Attendees at the Jazzy Cats cat show on Sunday were shocked by Caden, the kitten that won Best in Show in the Household Pet category. The shock was not that the beautiful lynx-point Siamese won the top prize, but that he was an adoptable kitten from the City of Sacramento animal shelter.
The two-day show, titled “Haunted Weekend”, is a sanctioned event put on by the local chapter of The International Cat Association (TICA). The association has thousands of members in clubs in Latin America, North America, Asia, and Europe
An even bigger surprise to the judges, spectators and cat exhibitors was that other City shelter cats won as well. Won frequently and in many categories.
TICA shows include both pedigreed and household pets (HHP) competitions; HHP cats are judged primarily on condition, beauty, and show presence.
Two local rescue groups are chosen to bring adoptables to every Jazzy Cats show; the cats actually compete in the show to let them be seen by more people and hence have a better chance to be adopted.
One rescue group had agreed a month earlier to bring cats to the show. Each animal was entered into specific competitions based on various combinations of their age, hair length, color pattern and breed.
Then 24 hours before the event, show organizer Gloria Mahan found that the group could not come after all. This put Mahan is a very tough position, as other show cats had been excluded from the competition to make room for the rescue cats.
Not to mention that Mahan had donated over $200.00 out of her own pocket to enter the adoptables into the show.
Thankfully City of Sacramento Animal Care Services and shelter manager Gina Knepp stepped in to save the day. Within two hours they had identified 12 shelter cats and kittens that could fill the very specific categories needed for the show.
The other HHP cats and kittens that competed were professional show animals that were trained, highly groomed and used to being handled and shown in front of hundreds of strangers.
By contrast, the City contestants came straight from the shelter each morning, without being groomed and having never seen – much less participated – in a cat show.
The City cats chosen to attend the show were the same as their shelter-mates; none had been socialized more or had been better taken care of than the others.
Ultimately there was one difference; the felines that stayed behind at the shelter had never competed in a show, while the ones that did won a total of 50 awards.
One TICA-certified judge in the competition, Alexandra Chisholm, even wrote a letter praising the City shelter for having the cleanest, friendliest and most “amazingly well socialized” cats she has ever seen from a shelter.
Chisholm, an official judge for the international association since 2005, said the city shelter is to be “highly commended for the care” of the cats.
The best news from the show is that none of the 12 City shelter participants will ever be without a home again. Ten were adopted at the show and the other two were accepted into a nonprofit rescue group; they will be fostered until permanent homes can be found.
Another sign of the excellent care that cats have received since Knepp took over the shelter; one of the cats was adopted by Judge Chisholm, another by show director Mahan and a third by an exhibitor who shows his cats professionally.
More details and photos will be available in part 2 of this story.
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