Beaubell’s Beau Blue, a Persian breed from the Chastelle Cattery of Dover, OH (top) was one of the 255 feline competitors at the recent cat show in Richland County. In the small photos to the right, world-class cat show judge Robert Bryan, Ft. Wayne, IN, discharges his duties with professional aplomb.
A VERY CATTY EVENT--
255 cats purred their charming best in the Mid Ohio Cat Fancier’s recent show at the Richland County fairgrounds.
That included Beaubell’s Beau Blue of Chastelle a spiffy Persian breed of Champion status who was working on the even loftier Grand Champion designation. Beau is out of the Chastelle Cattery of Dover, OH—and seemed very proud of that fact.
Ronna Colilla of the Columbus area and manager of this 17th annual Mansfield show said top show cats in this level of competition could sell for between 5 and 10 thousand dollars.
I’ve known folks who would take substantially less than that for a spouse.
Nearly a dozen judging stations around the hall kept both contestant cats and their owners busy as judges applied the very precise rules of the Cat Fancier’s Association to the feline competitors.
Bob Bryan of near Fort Wayne, IN is in his 32nd year of world-class cat judging; a career that has included 4 judging assignments in Rome; yup, the Italian one.
He worked with the quiet charisma you would expect from a veteran of his caliber; carefully giving a discrete spray of disinfectant and a gentle wipe to his judging platform after each competitor.
The cats with absolutely none of the prized award tags hanging on their cages when Bob was done with their class seemed, well—indifferent to such indignity; as only cats can.
He did admit with a smile to having been nipped 5 times over his career by disgruntled felines. “Not bad after handling about 450,000 contestants,” he quipped.
You could tell the really regal competitors as you wandered the aisles of cages in Fairhaven hall. Some owners, even those sporting rather pedestrian attire themselves, often had their cats comforted in temporary digs reminiscent of Egyptian royalty in Biblical times--all i
n a futile attempt to impress the sometimes roving judges, no doubt.
The Cat Fancier’s group recognizes 39 pedigreed breeds and publishes a serious list of qualifications for championship status. Breeding is nearly incestuous—by human standards—but it has proven to strengthen breed quality.
To support the assertion this is truly an international activity the Cat Fanciers folks also had shows that weekend in the states of CA, FL, GA, MD and TN plus Shanghai, Moscow and Singapore.
For the really curious, check here: http://www.cfa.org/
More than 500 visitors attended the Mid Ohio Cat Fanciers show at the Richland County fairgrounds on a recent weekend.
A VERY CATTY EVENT--
255 cats purred their charming best in the Mid Ohio Cat Fancier’s recent show at the Richland County fairgrounds.
That included Beaubell’s Beau Blue of Chastelle a spiffy Persian breed of Champion status who was working on the even loftier Grand Champion designation. Beau is out of the Chastelle Cattery of Dover, OH—and seemed very proud of that fact.
Ronna Colilla of the Columbus area and manager of this 17th annual Mansfield show said top show cats in this level of competition could sell for between 5 and 10 thousand dollars.
I’ve known folks who would take substantially less than that for a spouse.
Nearly a dozen judging stations around the hall kept both contestant cats and their owners busy as judges applied the very precise rules of the Cat Fancier’s Association to the feline competitors.
Bob Bryan of near Fort Wayne, IN is in his 32nd year of world-class cat judging; a career that has included 4 judging assignments in Rome; yup, the Italian one.
He worked with the quiet charisma you would expect from a veteran of his caliber; carefully giving a discrete spray of disinfectant and a gentle wipe to his judging platform after each competitor.
The cats with absolutely none of the prized award tags hanging on their cages when Bob was done with their class seemed, well—indifferent to such indignity; as only cats can.
He did admit with a smile to having been nipped 5 times over his career by disgruntled felines. “Not bad after handling about 450,000 contestants,” he quipped.
You could tell the really regal competitors as you wandered the aisles of cages in Fairhaven hall. Some owners, even those sporting rather pedestrian attire themselves, often had their cats comforted in temporary digs reminiscent of Egyptian royalty in Biblical times--all i
n a futile attempt to impress the sometimes roving judges, no doubt.The Cat Fancier’s group recognizes 39 pedigreed breeds and publishes a serious list of qualifications for championship status. Breeding is nearly incestuous—by human standards—but it has proven to strengthen breed quality.
To support the assertion this is truly an international activity the Cat Fanciers folks also had shows that weekend in the states of CA, FL, GA, MD and TN plus Shanghai, Moscow and Singapore.
For the really curious, check here: http://www.cfa.org/
More than 500 visitors attended the Mid Ohio Cat Fanciers show at the Richland County fairgrounds on a recent weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment