Monday, September 27, 1999
Felines show off coats and purrs
250 compete to be top in their cat-egory
BY SARA J. BENNETT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
While Bengals battled Panthers in North Carolina, a catty competition of another kind raged here Sunday.
Nearly 250 felines pranced, played and put on regal airs at the Queen City Cat Club's All Breed Cat Show. They came from across the region to the Albert B. Sabin Convention Center, accompanied by doting owners and an astonishing array of sparkly feathered kitty toys.
The goal: winning recognition as a near-perfect breed specimen.
“It's like being an artist,” said Rebecca Beckley of Milford when her cream Persian kitten won top honors in judge Gene Darrah's ring. “You breed and you're trying to produce something, and when you get a certain picture, and the judge agrees with you, it's a real thrill.”
The kick for the cats seemed to lie in hundreds of folks dedicated to their comfort and adoration.
Pampered pusses lounged in cages equipped with comfy beds, sisal scratch posts and carpeted perches. Each had its own beauty kit with talc to help coats lie just-so, avocado oils to cut static, and Q-Tips to remove embarrassing eye boogers.
(Some kits contained makeup, but that aspect of competition remains hush-hush.)
Six judges from across the United States examined each cat, then each selected a top 10 in several categories. There were competitions for kittens, cats able to breed, and those that have been spayed or neutered.
Top kitties won rosettes and points toward regional and national titles awarded by the Cat Fanciers' Association, Inc., the world's largest registry of pedigreed cats.
Strays and pound purries got their share of the spotlight, too.
Cathy O'Brien's black and white domestic short hair, Chloe, won the highest score in a competition for household pets.
“This shows a lot of people you don't have to have a fancy pedigreed cat,” said Ms. O'Brien, of Silverton.
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