New Cats On The Blog

... your One-Stop about the happenings in Asian cat fancy

Most definitely not!!

But agility in cats?

Why not? Since dog can do agility contests or shows why not cats? Cats may not be as easily trained like dogs but with patience and regular exercises, they can perform as outstanding as a regular agility dog (if not better). Agility ring in Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) is differ from the regular cat judging ring in several ways:

1. The cat can be a household pet (HHP) which must be spayed or neutered if he/she is 8 months and above in age.
2. The cat can be a registered cat breed but must not be of wild ancestry
3. Cats with kinks in tail, crossed eyes or other kind of faults are welcome to join CFA Agility Contest

Therefore, a cat with the ability to run the course and eagerness to try all that counts in CFA Agility. One thing so special about CFA Agility is that it accepts cats from all walks of life: being the favourite pet, the kitty living in a shelter (temporarily, I hope) or the top confirmation show call; all are equal in CFA Agility Contest.

The agility course is set up with a combination of stairs, jumps, tunnels, hoops and weave poles. Each cat enters through the gate and is given a little time to get comfortable with the surroundings. Some may enter ready to run the course, but they will be the veterans, most likely. When he is comfortable (note the tail coming up), the cat is led through the course of obstacles by the Handler (the cat owner) using a toy as a lure. The Handler should not touch the cat with hands, but may encourage him with the toy.

From the first paw touching the stairs until the last obstacle is completed, the time is kept on a stopwatch by the Ringmaster. The score is based on the number of obstacles completed. If the cat completes all obstacles bonus points are given for seconds under the maximum time of 4 minutes 30 seconds.

I am happy to announce that for the CFA International Division (Asia/Latin-America), I am one of the 2 certified Ringmaster to conduct CFA Agility Show. CFA clubs in the International Division (Asia/Latin-America) that would love to learn more about CFA Agility or having CFA Agility Show, please do not hesitate to contact me at horatio168@gmail.com

And finally, a video presentation on how does CFA Cat Agility Show looks like…

The Hong Kong Cat Lovers’ Society (HKCLS) had hold a CFA cat show at the Hong Kong International Trade & Exhibition Centre (HITEC) on April 14th & 15th, 2007. It is their 11th Championship show and for this time, there were 6 All Breed Judges came from USA & Japan. The judges were:-

Ring 1 - Judge Kenji Takano
Ring 2 - Judge Charles Gradowski
Ring 3 - Judge Jan Rogers
Ring 4 - Judge Yaeko Takano
Ring 5 - Judge Midori Shimada
Ring 6 - Judge Richard Hoskinson

I always looking forward to visit Hong Kong and since CFA show calendar ends at the end of April, this is 1 show that I would not want to miss since many cats that had been competiting for 1 whole show calendar year to accumulate points to acheive various titles such as Division Winner (DW), Regional Winner (RW) or even National Winner (NW)

There were approximately 400 cats competing in this show and I was lucky to have the oppurtunity to see some cat breeds that was not available in Malaysia such as American Wirehair, Silkirk Rex (Longhair & Shorthair), Chartreux, Russian Blue, Silver Tabby Maine Coon and also a good quality Somali.

I arrived at Hong Kong International Aitport via Malaysia Airlines couple of days before the show and have the oppurtunity to see how cats from abroad being handled and rabies shot were given as per standard requirement by Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD)

HITEC was located approximately 15minutes from the hotel we stayed at Nathan Road, Kowloon

Above: The venue

Some cats featured in the competition

British Shorthair

Silkirk Rex

American Shorthair

Russian Blue

American Curls

Somali

Brown Tabby Brown Tabby Maine Coons

Silver Maine Coon

Above: Some random judging clips that I took (approx 60MB file!!)

Ring 1 All Breed Judge Kenji Takano


Below: Kenji Takano doing his Championship Final

Ring 2 All Breed Judge Charles Gradowski

Below: Charles Gradowski doing his Championship Final

Ring 3 All Breed Judge Jan Rogers


Below: Jan Rogers doing her Kitten Final

Ring 4 All Breed Judge Yaeko Takano

Ring 5 All Breed Judge Midori Shimada

Below: Midori Shimada doing her Kitten Final

Ring 6 All Breed Judge Richard Hoskinson


Below: Richard Hoskinson doing his Kitten Final

Above: Highest accumlated points for Longhair cat in Championship Class won by a solid white male Persian, Melositos White Owl of E’Den Lover

Above: Highest accumlated points for Longhair cat in Premiership Class won by a Brown Tabby & White Exotic, Dega Bulu’s Toula

Above: Highest accumlated points for Longhair cat in Kitten Class won by a Brown Tabby & White Exotic, Bigi’s Kiss of Cupid

Above: Group photo for highest accumlated points in Longhair cats category

Above: Highest accumlated points for Shorthair cats in Championship Class won by a British Shorthair, Autumnleaf Amadeaus

Above: Highest accumlated points for Shorthair cats in Premiership Class won by a Russian Blue, Tsar Blu’s Tsar Trekker

Above: Highest accumlated points for Shorthair cats in Kitten Class won by a American Wirehair, YatFung’s Wanna Be A Queen!!

Above: Group photo for highest accumlated points in Shorthair cats category

For more pictures, tune in to Horatio Cat Shows Visit

Dearest Friends of SPCA,

We hope this e-mail finds you well and happy !

Just a little note to inform you that BSC has generously given us the opportunity to set up our Adoption Fest booth at their new weekend community market, Marketplace ! We will be there every other weekend (starting from the 7th & 8th April) this year, from 10am-6pm each day. Our main aim is to find permanent, loving homes for more of our shelter animals, who wait patiently with the hope that one day they will get a second chance at life. We also want to create more awareness about SPCA and its services, while raising funds through merchandise sales.

April Dates :
7th & 8th April
21st & 22nd April

Time :
10am - 6pm
(Shifts : 9.30am-2pm / 2pm-6pm)

Duties :
Adoption Counselling
Cleaning & Feeding Animals
Merchandise Sales
Handing out leaflets
Answering Enquiries (on SPCA, pet care, etc)

If you think you can help out at the booth, please do send me a mail at jacinta.spca@gmail.com so I can put your name down on our volunteer schedule for Apil. Our Volunteer Coordinator Louise will be back soon, and you can contact her to sign up as a volunteer for the following weekends in May !

Thanks & have a pleasant day !

Regards,
Jacinta Johnson
PR & Marketing Officer
SPCA Selangor
42565312/ 42535179
spca@streamyx.com
www.spca.org.my

I got this ‘buzz’ from Katz Tales, a regular contributor of my blog and also to the Star paper on cats.

Katz Tales said: “Horatio, I’m having a problem accessing your comment box. As you can see, the top 3 didn’t show for days, then all appeared together. Sorry for the spam look and feel. Now, you’ve been tagged! Your turn to come up with 5 Reasons Why We Blog (you can blame at Sharlene and her Spice Cats who started this meme!)”

I had been busy, mostly due to work and in the cat fancy. (Yup! I am still active in the cat fancy world and there will be something to be announce later…)

Ok, back to the tag, ‘5 Reasons Why I Blog‘ huh…

1. Bringing the public’s attention especially Malaysians (and also other ASEAN countries) regarding cat shows held in Malaysia
2. A one stop information about cats; how to take care of them etc
3. To educate the public on how to select a Reputable Breeder against Backyard Breeder (more updates on this soon!)
4. Share my cats’ pictures to the world
5. Educating the public on protecting the welfare of cats and never treat them as a Thing or Comodity but treating them as how you wanted to be treated.