So often we hear the popular mantra from cat breeders "I'm preserving and protecting the breed", preparatory to going ahead and doing some mass cat-production, upping the numbers by many tens or hundreds of cats.
On the CFA website is a discussion entitled "WHAT IS A PEDIGREED CAT?"
"Over the development years of a pedigreed cat, various natural and planned genetic combinations have provided the evolution of the breeds we recognize today. Some are naturally occuring breeds and others are man-made.
Breeders often choose to work with a single breed and devote their love and attention to the development of that breed. Their aim is to preserve, protect, maintain and improve their chosen breed. All of our breeds of domesticated cats would indeed become extinct were it not for the continuing interest of breeder/fanciers and the public".
We thought to examine these words and see the true meaning of them, and then apply that to what we know of cat breeders, and see how well they match up.
The online Free dictionary defines "preserve" as follows :
pre·serve (pr-zûrv)
v. pre·served, pre·serv·ing, pre·serves
v.tr.
1. To maintain in safety from injury, peril, or harm; protect.
2. To keep in perfect or unaltered condition; maintain unchanged.
3. To keep or maintain intact: tried to preserve family harmony. See Synonyms at defend.
4. To prepare (food) for future use, as by canning or salting.
5. To prevent (organic bodies) from decaying or spoiling.
6. To keep or protect (game or fish) for one's private hunting or fishing.
We'll skip 4 and 5, as they clearly refer to food and organic plant material.
1. Maintain in safety etc. Well - I suppose most breeders tend to keep their cats under lock and key, in the inner recesses of their homes, not allowing them out so I suppose that protecting from peril or injury qualifies here. Granted, accidents happen in the best of homes, but that's a "shit-happens" moment and happens to the best of us. What about protecting from harm? Think about the average cramped, overcrowded cat breeder environment, with overgrowth and transmission of pathogens, like URI's, conjunctivitis, overdosing with home antibiotic supplies purloined from the friendly vet & etc. I don't think that qualifies somehow under the category of protecting from harm. So only give half a tick here.
2. What about keeping in perfect or unaltered condition, maintaining unchanged. Nope - the cat fancy has a long history of screwing up just about every breed that comes across the judging table. A bunch of misguided people somewhere get a dumb idea into their heads and the next thing you know, every breeder is creation is screwing up a perfectly good, healthy cat by inbreeding in pursuit of the outward confirmation required by the changed standard of points. Think I'm talking junk?
Persians : At the 2012 World Cat Congress, Prof Tim Gruffyd-Jones noted that European vets have the greatest problems with Persians and Sphynx. In the case of Persians the concern is the respiratory problem caused by the brachycephalic facial structure, but there is also concern for the longer, more dense coat making the Persian a high maintenance cat. What's the cat fancy response to the prospect of losing their precious squashed faces? A question from the floor "Is the extreme Persian with bigger nose leather and wider nostrils OK?" - missing the point completely that the brachycephalic facial structure has affected breathing, rendered tear ducts inoperable and caused soft palate elongation i.c.w. the flatter facial structure, presenting protruding tongues. I somehow don't think bigger nose leather and nares cuts the mustard.
Witness this change in the past 30 years particularly (see "Battering the Breed" in this blogsite for the embedded video link).
Siamese? The old healthy head and body shape made way for a long slinky strung-out body, the head morphed into a long wedge shape and the cat developed fly-away Dumbo ears. "Dumbo" in this connotation is indeed an apt word. Breeders have been warned (WCC presentation 2012) that the Siamese head shape is becoming too extreme.
Sphynx also develop skin diseases when they are not bathed regularly, specifically in colder months
The lethal American variant Burmese head defect is well known in cat fancy circles, and is a result of breeders aiming for shorter muzzles and slightly rounder facial structure.
Just about every Maine Coon originates in only 15 common cats, so over-used were the original bloodlines. The origin of the Maine Coon is said to be a mix of the forest cats of Maine, and the domestic shorthair cats of the early settlers. Given that the American wild forest cat is a tabby, just where do all the colour-variant Maine Coons come from, and how does the approval of every colour under the sun "preserve the breed"?
