the cat shelters about their animal assisted therapy program because I'd really like to do that with Spot and Harley.
Most of my photos didn't turn out very good because all the cats eyes are glowing in the flash, but here are three. The Sphinx is the cat who won the costume contest, she was "Cleocatra".
