A last minute Cat Show

A few weeks ago I received a Facebook invite to a CCF cat show "Peace, Love & Cats" in Auburn MA, by Robin Olsen who runs the website Covered in Cat Hair.  She was asked to be a guest judge and was bringing her cat Freya to be judged. Auburn is just over two hours away from me, so while I thought it would be fun, I wasn't sure I wanted to go.

At the end of last week I was talking with my husband and he had a list of things he wanted to do around the house. When he has such lists he finds that he is far more productive when I am out of the house, so we talked about my going.  I contacted Robin and told her I was thinking of going and she invited me to go to the opening of the Worchester Art Museum's Meow Exhibit This was also something I wanted to go to, but now I was faced with a night away from home, which immediately sent me into a panic.  Traveling is always taxing on me, but last minute travel.. I talked myself in and out of going about 100 times.  Finally, in a bid to convince myself to go I looked up how far Isaac Arnold and Smedley was from where I would be and found they were only an hour away.  I contacted Anne to see if she would be up for a visit, and she was, and it was settled.

I'll post about the exhibit and the visit later, but on to the cat show!

When I arrived at the show around noon, Freya had already been shown twice and was first and then seventh.  Robin was just about to start judging. I had time to say hello to her and her nephew who had stopped by to help out (you have got to love a cat man!) and then it was time. 

The ribbons she was going to give out

I was having a hard time getting good photos. There wasn't enough light to do it without the flash, and with the flash, I often ended up with washed out or blurry photos.

I have been to one other cat show and I have to say, cat shows are weird things, and cat shows for household pets are even weirder - well at least to me. I've often wondered if showing a cat might be fun, but considering how often you have to do it in order to make any 'progress' in it, I've decided it isn't for me, but it can be fun to see all of the cats and there are usually a lot of cat vendors there. Arubacat was at this show. They have some pretty impressive cat trees and if I had been there in a vehicle larger than my little convertible I probably would have bought one.

Back to the judging:

Robin had a hard time picking a winner - who wouldn't?  How do you pick one cat over another? There were a few cats that were getting frustrated with being shown and were getting hissy about being put in and pulled out of cages so their owners had to help. Some seemed to enjoy the attention. The dark orange boy really loved having his behind patted. She finally decided on winners and special prizes were given and her job was done for now. She did judge two more a bit later on.

Then Freya had two more showings.  She placed sixth and first again. She seemed to do much better emotionally than some of the other cats and came in and out of her cage easily.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see her last showing because it was getting late and I wanted to get home before it got dark. I did have a pretty uneventful drive and I was so glad to be home. The cats were also very glad to see me and spent a lot of time on top of me.

Day of Beauty

Friday was yet another teeth cleaning / combing day day. It went relatively easy. Ollie didn't even try to bite me, and I was able to comb him a little. I didn't get into it too much, didn't want to traumatize him. I was very surprised. Friday night we went to the local cat show. It was fun seeing all the different breeds of cats. One cage had a sliding door. Either the owner had left it open, or someone opened it, cause when we came around the corner I saw a kitten looking out the open door. I looked around for an owner, and there was no one to be found. I stood there and watched him for a minute, and he made a move to get out. So I walked up to the cage.. he backed into it, so I reached out and slid the door shut. I felt a little odd doing it, knowing I shouldn't be touching the cage.. but I figured they would rather me touch the cage than have to track down their kitty in the building. We walked around a bit more. I kept looking for an owner to that cage but no one ever showed up.. it was rather weird. We went shopping at some of the merchants at the show. I was shocked at how they price gouge. The pair of socks I bought for $2.00 they were selling for $8. A pair of flannel pj's were 50$. a simple dress was 90. Some plates I saw at the local Christmas tree shop for a dollar a piece were being sold for 8-9$. It was insane. I saw a bunch of cute cat toys though. Even a stretchy collar with a large pink satin bow on it. I almost bought it, but it was 9$ and the bow was kinda big for muffin. We did get two pole toys.. one with a sparkly ball attached to some fishing line, and another with large feathers on the end. Those were a big hit. We also bought a small cat nip bag with feathers on the end, but some how that got lost between the show, the trip to the restaurant eggspectations (VERY good btw), and home. Hubby ran out to get another this morning.. Eli loved it.

This afternoon, the hubby decided to give me a massage. I store all my stress in my lower back, and it gets quite painful sometimes. He broke out the massage oil, which of course totally interested the kittens. Muffin wouldn't stop licking me. So to prevent her from ingesting the oils, he picked her up with his oily hands and threw her on the floor (several times.. she is obsessive). Which of course coated her in oil. Which of course lead to a a bath for muffin. I was very worried as she does NOT like water. well unless she's licking it out of my water bottle. I got a big bucket and filled it completely with water. Grabbed her by the scuff of her neck and under her behind and dropped her in. and she balked big time. When I put her on the bath tub floor for washing, she hasn't even gotten her back wet. I haven't had a cat that acted that badly to getting a bath, and that includes Tigger, my first cat who was almost feral when we got him (and who shredded me when I'd clip his claws) We were very fortunate though, I still have all my fingers.. and surprisingly she didn't try to bite or scratch me.. just was desperate to get out of there. I dunked her back in the tub after I scrubbed her with some soap. It wasn't all that helpful, so I used a bowl to pour some water over her. eventually I put her back in the tub and talked to her till she stopped bucking. She was still very unhappy, but at least we got all the soap off.

She is obnoxiously cute when she's wet.....