1. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR FIRST CAT SHOW?
A) The first thing to do if you want to participate in a cat show is to join a club that is registered in the system in which you decided to exhibit. You have to do it in order to participate in exhibitions and to get title certificates based on the results of the grades you you received. The club issues these certificates. You will also need to register kittens in the club if they are born from your cats. Also, a good club always assists in finding partners for mating.
In order to join the club, you need to fill out and submit the documents required by the club and pay the entrance and annual membership fee.
B) The animal must have a metric or pedigree and a veterinary passport. Actually, all this should be accompanied to a bought kitten. You can find out more about this in our article: How much does the cat cost?
C) Then you need to give your pet all the mandatory vaccinations (if you haven't done it before): against rabies and a complex one - against calicivirosis, viral rhinotracheitis and panleukopenia. You need to vaccinate the animal in the clinics that have a state permission to vaccinate. It is important to keep in mind that the quarantine after vaccinations is 21 days.
D) You need to purchase an exhibition tent. They come in different sizes and colors. There are tents for 2 or 3 animals at once. They consist of several sections, but such tents are much larger than allowed, and you will have to pay extra for this. Usually, the rules of the exhibition specify the size of the tent that you can put up, and, most often, it is 50 – 70 cm (19.7 – 27.6 inches). Any exhibition tent should have a plastic window on one side of the long wall so that visitors who come to the exhibition can see your pet. An exhibition tent should be purchased in advance, assembled at home, and left freely accessible to the cat. It is necessary that the cat gets used to the tent and considers it its house. This will reduce the risk of stress for the pet.
I would like to add to everything that if you do not plan to pursue the exhibition career of your cat, but simply decide to close one single title out of 3 ratings, then there is probably no point in spending money on a tent. After all, you can rent a transparent 50 x 50 cm (19.7 х 19.7 inches) box at almost any exhibition. You will need to sew curtains for it and buy a disposable bedding.
E) You may also need a small cat tray and a set of disposable absorbent diapers to participate in rings and special shows (diapers need to be placed in a cage for the ring).
F) A few weeks before the start of the cat show, you need to apply for participation with all the required documents and pay the exhibitor fee.
In the application, you must specify: the number of exhibition days (1 or 2), is the cage yours or not, a breed group, breed and a breed code, a color and its code, an animal’s date of birth and gender, the estimated grades on the 1st and the 2nd day, a pedigree number, a champion certificate number (if any). And also an information on participation in WCF rings, data about the animal's parents, data of the owner.
Participation in WCF rings and special shows will be a separate expense item.
G) It is necessary to take a veterinary certificate a couple of days before the exhibition. The validity period of such a certificate is limited.
It turns out that even before the start of the exhibition you will have to pay a lot already – excluding the cost of grooming, transportation, accommodation and meals.
2. HOW TO PREPARE A CAT FOR AN EXHIBITION?
There are 2 ways to prepare a cat for an exhibition: at home or with the help of a professional groomer.
If you are preparing a cat for the exhibition yourself, then you need to:
A) Trim the claws.
B) Carefully comb out the tangles and fallen hair.
C) Wash the animal in 2 steps. The 1st – deep cleansing to remove fat from the coat. The 2nd – washing with a moisturizing shampoo and applying a mask to the hair. Wash off thoroughly.
D) Drying of the animal. For drying after washing, it is best to use a hair dryer. The method of blow-drying largely depends on the breed, but most often, cats are dried against the coat, starting from the back and combed with a special comb in different directions.
You can read more about washing cats, how to do it correctly and about cutting claws in our article: Animal Care Tips.
E) Cleaning the ears and eyes with special lotions.
A show grooming differs from a regular one by the perfect purity of the coat, the absence of yellow marks in the contact areas and professional styling to emphasize the texture and luster.
3. HOW DO CATS BEHAVE AT EXHIBITIONS?
For any cat, an exhibition is always stressful. An exhibition fuss, noise, an uncharted territory, foreign smells, strangers, other unfamiliar cats - all this leads to nervousness, fear, and causes aggression in some animals.
A) In order to behave well at exhibitions, neither scratch nor bite, but to sit still and respond good-naturedly to what is happening around, the cat must be prepared for such conditions since childhood and at least should not be afraid to communicate with people. Moreover, not only with their owners, but also with outsiders too. After all, if you kept a cat locked in a kennel enclosure and had little contact with it, then going to the exhibition can bring you a lot of unpleasant surprises. An unprepared animal will meow loudly, try to escape from the tent, scratch and break free... and if the cat suddenly bites or scratches the expert, then this is a sure disqualification. After all, according to WCF rules, aggressive animals are not even allowed before the examination.
B) To begin with, your cat must trust you fully and feel safe around you. Keep your pet on your hands more often, while still being a kitten and further. From early childhood, take the cat that you plan to exhibit with you to the country, take it to visit and invite friends to your place. In no case offend the animal, do not scold for nothing, do not leave it alone for a long time and, of course, participate in exhibitions from the youngest allowed age… You can read more about this in our article: Loving cat.
C) The temperament of an animal has a considerable influence on its behavior. No wonder there is such a thing as a show temperament, and this quality is most likely innate, that is, it depends on the parents. A cat with a show temperament behaves well before an expert and does not pay attention to other animals. It is non-aggressive, does not get nervous at the sight of a large number of people... Exactly such kind of animals typically receive the World Champion title. Therefore, if there are ancestors in your cat’s pedigree that received this highest feline title, then perhaps this most valuable quality has been passed on to your pet.
D) The natural characteristics of a cat are also important. There are very aggressive breeds, and there are good-natured ones.
E) In addition to that, all cats subtly feel the mood of their owners. If you yourself are overly concerned and worried much about the exhibition, then your pet is likely to mirror your condition, feeling the nervousness.
F) Some breeders, trying to prevent undesirable behavior of their cats, stuff them with strong sedatives. We strongly do not recommend doing this! Firstly, this approach is prohibited by the rules. Secondly, cats under the influence of drugs look sluggish, sleepy, indifferent, and sometimes they become disoriented in space. Thirdly, sedative pills, especially hormonal ones, cause irreparable harm to the animal's health.
4. WHY DO CATS NEED EXHIBITIONS?
At its core, each certified international cat show is a selection of the best animals of its breed for procreation, that is, for breeding.
Why the owners of the kitties need this is quite understandable. Breeders go to exhibitions to receive ratings and titles that indicate that the animal meets the standards. The higher the title, the higher the price of kittens from the exhibited animal.
There are also people who participate in exhibitions to satisfy their personal ambitions. A cat show is always a celebration for breeders, visitors and organizers.
But why do cats need all these exhibitions? Let's think about it…
A) First of all, after closing the title, each cat receives the legal right to mating. Therefore, the animal will not be castrated.
B) The higher the cat's exhibition success, the more mating partners it will obtain. After all, if a cat has closed the World Champion title, then he will have no end of "brides". Plenty of owners will wish to get offspring from this cat. Your cat will thank you for this.
C) The exhibiting animals are usually well fed and their appearance is thoroughly monitored. The champion cat is always satiated and well-groomed, and this is a big plus and a considerable joy for the pet.
D) At exhibitions, in addition to prize rosettes and cups, the winning cats are given all kinds of gifts: scratching posts, houses, toys, sweets and food… From personal experience, we can say that the kitties are very happy about this. We have seen not just once the interest in animals’ eyes while looking at the prizes.
E) It is worth adding that the cats-winners feel that they are the best, and they really like this fact.
You can see kittens from parents - champions of the Neva Masquerade breed (Siberian point-colored cat) on our website "Good cat" at the link: Buy a kitten.