Prof Gruffyd-Jones also discussed the breeding of breeds based on genetic defects and specifically referred to Scottish Fold, Manx, Munchkin, Sphynx and Bambino. He asserted that there is no place in the world for a breed based on genetic faults. He said that there cannot but be a concern for the health of a cat if breeding of these breeds are encouraged, and asked if registering bodies are living up to their main objectives if these breeds are accepted for registration.
OK - so for point 2., give breeders and the cat fancy a big fat cross.
3. Keep or maintain intact. The dictionary sense here does not truly apply in the context of cats, as it merges in point 2, above. However, with tongue in cheek and understanding one meaning of "to maintain intact" - this is one of the things a breeder does best! Any animal which is "not intact" is little use to a breeder. Flippantly give them a little tick here, balanced by a cross for the more serious meaning - their inability to truly maintain the healthy breeds unchanged.
4. Point 6 - to keep or protect for ones private hunting or fishing. Ah! Now here's what cat breeders really do well. They keep cats for their own private hunting/fishing. Realise that in the context of the cat fancy, the hunting/fishing is for trophies and ribbons and is done in the show halls across the world. "Own private" are also appropriate - they reflect the self-interest which dominates the character of most animal breeders. Big tick here, but for the wrong reasons.
Final scorecard : One and a half ticks out of 4 categories, and one point of that was for the wrong reason! Hardly a pass mark, is it?
As for breeds of domesticated cats becoming extinct, at the rate they're going cat breeders and registries are likely to achieve the exact opposite effect, very shortly. But then, the animal fancies are not known for being moderate. To the contrary, continual drift towards the extreme appears to be a hallmark of "breed progression".
And given that most of the breeds are virtually unrecognisable from the breeds only 50 or so years back, I'd say the cat fraternity has been spectacularly unsuccessful in preserving the breed.
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Saturday, 22 September 2012
A Misguided Sense of Priorities
The posting would be funny if its subject matter was not of such grave concern. Indeed there are moments when you have to smile at the ludicrously inappropriate responses from both the breeder who was raided, and the CFA people. Tragicomedy!
Dozens of cats found in Long Island home
Note the irrelevant information dished up by the breeder to the rescue authorities "The red fellow here is a grand premier". Hello! Who cares? The title is nonsense - it matters only to those inside the cat fancy who think it is something of value. It isn't of course. And to any normal person , this type of statement comes across sounding really whacko. Makes you want to go and bang on his skull and ask if there's anyone in there. He's being raided and the stench is reportedly overwhelming - and he's going around saying "and this is Maddie, and that's Ethylene etc." Are we on the same planet?
"We breed and show pedigreed cats". Yeah Yeah. And live in a sea of cat urine and faeces. But he has someone who comes in twice weekly to clean the house and empty the sandboxes. Isn't this reasonable? The reason I'm asking, is that there seems to be something going on in that lonely dark space this breeder is pleased to call a brain (and in the brains of every other cat breeder) that indicates that this is perfectly reasonable. But it's not, as every normal (non cat fancy) person will attest.
He says, "I'm not overwhelmed". If not, his cats certainly are. They're sentient beings - they surely must find being housed in excrement and filthy stinking surrounds and being made to use over-dirty litter boxes overwhelming.
Cat behaviourists tell us there should be a litter box for each cat, plus one extra. Forty one litter boxes in his home? I doubt it - there wouldn't be enough space. The cat litter boxes in our home are cleaned at least 4 times daily and no waste is allowed to lie in a box for any length of time. But overnight it accumulates, and in the morning boxes have to be cleaned. I shudder to imagine the kind of mess that 40 cats make over a 3-4 day period in their litter boxes.
"And you can take care of the cats?" he is asked by the reporter. YES "40 of them?" YES
No he can't - he presents himself as a lunatic who needs to be given a nice quiet place to be locked up in - like his cats, but more humane and hygienic. The problem is, as the reader will note when following the link below, that the CFA people think this is merely mischief making by people intent of ruining their cat fancy, and everything is being blown out of proportion.
