What to expect at the cat show!

If you haven’t been to a cat show before….we’d like to give you a bit of information which might make your visit to our show in Pittsburgh more enjoyable.

→ First off, one important note.  Please do not put fingers into cages or pet or touch any of the cats unless you have asked and received permission from their owners.  This is both a way to limit spreading any parasites or disease and as a courtesy to the exhibitors who have spent many hours grooming their cats and getting them in to top show condition!

• There are two major areas of each show.  The “benching area” is where owners keep their cats during the show and where they house, feed and groom them.  The other areas are the judging “rings.”  These rings are a U-shaped series of cages with a judging stand in the middle on which the judge will evaluate each cat.
• Each ring is essentially a cat show unto itself.  What that means is that each judge will see all the cats in that show and will make his or her decisions totally independent of what the other judges are doing.  And, unlike what you might have seen with dog shows, there really isn’t a “best in show” at the end of the day — only a “best cat” in each ring.
• The judging is done in several categories;  Champions (non-neutered cats) Premiers (spayed/neutered cats) Kittens (4-8 month old cats) and Household Pets (non-pedigreed cats)
• Each judge (except Specialty Judges) will judge a class at a time.  For instance, they may start with Shorthair Premiers, then move on to Longhair Premiers.  The cats are called to the rings by their “cat numbers” (you’ll hear the PA announcers doing this) and are looked at in alphabetical order.
• This breed judging ends with the judge hanging “Best of Breed” and “Second Best of Breed” ribbons on the cats they think are the best in that particular breed.
• When a judge is doing evaluating ALL of the longhair and shorthair Premiers, they will have what is called a “Final.”  The judge calls back what they consider to be the 10 best cats which they saw during breed judging — and ranks them from 10 to 1.  This is an important point for exhibitors, because it is during “finals” that they receive points.