Satin-lined cages

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The woman smiled cheerily at the people seated in front of her on rows of plastic chairs, and held up a cat. “Good coat for this time of year,” she said, ruffling its fur. “The tail’s a bit long for my liking.” I tried not to laugh. A woman in the audience looked outraged. The cat, a squashy-faced Persian, wriggled. It was plopped down on a table, and had a finger pressed firmly between its eyes. “Nice skull.” The cat looked furiously cross-eyed, but I think this is a natural expression for a Persian. “Give me a smile,” cooed the woman, turning the cat towards her. “Oh,” she said, disappointed, looking up at her audience. “He doesn’t want to smile - he’s not in the mood for judging today.”

Our friends, whose Norwegian Forest cat provided us with our kittens, wanted to visit a particular breeder this weekend, and so we accompanied them to a local cat show, a new experience for us both. It was most peculiar, watching various cats being held up and turned around, their tails flipped up and their rear ends examined. As a particularly lush long-haired cat was brought out of its cage, our friend whispered that some breeders keep their cats in cold air-conditioning so that they retain a lush winter-length coat for shows. I gaped.

Some of the cats were very pretty, with shiny brushed coats, lolling in their satin-lined cages (females generally had pink or purple satin, the males tended towards silver or gold) - some I found terribly unattractive, hairless rat-like animals, one with a grand champion ribbon on its cage. “Oh Princess!” cooed an owner through the bars at her pet, “Who’s a clever giiiirl? Does oo want some bikkies? Some bikkies for Princess?” She then began to sing a little tune with the words, “Some bikkies for Priiincess, some bikkies for Priiincess…”, swaying away in front of the cage. I felt a bit embarrassed for her, although no-one even glanced in her directions. I am, unfortunately, guilty of indulging in ridiculous baby talk with the kittens, but I tend to avoid it in public.

A rather strange experience, really, and not one that appealed to me. I don’t think I’ll be moving into showing cats any time soon. Not that my sweet little cross-bred kittens would be in the same league as the rest of the show cats - I imagine their tail length would be simply unacceptable, not to mention the quality of their skulls.

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