Showing your cat can be lots of FUN and also a way to make great friendships. Many people become interested after attending a cat show. See the story below for a description of our recent visit in the world of cat showing and you might become interested too.
You don't have to be a cat breeder and you don't have to have a pedigreed cat to join in on the fun. TICA is The International Cat Association. They have a Household Pet (HHP) class for adult cats and kittens to compete without registration numbers. HHP have their own unique Standard and titles which are comparable to pedigreed cats and they compete against each other for top awards in their class as do the pedigreed cats in their classes.
HHP are judged primarily on condition, beauty, and show presence. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and colors and patterns are often a whim of Mother Nature.
TICA has a "Junior Exhibitors Program" for youth from age eight to seventeen. This is a positive program, focused on involving young community members in TICA and showing cats in a responsible and fun way. The emphasis is on learning and having fun with their cats. It is a program designed to improve self-esteem, confidence, and interaction abilities of our youth along with knowledge of their cats, cat health and care, cat husbandry and TICA.
It's All About the Cats (IAATC) had a great time at TICA's Annual Cat Show held on September 5-6, 2009. This was TICA’s 30 year anniversary and it was a nicely organized show with 12 elaborately decorated judging rings in addition to an education ring and vendor displays. Over 500 cats from around the world were at the show to vie for the top ribbons and it was exciting to see so many exotic breeds. But it was
also a good place to meet and exchange stories with cat lovers from all over – and to learn a lot about the TICA organization.
As you can see from the photos, IAATC had a table-top display with information about our organization as well as stories of some of our most dramatic rescues. We love sharing our stories and many visitors to our booth wanted to know more. They also contributed generously to our donation jar and for this we say THANK YOU.
We also had 10 of our cats and kittens on display in cages. Everyone enjoyed meeting them and petting them – most show cats are strictly “hands off” for obvious reasons but our guys were looking for homes and so were eager to meet potential adopters. A few of them even got lucky and found their forever homes during the event!
Several of our cats and kittens joined the show on Sunday afternoon, when Joyce Henderson presented them to the TICA audience in the educational ring. This was one of the most exciting parts of the 2-day event. Joyce, who is a retired TICA judge in the “household pet” classification, did a wonderful job. She definitely has a love for the mixed breed household pet and made our cats feel as special as any cat in the show. I think the audience loved them too because everyone seemed to enjoy the show.
One thing I found interesting was the difference between the way our cats behaved in the holding cages and the way the “professional” show cats behave. 
The “pros” just sit in their cages bored, but not our guys. Our guys rolled around and carried on to be petted - you can see Bart laying on his back in the photo (left). The audience had a ball watching them.
Most of our cats did manage to act like pros on the show table, but Sergio could not resist the feather toy. The judges keep toys on hand to use to distract the cats so that they can study head profiles and other points to be judged. Well, Sergio took an immediate interest in the feather toy as soon as he was placed on the table. He quickly grabbed the toy and would not let go – it ended up in pieces. I don’t think Joyce ever had a cat do that before, but she took it all in stride.
IAATCI is very grateful for the opportunity to attend the TICA show. It was a wonderful learning experience. For more information about TICA, please visit their website at www.tica.org.
