Feline fanciers flock to the fairgrounds
Stefanie Frith
Susan Levine is addicted to cats.
So addicted, in fact, that she helped to start the now four-year-old
Top Cats & Tails, an Orange County-based club that hosts cat shows once a
year in Orange County. This year’s show is taking place this weekend at
the Orange County Fairgrounds. Show organizers expect around 500
attendees.
Wearing cat earrings, her arms scraped by cat claws and her pink top
covered with cat fur, the Anaheim resident said she just can’t get enough
cat shows under her belt.
“It’s just so much fun to go to them,” Levine said, as her cat Willie
purred happily next to her. “You get all kinds of people here. Trailer
trash to Ph.Ds. It’s a nice way to meet new people who share a common
interest.”
More than 175 cats will be judged by 12 people during the weekend in
categories like longhair, shorthair, best kitten and alters -- meaning
they are pet, not show-quality, cats. The show is recognized by The
International Cat Assn.
Fate Mays, a Texas parole officer who also judges cat shows, said that
for him, picking the winning kitty is not as difficult as one may think.
“There’s a written standard on what the cat should look like,” he said
as he prepared to judge shorthair cats. “What’s hard is that each cat is
somebody’s best cat. But there is beauty in every breed. And for me, it’s
relaxing. It relieves stress to be around and pet the cats.”
Danette Rudden of Hesperia agreed that attending the cat shows is
relaxing, though hard on the pocketbook. Her brown tabby, Bouncer, would
cost $2,000 if she sold him. Bouncer won the “Supreme” title Saturday,
the highest title available for his class.
“People ask me all the time how I can pay so much for my cats or how
they are worth so much,” Rudden said, picking cat fur off her blouse.
“But hey, people go out and spend that much money on a round of golf, and
here I am with new friends and cats.”
Rudden said that in order to keep her six cats in perfect show
condition, she is required to groom them every night. It takes her three
hours to groom all six.
“But it’s very relaxing for me to come home and brush them. They are
very relaxed cats, and when I am all done, I feel so much better,” she
said.
Most of exhibitor Dianna Clark’s cats are of the shorthair American
curl variety, and although she doesn’t have to spend time grooming long
fur, she did say that attending cat shows can be a costly hobby.
“We travel all over California and [my husband and I] have put 80,000
miles on our car just from driving to the shows,” said the Hayward
resident as she stroked Peter Pan, her seven-month-old American curl
kitten. “[Peter] just loves coming to the shows. He loves life in the
hotels.”
FYI
What: Top Cats & Tails Cat Show
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today
Where: Orange County Fairgrounds, 88 Fair Drive, Bldg. 14, Costa Mesa.
Cost: $6
Call: (714) 708-FAIR.
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