And there's the rub - cat (and dog) fancies are not self-regulating because they do not focus on animal welfare issues, but only on show income and titles - again to the normal person, this is clearly inappropriate.
Witness the exchange of mails involving certain CFA cat breeders on behalf of their registry's interest. I am amused by the show manager who was incensed at the fact that this raid occurred immediately before a CFA show that was being held in the same area. So who has a skewed sense of priorities then? I didn't hear much sympathy for the cats.
(In this exchange, BAP = Breeder Assistance Program and BR = Breeder Rescue).
Clearly, the fact that the CFA have assistance programs of this nature to aid breeders who get into trouble (mainly due to overcrowding), is an indication that all is not well in the cat fancy - in that breeders have a tendency to acquire and retain excess cats, spurred on by the promise of show success and the economics of selling kittens. That said, any normal person (they exist in everyday life outside the animal fancies) would put measures in place to prevent the registration of more than a set number of animals, and/or inspect and censure the owners, thus curtailing the practice.
And one of the key areas of cat fancy emphasis is not getting animal rights (AR) or PETA involved, and preferably not the SPCA either. And of course no breeder wants a animal inspector wandering around their home - for obvious reasons that have nothing to do with their privacy. Anyone who was really interested in the welfare of the cat would welcome inspection with open arms. Come to think of it, any cat fancy that really was serious about cat health and welfare, would have instituted compulsory cattery /home of excellence programs (with mandatory inspections) a long time ago.
But nobody is serious about it, and the dirt has to be kept swept under the rug....
Waxolotl cattery raided by authorities
I am starting to formulate the opinion that anyone who remains in the cat or dog fancy for any length of time, gets attacked by brain-rot. Or is brain-dead in the first place.
Dozens of cats found in Long Island home
Note the irrelevant information dished up by the breeder to the rescue authorities "The red fellow here is a grand premier". Hello! Who cares? The title is nonsense - it matters only to those inside the cat fancy who think it is something of value. It isn't of course. And to any normal person , this type of statement comes across sounding really whacko. Makes you want to go and bang on his skull and ask if there's anyone in there. He's being raided and the stench is reportedly overwhelming - and he's going around saying "and this is Maddie, and that's Ethylene etc." Are we on the same planet?
"We breed and show pedigreed cats". Yeah Yeah. And live in a sea of cat urine and faeces. But he has someone who comes in twice weekly to clean the house and empty the sandboxes. Isn't this reasonable? The reason I'm asking, is that there seems to be something going on in that lonely dark space this breeder is pleased to call a brain (and in the brains of every other cat breeder) that indicates that this is perfectly reasonable. But it's not, as every normal (non cat fancy) person will attest.
He says, "I'm not overwhelmed". If not, his cats certainly are. They're sentient beings - they surely must find being housed in excrement and filthy stinking surrounds and being made to use over-dirty litter boxes overwhelming.
Cat behaviourists tell us there should be a litter box for each cat, plus one extra. Forty one litter boxes in his home? I doubt it - there wouldn't be enough space. The cat litter boxes in our home are cleaned at least 4 times daily and no waste is allowed to lie in a box for any length of time. But overnight it accumulates, and in the morning boxes have to be cleaned. I shudder to imagine the kind of mess that 40 cats make over a 3-4 day period in their litter boxes.
No he can't - he presents himself as a lunatic who needs to be given a nice quiet place to be locked up in - like his cats, but more humane and hygienic. The problem is, as the reader will note when following the link below, that the CFA people think this is merely mischief making by people intent of ruining their cat fancy, and everything is being blown out of proportion.
And there's the rub - cat (and dog) fancies are not self-regulating because they do not focus on animal welfare issues, but only on show income and titles - again to the normal person, this is clearly inappropriate.
Witness the exchange of mails involving certain CFA cat breeders on behalf of their registry's interest. I am amused by the show manager who was incensed at the fact that this raid occurred immediately before a CFA show that was being held in the same area. So who has a skewed sense of priorities then? I didn't hear much sympathy for the cats.
(In this exchange, BAP = Breeder Assistance Program and BR = Breeder Rescue).
