Should I put My Cat In a show?
Bren and I are are certainly not professional cat show exhibitors. We have owned pedigree cats before (or they owned us, whichever way you want to look at it) but it never struck us we could show them through cat shows.
The first thing we had to take into account with Louie (our red Somali male neuter) was how he was going to cope with being in such a strange situation. There are certain pointers which can suggest problems. Is your cat unusually nervous or sensitive? How do they react to being in confined spaces for long periods of time? Is he/she people friendly? Do they cope well with being handled? Do they cope with travelling OK? There’s going to be a lot of noise going on in the hall; people staring into the cages; they will be in that cage from around 8:30am to 5:00pm in the afternoon. Do you want to put your cat through this?
The earlier a cat is introduced to the hub-bub of shows and all the shows entail the more comfortable she will feel and the faster she will adapt. In the same vein it is never clear how a cat will take to being exhibited. Even a laid back tough old bruiser may find the whole experience just a little too awe-inspiring. So in the beginning it is often a case of “suck it and see”. Obviously if there is a bad reaction, then the cat should be taken away from the situation as soon as possible. Having said all that, we have only seen a distressed cat at a show once. So it is very rare for cats to find them difficult. Usually if the relationship with the owner is good and supportive, she will know she is not alone.
As I said earlier, with Louie, it was a strange situation for him at first.. He was awed by it, but never distressed. Over the years he has clearly gained in confidance and now appears to really enjoy the outing and all the attention! He is a stronger more confidant cat and we feel it has strengthened his bond with us.
The only compromise we had to make was with travelling. Louie doesn’t enjoy travelling far. He is better now as we use pheremones both in the car and in the cat basket. However, as much as we wanted to show him widely we only show him in the shows very close to home. Many people will travel the country showing their cats. Following all his awards, we are proud to say Louie is now classed as a Premier. This is the same level as a Champion bit is given to neuters.