Top cats

Adam Hewitt • Published 11 Mar 2010 10:00 0 Comments

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An old Squeeze

PURRFECTLY-GROOMED cats had something to miaow about as they showed off their good breeding.

Nearly 60 cats strutted their stuff at the 10th championship cat show of the Longhair Cream and Blue-Cream Cat Association, at the Scout HQ in Loddon Hall Road, Twyford, on Saturday. Almost all had travelled many miles to be there, some from as far as West Yorkshire, Plymouth and South Wales.

Mollie Hawke, who lives near Eastbourne, East Sussex, has been breeding cats for 42 years and now owns 10 Persian breed felines. On Saturday she was showing Jemima, a blue-cream Persian.

She said: "She's done really quite well, she's won Best of Breed and the Challenge Certificate. It's an awful lot of hard work, it's four hours of preparation before you get to the show, bathing and grooming, and another hour once you get here. We must be mad!"

Anna McEntee, 33, from Cambridgeshire, was showing her exotic short-breed Persian, three-and-a-half year old Indy. He was looking suitably regal, having become an Imperial Grand Premier champion - one of the top honours in the world of cat showing.

"It's always nice to come to a show, you meet a lot of people and make friends you only see at shows. You have to keep the cats groomed well all the time and make sure they are bathed and blow-dried."

For Saturday's show the longhair association was joined by another cat club, catering for white, black, red and tortoiseshell Persian and Exotic breed cats.

Chairwoman Kim Board-Allam, from Twyford, said: "Both clubs are only small, specialising in a select number of colours; both hold a small niche in the cat fancy, but we are a friendly club and exhibitors and the public always enjoy themselves on the day.

"The breeds that both clubs cater for are very striking with their long-flowing, beautifully coloured coats and their stunningly beautiful large, round copper eyes. In the case of the Whites, some will have blue eyes and some even have one orange and one blue."

For more details on the club, visit: www.longhaircat.org.uk

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