Clearly, the fact that the CFA have assistance programs of this nature to aid breeders who get into trouble (mainly due to overcrowding), is an indication that all is not well in the cat fancy - in that breeders have a tendency to acquire and retain excess cats, spurred on by the promise of show success and the economics of selling kittens. That said, any normal person (they exist in everyday life outside the animal fancies) would put measures in place to prevent the registration of more than a set number of animals, and/or inspect and censure the owners, thus curtailing the practice.
And one of the key areas of cat fancy emphasis is not getting animal rights (AR) or PETA involved, and preferably not the SPCA either. And of course no breeder wants a animal inspector wandering around their home - for obvious reasons that have nothing to do with their privacy. Anyone who was really interested in the welfare of the cat would welcome inspection with open arms. Come to think of it, any cat fancy that really was serious about cat health and welfare, would have instituted compulsory cattery /home of excellence programs (with mandatory inspections) a long time ago.
But nobody is serious about it, and the dirt has to be kept swept under the rug....
Waxolotl cattery raided by authorities
I am starting to formulate the opinion that anyone who remains in the cat or dog fancy for any length of time, gets attacked by brain-rot. Or is brain-dead in the first place.
Cat Collection Addiction
I am again reminded by recent events, of the 2009 case of (yet another) cat hording abuser, one Inez Tyrrell of Amzeni Persians in Telford, Shropshire. For those not acquainted with this little bit of infamy, she was convicted in court, and admitted to 13 counts of causing unnecessary suffering to animals. Twenty-eight of her 72 persians (in a 2 bedroomed house!) had to be put down. Another four were found dead in the freezer.
From the press records:
An experienced officer had to leave as he almost vomited from the smell, due to the ammonia levels. Cats were suffering from ocular, dental and respiratory tract diseases, and facial pyoderma.
“One cat had severely deformed hind limbs and couldn’t walk properly and should have been taken to the vets immediately. The hall stairs and landing of the house were covered in cat faeces and were stained with urine."
Judge Morgan branded her actions "totally unnacceptable" and said: “I’ve never come across a case where so many animals have had to be destroyed over just one person’s actions. “You must have known what condition these cats were living in - the physical appearance of them show they were seriously suffering. “The RSPCA had to pay nearly £100,000 in cattery and veterinary expenses. For that great British charity to lose so much money because of you is totally and utterly unacceptable.”
(Guess who picks up the pieces - as usual).
It is ominous that Tyrell stated that “It was never a business, it has always been a hobby. All of us cat breeders keep cats for the same reason, we love them so much.” I sincerely hope that she does not speak for the majority of cat breeders when defending this type of abuse as being a 'hobby' - "loving them so much" that they literally love them to death. Looks to me like "collection addiction" and exploitation.
The court imposed a life ban on keeping cats, and a 5 year ban on keeping reptiles (which were also abused in her home). It is notable that on the back of a court ban for life, the GCCF saw fit to only charge her with 11 counts of causing unnecessary suffering (after she admitted 13 in court), and one charge of not providing a suitable environment for the cats she was responsible for. I wonder which of the 4 cats in the freezer that charge applied to and why for the other three, the freezer was deemed to be an appropriate environment? I presume it must have applied to the dead freezer cats, surely? But then what about the cats kept upstairs in the many filthy little cages? I suppose according to the British cat fancy, those conditions would be deemed "appropriate"? I wonder which dear soul on the UK Governing Council would like to be locked up in a little cage for several years, to see if it really is appropriate? Surely 76 counts of providing unnacceptable conditions sends a clearer message? The GCCF then imposed a 5 year suspension, after which she may apply to have it lifted.
I wonder what you have to do to be given a life ban in the GCCF? Maybe if you bring them under public scrutiny for turning a blind eye to overcrowding by their breeders, perhaps? Or possibly setting fire to the cat fancy president?
Of course, the UK GCCF and every other cat registry worldwide has exact stats on every one of their breeders and owners' cats through the registration and transfer process, so they have the wherewithal to carry out the necessary control measures to prevent cats being overcrowded. All they need is the will to keep their house in order.
