Stiff Competition!

Here I am, in the hotel room in Ontario, CA, the day before the cat show started! I love hotel rooms. There is so much to explore, and this one was really cool because I found a cricket! My human says we are not staying there again, and I don’t understand why. She said she thought there were some creatures there called “tweakers.” Are they anything like crickets? If so, they are probably fun to stalk.

We were both happy to get to the show the next day and set up. We were “benched” next to my breeder again, but it may be the last time for a while because she is probably going to retire her Aby girl, CG, from shows and put her in the breeding program. My human likes CG and is going to miss seeing her.

I’ve got a treat for you today — my human turned off the camera sounds on her iPhone while I was in a ring so she could surreptitiously take a couple of photos without bothering the judge! Here I am as number 175, waiting for the judge’s decision. Can you see the other two cats trying to look at me? At least that is what I think they were trying to do! The one next to me is a red Somali, and the one on the far right is a fawn color (that is the dilute version of a red Somali). I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but my color is called ruddy.

Here I am, actually being judged! Being judged is fun because you either get to meet a new human, who pets you and puts their hands all over you, or you get to say hello to one you have met before! Some cats don’t like visiting with the judges and they stand there with their tail between their legs, but I always have my tail in the air. Sometimes I try to head butt the judges too. This judge is busy picking through my fur, checking my ticking and undercoat for any flaws. They are very particular about that sort of thing.

I finaled in another ring, and since the judge was done scoring us, my human was able to use her regular camera to take photos. Judges use cat toys when we are on the table, but it’s not because they want to play with us. That is a little bit of it, true, but they are also looking for things like head shape and ear set, and that is easier to examine when we kitties are alert. Right now, the judge is talking about my nice head shape and ears.

If you want to know who the top cat was in this judge’s premier class, it was not me — it was this impressive guy. Like I mentioned before, a good Persian takes a lot of work to groom well, and their breeders and owners are often rewarded for their efforts. This cat’s owners really earned first place — he is an amazing cat.

The competition at this show was really tough! I had a hard time competing for best in breed over a group of other older, more experienced Somalis but I managed to do it a few times. And I did final in two rings. Whew! And it’s not going to get any easier — my next show is the San Diego cat show in two weeks, and it is a very big and very important show!

It was raining when we were done. I hope the weather is better for the San Diego show!