Mention a cat present and most of the people consider the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show: well dressed trainers parading their superbly coiffed and completely behaved fees across the ring; madcap agility trials wherein speedy canines zip via difficult impediment programs with nary a misstep. A feline equal is unthinkable.
And but, cat exhibits do exist. I do know, as a result of I’ve attended lots of them, each as a spectator and as a participant with Nelson. Cat exhibits are less complicated than canine exhibits. There isn’t any cat promenade and the rivals within the agility competitions (that are a comparatively recent addition) typically lack the single-minded zeal of their canine counterparts.
Nevertheless, cat exhibits are nonetheless a spectacle. Imagine 2 hundred, and even eight hundred, yowling, purring, and snoozing cats packed right into a present corridor, showcasing the number of the fashionable cat. The venues vary from shabby highschool gymnasia and bare-bones veterans’ halls to resort banquet rooms and huge present halls.
The rooms are stuffed with rows of lengthy tables, jam-packed with colourful kitty condos; the rivals lounge inside their material partitions, ready to be referred to as to the judging tables. Siamese cats yowl incessantly. Occasional shouts of “cat out” or “cat on the ground” lead to a couple moments of pleasure till the wayward puss is retrieved.
Cat exhibits reveal that Felis catus isn’t one cat, however many numerous manufacturers of feline.
In the morning, the one folks current are the cats’ minders (referred to as “exhibitors”), getting their fees settled into their condos and primping them for what’s to return. As the day wears on, although, the corridor fills with spectators, a various cross part of the cat-loving public who’ve plunked down three bucks to see the present cat spectacle.
If you bear in mind the zany characters within the dog-show mockumentary Best in Show, you’ll be disillusioned to find that the exhibitors are simply odd people with a ardour for cats and a willingness to let their lives revolve round driving—or generally flying—to occasions weekend after weekend all through a lot of the yr. Like any group that will get collectively often to compete and socialize, there are deep friendships, intense rivalries, gossip, complaints concerning the judging, and all kinds of hijinks.
Fascinating because the folks at cat exhibits are, let’s deal with the principle occasion: the cats! The contestants on show are largely refined and chic; it’s arduous to beat a Siamese for savoir faire or a Norwegian for reserved dignity. Some will allure you with their seems to be or method; you’ll be stunned on the surprising options of others. But above all, what these occasions show is the superb number of catdom. The lengthy, sinuous fluidity of the Oriental, the regal majesty of a Maine Coon, the pantherine sleekness of an Abyssinian. Fluffball Himalayans. Pixie-faced Devon Rexes.
Cat exhibits reveal that Felis catus isn’t one cat, however many numerous manufacturers of feline. And the cat cornucopia is rising quickly. Breeders have capitalized on naturally occurring mutations to develop new breeds in contrast to something beforehand imagined, together with the curly-haired Devon Rex and the Ragdoll, named for its penchant for going limp when picked up. Some fans are trying in a unique path for brand spanking new sources of variation, mating home cats with different feline species to supply the attractive noticed Bengal, the long-legged Savannah, and others.
The International Cat Association now acknowledges seventy-three breeds of cats, and the quantity is rising quickly. All these breeds share a vital catness, but they’re changing into more and more totally different, in lots of respects extra numerous than the forty-two wild species within the cat household. How far can cat breeders push the boundaries of contemporary felinity? Does cat evolution haven’t any limits?
To discover out, let’s go to Cleveland.
With greater than one million sq. toes of ground house—sufficient to carry a squadron of airplanes with loads of room to spare—the International Exposition Center is among the largest exhibition venues within the United States. At one time a tank manufacturing unit, the building has hosted boat, auto, and RV exhibits, presidential rallies, NFL Fan Fests, and commerce exhibits and conventions. For a few years, an amusement park featured the world’s largest indoor Ferris wheel.
How far can cat breeders push the boundaries of contemporary felinity?
But I’m not on the I-X Center (as Clevelanders name it) for any of that—I’m right here to see cats! Once a yr, the Cat Fanciers’ Association hosts its International Cat Show, the biggest gathering of its type within the United States. And in 2018 and 2019, that present was held in Cleveland. I’ve been to my share of cat exhibits, however this one is like no different. Size, in fact—most exhibits are held in areas a fraction of the scale of the I-X. And variety of rivals—eight hundred cats is about 5 occasions the standard enrollment.
The International is way more than an unlimited congregation of cats in a cavernous house. This is the Big Show, the World Series of Cats. Enormous banners dangle horizontally from the rafters, every with a winsome photograph of a unique breed. “Siamese, Siberian, Somali, Sphynx, Tonkinese, Turkish Angora,” the flags proclaim, and lots of extra.
I’d by no means seen a Khao Manee, the gorgeous white cat of Thailand, however a fast scan of the banners directs me to the again of the corridor on the left, the place a number of reside of their kitty condos, ready to be referred to as to a judging station. Want to see a Singapura? These tiny, big-eyed cats are on the suitable, towards the entrance.
Cat celebrities are plentiful. Sunglass Cat, with spectacles worthy of Elton John (worn as a result of she was born with out eyelids), meets any of the eleven thousand spectators keen to face in an extended line on the meet and greet. Sauerkraut Kitty fashions her latest outfits. Sphynx-wrinkly Sarah Pawcett seems to be surprisingly good in a Marie Antoinette costume, hairless no extra because of a powdered wig. Friendly Ambassador Cats, akin to Socrates, a bow-tie-bedecked Abyssinian, stroll round on leashes, accepting pats and nuzzling the guests.
Entertainment abounds. A stage on the entrance left packs in tons of of spectators for performances by the Savitsky Cats, displaying off the superb tips that wowed Simon Cowell on America’s Got Talent. In the agility ring, cats generally zip rapidly into and over quite a lot of obstacles, although simply as usually they dawdle, to the tenders’ frustration and the viewers’ amusement, getting an excellent sniff of each merchandise on the course. Lectures on cat origins and conduct are introduced repeatedly, and an “adopt-a-thon” finds houses for greater than 100 cats in the course of the two-day occasion.
But the present cats, all eight hundred of them, are the principle occasion. The CFA acknowledges forty-five breeds, and all however three are represented on the present. The number of these breeds is astonishing.
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Excerpted from The Cat’s Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa by Jonathan B. Losos. Copyright © 2023. Published by Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.