But I note in the GCCF's business plan, that registry fees are the bulk (90%) of the income per annum - so guess where the real priority lies? I mean, which business wants to limit its own fee income, merely because it means being nice to a few hundred thousand cats? (And the GCCF (Ltd) is very definitely a business, like every other cat registry worldwide).
And then of course, cat fancies tend to try and downplay incidents like these of being "one-off" aberrations by misguided individuals who they then go out of their way to disown, since being caught with your hand in the animal-abuse cookie jar is bad PR for the cat fancy. But they do nothing to police their members or discourage hoarding of cats.
Witness Tracy Mayo, of Tracylooe Cattery in Looe, Cornwall who was found to have more than 100 persian cats locked up in a barn, in execrable conditions in small cages a couple of years back. The local rescue centre helped ensure a happy ending for some of these cats. The Tracylooe breeder prefix is still listed under the GCCF, and Ms Mayo is not any suspension list - temporary or permanent. (I do note that both temporary and permanent life suspensions seem to be awarded to those who are caught not paying moneys due/ withholding show earnings/ keeping inadequate financial records and not submitting all the required paperwork. It's good to know the GCCF has its business priorities right - can't cry over a few cats, can we?)
How about Stacey Bogue of Startrax cattery, who when she heard the SPCA had been called out to her cattery, opened the doors and let the cats out into the snow, and fled to Canada? Neither the CFA nor TICA did anything to censure her. The conditions under which her cats were kept were horrendous, and the only reason it came to light was her husband who was having a custody battle and wanted to prove her an unfit parent.
Posted at Thu, March 17, 2011 9:05:23 AM
“This is no news. This happened almost 2 years ago already, and unfortunately nobody could stop this evil person. CFA and TICA both did nothing against her. Stacey also had two males from me and I heard that one of them has died meanwhile (you see him on one picture, a red persian sitting on a blue towel), and the other one nobody knows where he is. People said that Stacey just let them run out in the cold winter, left to themselves, and maybe they have died from the hard winter in Canada... I swear if I ever meet this woman in person, I will do the same to her what she has done to all these cats. Lock her in the cellar and throw a few kibbles of food on the floor every 3-4 days...! No cleaning, no toilet, let her sleep in her own shit! This woman was a prospective cat judge and she sounded so nice! You never see behind the face of a person.... Pictures were taken by her (Ex-)husband but not to protect the cats, just to start a custody battle about their daughter...”
Or the Badalpours, of Highland Park, Illinois : http://fourleggedfriendsandenemies.blogspot.com/2012/07/23-persian-cats-found-in-squalor-in.html
While we're bumming around the US, how about Judith Lawson, a former cat breeder who was found to have housed 22 cats in filthy cages in her garage for more than 6 years? She "didn't mean to do it". I suppose at no time in that 6 years did it occur to her that she was doing wrong. See 22 cats living in filth .
Investigators noted that this probably happened at a previous home she lived in, in Bellevue. When she moved out, walls and floors had to be ripped out because of the urine and faecal contamination.
And it goes on and on. And the abuse lists can be easily found in the public domain.
The culpability of the cat fancies for encouraging this behaviour is explored in more detail in a later blog.
Monday, 17 September 2012
Alzheimers at the Judging Table
G and I were pondering what it is about the cat fancy that makes people take the same cats to shows, week in, week out, year in and year out. On and on, ad infinitim.
When one thinks back to Harrison Weir (the father of the cat fancy), the original objective of cat showing was to create awareness and education in the public domain about these mysterious animals, and later for the judges to guide breeders in their programs, towards the elusive "perfect" specimen (not that anyone will ever succeed in breeding a perfect cat - whatever that may be).
The problem with showing cats however, is that except for fairly rapid changes through the kitten stages, the development is fairly gradual and therefore it makes little sense to be showing them every week - that is, assuming cat judges are consistent you're certainly not likely to get much of a different message, week on week.
