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Just 2 weeks after the Indonesia show, Cat Friends of Asia-II Show was held on 14th December at Amcorp Mall, Petaling Jaya. This 4-ring show was organized by Astaka Management and I was the Assistant Show Manager. The judges that we had invited were Cheryl Pollock from Australia, Bob Zenda, Jan Rogers and Wain Harding where all three of them were from the US. Intially, we had invited Pam Delabar, the President of CFA but she had cancelled her judging contract just 3 weeks before show day. This had upset my entire working committee and not forgetting the amount of money that had spent but instead of crying over spilt (bad) milk, we were very fortunate that we able to find a replacement judge in such a short notice and many thanks to Cheryl Pollock to able to make it in our show and having her is certainly fun. For your info, Cheryl Pollock had judged in Malaysia in 2006 during the MiCatz show held in Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur.

Perhaps let me take the liberty to say this but in my opinion, as a responsible judge, he/she should not (and will not) burden a club in any way especially when it concerns monetary when they were invited to judge. It is certainly not easy for most cat clubs to raise funds to run a cat show especially an International shows. I’d observed that some judges had their own preferred airlines so that they can accumulate that extra flyer points but that is still ok as long as it doesn’t burden the club. I had also noticed that there were some had refused to fly with other than their own preferred airline although there is a cheaper alternative.

To clubs, just bare this in mind that you are paying for a judge for 1 sole purpose which is to judge. You are hiring them to perform a task and not paying for their expensive fares and wine and dine luxuriously with them. As long as the judges were provided with a reasonable place to stay with all the basic necessities, that is all that matters (read and understand CFA Show Rule : Article 26 - Judging Fees and Expenses and that is all you need to do!!) and please remember to have all written contracts what is covered and what is not during the duration of their stay to avoid any miscommunication or misunderstanding.

Anyway, back to the show, I must congratulate Puan Zamina Zainal Ariffin for being the most magnificent Show Manager I had ever work with. I must admit that there were some obstacles running this show but at the end, through her leadership and experience, we managed to run it smoothly (with some manageable minor hiccups). She did not dictate the committee and had specifically identified what roles or task each of her committee members need to do for the success of the show.

Besides being the Assistant Show Manager, I was also the CFA Ambassador manning the Ambassador booth, emcee and announcer for the show as well as coordinating with our sponsor, Royal Canin. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Royal Canin and Embellie Maine Coons Sdn Bhd for their sponsorship.

In this round, I showed my lil girl, Yelena, a brown mackerel tabby and white cat in the Household Pet category. This is Yelena’s very first time participating in a cat competition and I certainly impressed with her show temperament.

Above: Jan Rogers called upon all owners and had a short interview with them. Here am I being asked to tell the history of Yelena. Yelena’s previous owner had abandoned her when she decided to move to another location and I decided to take her in.

Above: Yelena got 6th Best Household Pet in Jan Roger’s ring

Above: Yelena got Best Household Pet in Wain Harding’s ring

Above: Yelena got 3rd Best Household Pet in Cheryl Pollock’s ring

Above: ‘Oooo look at her white furry tummy.’ said Bob Zenda. Yelena got Best Household Pet in his ring

For more details, please visit Cat Friends of Asia Show website.