Hi all,

I went to my first cat show (Dundee) yesterday.

It was very very interesting. I learned a lot and also started to form my own opinions re what I like in a Bengal. I was on the money and "picked" winners, which is encouraging as I now know that I am not too incorrect re what a Bengal should look like. This is important for me if I am going to breed.

There were some lovely bengals there. I saw glitter for the first time - stunning. And I also saw an amazing marbled bengal. There were a couple of beautiful snow kittens that looked as edible as chocolate or cafe lattes. Photos on the net obviously don't do justice to any of these coat patterns.

I went with a friend who was showing a Devon Rex kitten. Very sweet cats but a bit of a shock on the eye at first. Definately an acquired taste, but I kind of get it.

What blew me away, apart from the bengals, were the Maine Coons and Norwegian Forest Cats. Really beautiful, yet "normal" looking. As in, you could imagine them on a farm yard but very special. The MCs were heeeuge and the NFs had lovely faces. I hovered like a shy stalker at the cages, desperate to stroke them

It was exhausting though. I was up at 4 to organise the girls and leave at 5.30. We got home at about 9 at night. There was a lot of hanging about and the hall was very hot.

A couple of the cats were unhappy and I think if mine reacted like that I wouldn't bother showing them again. I get the feeling that thier owners were probably concluding the same thing. Most of the cats seemed pretty content though - all the bengals were calm which surprised me as I though they had a terrible rep at shows?

Before yesterday, I had no interest whatever in showing but I definately want to show one of our kittens - if only in assesment, to see how we are doing. If the worst happens and the kitten hates it we can just withdraw and go home.

Another thing that is nice about the show is the pride that everyone has of thier cats - evan the frikky-dikky weird breeds

I guess most of you guys are pretty seasoned re this but if any of you haven't been to a show this is to let you know that you definately should. Very worth it.

sorry missed this one somehow!

Glad you liked your first show......showing can get addictive.....beware.....its a slippery slope!

And your right on the button about marbles.....you need to see them in the fur/flesh to fully appreciate their beauty, their markings can be breathtaking.

Its also nice to hear the bengals kept the noise down......although just you wait until you see a ring full of bengal studs swearing random insults at each other.....you can almost taste the threats being hurled across the ring.

you'll always see a good selection of different breeds at the bigger shows, but for me it's bengals all the way....we have some great stickers that we get from a lovely lady in the u.s, we put them in our kittens packs and also put them on all our cat carriers.....they sum it up purrfectly!




We've had a few funny looks at the shows when people see them on our carriers......but who cares....it's a fact of life!

Love the sticker - where do you get them from?

Sorry about the delay in replying I've just been SOOO busy.

So you went to your first cat show...Aren't they just great? I take it you didn't show yourself this time round. We love showing, I think it's the best way for novices to really appreciate the good and bad points of the breed.

Do you get many shows in Scotland? I know most of our shows are down South (England), which can be frustrating as we are up North. There's a great 2-day show coming up in Blackpool in August and we're really looking forward to it. Its a TICA show (not GCCF) so all Bengals (Brown/snow/silver/spotted/marble) can compete for championship status. Let me know if you're interested and I'll pass on the details. If you enjoyed the GCCF show you're gonna LOVE the TICA shows

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Heidi