But of course cat judges are not consistent and much of their message consists of trying to tell you diplomatically that the cat is a poor specimen, or perhaps that the cat is a great specimen (this depends on their mood, whether you've been a good and loyal subject lately, whether they want somebody else to do well at the show today to keep them coming back and paying fees & etc.) It seldom actually has much to do with the cat and what the judge has had for breakfast is as likely as anything to sway the decision.
So, for a while at least, you get a kaleidoscope of judge opinions, many the same, plus some outliers from a few upcountry judges who don't know you quite so well and are not particularly interested in hampering your chances unless you've been getting up their noses lately. But then it tends to settle down into the same old rigmarole/ ho hum been-there-seen-that type of report.
There was only one judge who was upfront enough to say to me "I don't know what else to say about him - I've written everything there is to say already - and that judge had only seen him 3 times before. But 3 times is more than enough when it comes to cat judging. At the 2nd time, the judge is still getting to know the cat - by 3 times the judge is saying "ah hello old chap, and how are we today?". And after that, it's just silly.
It makes it even worse when the cat fancy tries to pretend that judges don't know which exhibits are owned or bred by who. The point being here that 99% of the time, the owner of the cat is standing in front of the judge presenting the cat to him/her to be judged. Therefore for the cat fancy's assertion to be correct, I must presume that cat judges have either an exceptionally short term memory recall / short span of attention (or both), or Alzheimers (or all of these). Certainly, I'm leaning towards believing it in certain cases....
So now we get the situation where, in order to encourage people to bring their cats back to the show (and hence support the federations with entry fees), they create multiple titles, like "double supreme champion", "triple supreme champion" etc.) Which means with the current show system provided you are prepared to drive a few thousand extra kilometers per year, these extra awards can be obtained within about a year. Otherwise if you're a stay-at-home type, a couple of years extra showing of the cat. But what's the point if the judge has seen the cat multiple times already? And most of them have, because there are not that many judges in SA. By the time you get in that type of silliness, the judges are bored, you're bored and the cat is getting bored. In fact that cat would far rather be at home, stalking a juicy bird or lying in the garden in a tunnel, or sunning itself on its back.
But no - the same cats get trotted out year on year. And behold! Suddenly, there we have a picture of a cat judge standing next to a proud owner and their cat which is being touted as the best thing since sliced bread, and it's the same cat that has been judged by the same judge countless times. Silly smiles are plastered on their faces. What changed? Well nothing as far as the cat is concerned. However the owner is being patted for being persistent and loyal (for a moment, at least), until it's somebody else's turn.
And the years roll on, show after show, COTY after COTY.
"Same procedure as last year Miss Sophie?"
"Same procedure as every year, James"
I can see it all now in my mind. A Monty Python sketch lampooning the pathetic silliness of the cat fancy. John Cleese enters show hall with his too-short trousers showing a deal of ankle and mismatching sock, clutching a cat protectively under his arm and shielding it from the prying eyes of the other exhibitors who have seen it a million times.
"Same procedure as last year, Mrs Scum?"
"Same procedure as every year, Mr Gabbleblotchit"
"Right!" and he Nazi goose-steps towards the front of the hall, cat under left arm, right arm cocked with the feather from the cat teazer under his nose to indicate the moustache. He turns round at the front, holds the cat high in the air, and on his forehead is affixed an enormous rosette with tails down to his knees. It reads "FAITHFUL EXHIBITOR OF THE YEAR".
"No , no, no!!" The show manager screams "you do that at the end of the season. This is the beginning. You need to get into your cage!"
"Oh all right" Gabbleblotchit sighs reluctantly, curling his 6'5" frame double and contorting his body into a 50cmx50cm show cage. A passing steward obligingly slams the door shut and puts in the steel retaining pin.
When one thinks back to Harrison Weir (the father of the cat fancy), the original objective of cat showing was to create awareness and education in the public domain about these mysterious animals, and later for the judges to guide breeders in their programs, towards the elusive "perfect" specimen (not that anyone will ever succeed in breeding a perfect cat - whatever that may be).
The problem with showing cats however, is that except for fairly rapid changes through the kitten stages, the development is fairly gradual and therefore it makes little sense to be showing them every week - that is, assuming cat judges are consistent you're certainly not likely to get much of a different message, week on week.
