• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Show Cats Well Prepared: Owners Get Pets Alert and Groomed Before a Wyomissing Event

Posted on: Monday, 6 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Rebecca Vandermeulen, Reading Eagle, Pa.

Feb. 6--TJ didn't seem happy to be taken out of his cage Sunday afternoon. But then his owner, Brenda L. Russo, waved a wand with purple streamers in front of his face. The 8-month-old Abyssinian cat perked up and batted at the toy. "There's those big ears that we all know and love," said Russo of Wyomissing. TJ -- whose official name is Flyinhigh Defying Gravity -- was one of about 200 cats competing for regional and international awards over the weekend at the 7th Annual Allbreed & Household Pet Cat Show at the Inn at Reading, Wyomissing. Russo said the cat's name fits him because Abyssinians are known for being active. At home, he and his aunt, an Abyssinian named Aradia Lady Isis Nightmoon Realm, enjoy chasing the red dot from a laser pointer, Russo said. That helps prepare them for shows because Abyssinians are judged on how muscular they are, along with the length of their legs and ears, Russo said. Many cat owners waved similar toys in front of their animals before showing them. The toys keep the cats alert, said Chris Unangst of Raleigh, N.C., who showed eight cats. But getting the cats ready for the show can require a lot more work. Mary Lou Meinholz of Paoli, Chester County, said it takes about two hours to bathe her 1-year-old Himalayan, Joedean Vanity Fair, before a show. Meinholz uses soap, diluted vinegar and five different kinds of shampoo, then carefully dries Vanity Fair with a hair dryer. "I must have a cupboard with, like, 30 shampoos in it," Meinholz said. Meinholz said she and her husband, Edward G., have eight cats. The Karousel Kats Cat Club, which sponsored the three-day show, donated some of the proceeds to One by One Inc., a Kutztown cat shelter that does not euthanize animals. Club member Karen Frankenfield of Hellertown, Northampton County, said at least 1,000 people attended the show. Ashley N. Deihm, 9, of Maidencreek Township said she and her sister, Samantha A., 11, want to get a cat. Samantha said her favorite was a hairless breed called a Sphynx. "They're cute, and they look like rats," she said. The hairlessness is a natural mutation, according to Michael A. Slaughter of Baltimore, who breeds Sphynx cats. "They feel like velvet," said Ashley and Samantha's cousin, Eva L. Beears of Reading.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, Reading Eagle, Pa.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Reading Eagle

More News in this Category