“Isn’t my Persian cat beautiful? She won the seventh position at a show held at Thrissur last year. I am so proud of her,” said Pratheeba J who, along with her cat, was at the recently held show organised by the Coimbatore Cattery Club at Hindusthan College of Arts and Science. “This is the first cat show in Coimbatore. There are many superstitions associated with cats. We want to debunk those. We also hope to make people aware of the right methods of breeding.”
Pratheeba, who is the treasurer of the Coimbatore Cattery Club, has 13 cats some of whom have been rescued. People are not aware that kittens younger than 12 days cannot take care of themselves and will die if abandoned.”
The show had 110 participants from Kerala, Karnataka, Andra Pradesh and Maharashtra. There were various breeds such as the Persian, Exotic Shorthair, Siamese, Maine Coon, British Longhair, Himalayan and Bengal. “The Maine Coon is the largest domesticated cat breed and can weigh up to 15 kg,” said Pratheeba. The judges were Yanika Mel Nikova from Belarus, Marina Zhuravieva from Russia and Sudhakar Katineni from India. The criteria included the shape of eyes, face, tail and legs. The winners were Leo, Exotic Shorthair Cat from Bengaluru (first); Zara, Maine Coon from Hyderabad (second); and Rukan, Persian from Coimbatore (third).
Besides receiving certificates of participation, the cats also received free vaccinations against several viruses, respiratory and nervous disorders. “Microchips carrying the information of the cat are implanted. This can be scanned for details,” said CK Krishnakumar, a member of the club. He exhibited two of his Persian cats. Another participant Syed Mubarak exhibited Bengal and Persian cats. “This is our first show and it helped us to meet other cat lovers. We were also able to learn more about different breeds. We plan to participate in more such shows in the future.”