But of course cat judges are not consistent and much of their message consists of trying to tell you diplomatically that the cat is a poor specimen, or perhaps that the cat is a great specimen (this depends on their mood, whether you've been a good and loyal subject lately, whether they want somebody else to do well at the show today to keep them coming back and paying fees & etc.) It seldom actually has much to do with the cat and what the judge has had for breakfast is as likely as anything to sway the decision.
So, for a while at least, you get a kaleidoscope of judge opinions, many the same, plus some outliers from a few upcountry judges who don't know you quite so well and are not particularly interested in hampering your chances unless you've been getting up their noses lately. But then it tends to settle down into the same old rigmarole/ ho hum been-there-seen-that type of report.
There was only one judge who was upfront enough to say to me "I don't know what else to say about him - I've written everything there is to say already - and that judge had only seen him 3 times before. But 3 times is more than enough when it comes to cat judging. At the 2nd time, the judge is still getting to know the cat - by 3 times the judge is saying "ah hello old chap, and how are we today?". And after that, it's just silly.
It makes it even worse when the cat fancy tries to pretend that judges don't know which exhibits are owned or bred by who. The point being here that 99% of the time, the owner of the cat is standing in front of the judge presenting the cat to him/her to be judged. Therefore for the cat fancy's assertion to be correct, I must presume that cat judges have either an exceptionally short term memory recall / short span of attention (or both), or Alzheimers (or all of these). Certainly, I'm leaning towards believing it in certain cases....
So now we get the situation where, in order to encourage people to bring their cats back to the show (and hence support the federations with entry fees), they create multiple titles, like "double supreme champion", "triple supreme champion" etc.) Which means with the current show system provided you are prepared to drive a few thousand extra kilometers per year, these extra awards can be obtained within about a year. Otherwise if you're a stay-at-home type, a couple of years extra showing of the cat. But what's the point if the judge has seen the cat multiple times already? And most of them have, because there are not that many judges in SA. By the time you get in that type of silliness, the judges are bored, you're bored and the cat is getting bored. In fact that cat would far rather be at home, stalking a juicy bird or lying in the garden in a tunnel, or sunning itself on its back.
But no - the same cats get trotted out year on year. And behold! Suddenly, there we have a picture of a cat judge standing next to a proud owner and their cat which is being touted as the best thing since sliced bread, and it's the same cat that has been judged by the same judge countless times. Silly smiles are plastered on their faces. What changed? Well nothing as far as the cat is concerned. However the owner is being patted for being persistent and loyal (for a moment, at least), until it's somebody else's turn.
And the years roll on, show after show, COTY after COTY.
"Same procedure as last year Miss Sophie?"
"Same procedure as every year, James"
I can see it all now in my mind. A Monty Python sketch lampooning the pathetic silliness of the cat fancy. John Cleese enters show hall with his too-short trousers showing a deal of ankle and mismatching sock, clutching a cat protectively under his arm and shielding it from the prying eyes of the other exhibitors who have seen it a million times.
"Same procedure as last year, Mrs Scum?"
"Same procedure as every year, Mr Gabbleblotchit"
"Right!" and he Nazi goose-steps towards the front of the hall, cat under left arm, right arm cocked with the feather from the cat teazer under his nose to indicate the moustache. He turns round at the front, holds the cat high in the air, and on his forehead is affixed an enormous rosette with tails down to his knees. It reads "FAITHFUL EXHIBITOR OF THE YEAR".
"No , no, no!!" The show manager screams "you do that at the end of the season. This is the beginning. You need to get into your cage!"
"Oh all right" Gabbleblotchit sighs reluctantly, curling his 6'5" frame double and contorting his body into a 50cmx50cm show cage. A passing steward obligingly slams the door shut and puts in the steel retaining pin.
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Rosettes Make the World Go Round
I was vaguely amused (but not surprised) to note the following piece of drivel on one of the cat lists, after an annual Cat of the Year binge had taken place, and the masses were still in a mutual back patting mood :
"I am quite surprised that no one has put pics of the amazing CFSA Coty Rosettes up yet. So shoot me if you will. They were done by *(name deleted)* and were even personalised - each Rosette had the Cat's placing as well as a separate ribbon with the Cat's Name on. These are undoubtedly the most beautiful Coty Rosette in our home."
(I won't bother to fix the prose to more closely resemble English)
(And then a picture of a board with a few rows of rosettes, basically similar, with the caption) :
"The armada of Rosettes that greeted us on the evening."
"Each Coty Qualifier got two Rosettes, the smaller one was on each cage and the larger, personalised one, we received in the evening."
I loved G's comment : NOW... Lets NOT forget the Rosettes folks!!! How would we survive the cat-show without our rows of Rosettes to show off our wins? UNTHINKABLE!!!!!!"
Poor human-beings - seems they have nothing better to do than exploit their cats so that they can B R A G and then feel good about themselves !!!
And that about sums up the stupidity of the cat fancy. It would be more worthwhile if the winning was at least based on the qualities of the cat, rather than the need to mollycoddle the masses in turn, to keep them coming back to the shows. But it's not. Drag the cats to the show and back home. Show and home. Show, home, show home showhomeshowhomeshowhomeshowhome etc.
Pity it does nothing for the cats. It would be nice if the money spent on ribbons, dinners and doodads could be donated to animal welfare, cat shelters and sterilization programs.
Friday, 14 September 2012
Back to the Garden
Our Garden
Felines: Apollo, Mojito, Tabitha Twitchit, Adagio
Photos : Mike
Poem by: David Switzer
====
Come with me
Back to the Garden
Where we have
No fears of
Who and what
We are
Back to the Garden
Where we see
The world with
Love in our
Eyes for each
Other and the
World we’re in
Back to the Garden
Where our souls
Are free of guilt
And are filled
With the pure
Joy of being
Back to the Garden
Of our soul’s Eden
The place where
All is love
And loving acceptance
Of who and
What we are.
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
You Need to Put Your Foot Down!
I said "You need to put your foot down with these cats!"
Thus saith a member of the family who recently came to visit. Just goes to show how little they know about cats!
You don't "put your foot down" with cats. They say cats are truly independent beings who manage to tolerate their host home merely because that's where all their food and comfort is. But that's not to say that cats are "stand-offish" beasties who never interact with their owners, but that they interact at a place and time of their own choosing.
And do they interact! There is plenty of interaction from our cats - they herd along after us as soon as something really interesting is taking place - like moving the furniture, or eating outside in the garden, or evening playtime, or following us so they can sleep on the computer while we are trying to work. There is no question that cats are equally as interactive as dogs, and far more discriminating to ensure the object of their attention is truly worthy of it!
But - you don't "lay down the law" to a cat. Have you ever tried to get a cat in at night when it's warm and balmy and the moon is shining away high in the sky? You can stand on your head and whistle La Marsellaise through any orifice you choose to, but you aint gonna get that cat! He/she will sit and wait patiently for you to get tantalisingly close - say around 2m away, and then they will frolic off whisking the tail in the air - a grand rude two-fingered gesture if you like (cat style).
Yeah right - I'm going to hop round the garden at 2am like a demented animated garden gnome in pursuit of a frolicking cat who's leading me on just because it can. Dream on - which is what I'm doing at 2am. If the cat decides it wants to stay out, there's not a lot I can do about it, apart from wishing it well and hoping morning arrives with it still in one piece. We have our property fully fenced, so cats getting out is not a problem - and none of them bother anyway. It's merely a matter of them wanting to get themselves a bit more "me space" and enjoying the night.
And most of the time we find that if you ignore them, the stragglers all come in anyway - go about your business, shower and last thing before the light goes out, check for the prodigal cat. In luck? Bring him in, otherwise leave him be. He's (in our household it's a "he") happy - and that's the main thing.
I'd love to see my family member standing outside in the middle of our back garden at 2am telling the cat "come in - NOW!!". Yeah - sure. Pigs might fly. But they better do it quietly, because I'll be asleep.
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