Saturday saw us heading down to Reading for the Southern Counties Cat Show to try and get Lexi her 2nd merit. Not only did she get it with a glowing report from the judge, she won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
s in her three side classes.
Lexi’s mum, Thickthorn Meadowsaffron, won her Imperial Grand Champion Class, the first entire Ocicat to win that accolade - well done Saffi!
Saturday was an important day for the Ocicat Classic. It was the first show in which the new breed could be entered. We took Lexi and Uno along and they, together with Ameeka’s Thickthorn Calypso (Jazzy, the first Classic to be registered for breeding) gained their first merit certificates with glowing judges reports.
Lexi seemed a bit put out not to have her usual double-sized exhibition pen with the nice curtains to hide behind. She’d only been in her pen for a minute when she decided to squeeze under the water dish that we’d hung on the side and tip it all over her back and bedding! Then, later, when we’d put food down for them after the judging, Uno decided to bury his lunch with the cat litter. He has a habit of scratching the floor around his food, to hide and save a bit for later. Normally the cat litter is on the other side of the room at home though and he looked a bit flummoxed when he’d actually been successful in burying it! He looked at us as if to say, ‘how do I eat that now?’ So, they’d both managed to make a nice mess of their pens 
We need six individual Ocicat Classics to each gain four merits before we can go on to the next stage an
d then finally attain championship status. We also entered Foreign breed side classes and Uno got two seconds and a first, as did Jazzy. Lexi got a second, third and fifth. They were big classes though! It was a fantastic start to the breed’s showing career and the judges all seemed very impressed with the beautiful tabby pattern on the sleek, muscular Ocicat, saying what a lovely combination it was and how good it was to finally see them on the show bench. Onwards and upwards!
The GCCF has granted Preliminary Recognition to the Ocicat Classic breed with immediate effect, at the Council meeting on 29th October 2008. This means we can now show our beautiful Lexi instead of just putting her on exhibition. The first show we’re eligible to enter is The Shorthair cat Society on the 10th January 2009, which luckily is little over an hour from here, so a nice one to get to. We’re hoping there’ll be lots of Classics there, including Lexi’s very handsome sons Ossie (Pardalis Kanati, now owned by Gill Toosey) and our own Uno.
Last Saturday saw the 3rd annual Ocicat Championship Show. This year it was twinned with the Tabby Cat Club in a lovely hall in beautiful Alcester, Warwickshire. We took Lexi on exhibition and put her son, Uno, in with her for company. They both spent most of the time hiding behind the curtain! We also took our moggy, Kolo, for his first ever show at the grand old age of 5 or 6 (we’re never sure as he was a rescue cat). 
He wasn’t impressed at being kept in the night before so we could ensure he’d be around when we wanted to leave at some silly hour soon after dawn. He settled in his pen without any complaint when we got there but refused to
eat or use the litter tray in protest! We’ve always known he’s a gorgeous looking cat with a rich coloured coat and beautiful temperament, now we know the judges agree with us :-)) He won all his classes and got the ultimate accolade of Best Household Pet. As soon as he was transferred to his plush winner’s pen with it’s black interior and gold curtains he looked very smug and much more comfortable!
Also at their first shows were three of Lexi’s other kittens. Lorraine and her family brought Florence (Pardalis Genesis), a beautiful chocolate kitten, and Gillian brought Ossie (Pardalis Kanati) a very handsome Classic patterned boy, and very cute Selu (Pardalis Selu). It was lovely for us to have our prefix represented for the first time and we’re very grateful to Lorraine and Gillian for taking the time (not to mention the expense!) to bring them to show. They all did really well, with Florence winning her Open Class 
and Best of Breed and 2 of her 3 side classes, then going on to earn the title of Best Female Kitten and her place on winner’s row. Selu was just pipped to the post in the
Open by her sister but gained 1st, 2nds and 3rds in her side classes. Ossie was in the new Ocipet classes as, being a Classic, he can’t be shown with the spotted Ocicats. We should hear this month whether the separate breed of Ocicat Classic has been accepted and can be shown in its own right in preliminary classes very soon. Ossie won all his classes and had his pride of place next to Kolo’s pen also on winner’s row as Best Overall Exhibit. All in all a very successful day!!
This one was in Stevenage so a nice, reasonably close one for us. Fizz got a 2nd in the Open and a 1st and a 3rd in her side classes. 
She was very grumpy and didn’t seem to enjoy the show which must have effected the judging which is such a shame as she’s a real sweety at home. Lexi, on the other hand, was in her element, much more relaxed than in previous shows, due in some part to the lack of loud tannoys
this time and the fact that she was calling 
All those nice male cat smells ….. mmmmm….. After the show Lexi was taken to visit her stud, so fingers crossed for the pitter patter of tiny paws at the beginning of June!
We took Fizz and Lexi to their second show on Saturday. Only an hour’s drive away and they sang a duet the whole way there and back again! Must remember to take the earplugs next time! Have to say I didn’t expect Fizz to come away with any great prizes, she got some 2nds last time but this time she was up against one of Rosemary’s kittens and was only entered into 2 miscellaneous classes instead of 3 because of an admin error (mine!).
As the judging was about finished we were allowed to come back into the hall to the trade stands but not back to our cats just yet. Graham peered over to where Fizz’s pen was and declared she had a red rosette pinned to it. Nah, don’t be silly…….we counted the pens down 3, 4 times, but yes, it certainly looked like it was on her pen. 
I didn’t get my hopes up until I stood in front of her where she sat with a ‘didn’t think I could do it, did you?’ look on her face. She got her first Open Class win and best of breed and also a win in one of her side classes.
She’s still quite small for her age, though I don’t know why, she certainly eats enough! We know she’ll catch up though as her parents and grandparents are all lovely big cats. I’ve been reading lately that smaller cats can have easier births and good sized kittens so it’s probably not a bad thing! So, now we’ve got big hopes for getting her at least to Champion stage as an adult, thoughmight not manage it before she has her first litter.
Lexi was much admired, again, lots of nice comments about her. She disappeared behind her pen curtains every time someone boomed into the tannoy system but lapped up the attention the rest of the time
This was our first show. We’d entered Fizz and took Lexi along on exhibition to show off her beautiful pattern to her adoring public We got there nice and early and it was well organised. Even at that unearthly hour there was a queue for the vetting in. That went smoothly even though the vet mistook them for Bengals! Fizz was easy to settle, just the standard white exhibition stuff of blanket and bowls and in she went. She gobbled her breakfast down which was nice to see, she obviously wasn’t too bothered about being in a strange place. She endorsed that by visiting the litter tray twice then curling up for a wash and a sleep! Happy that she was content we set about decorating Lexi’s pen with the drapes. Lexi wasn’t so amused with her new quarters and paced up and down and ignored our pleas to eat her breakfast. 
We took them both in and out for cuddles and reassurance before we had to leave the hall so the judging could start. Fizz did pretty well, gaining 2nds in 3 out of 4 of her classes. In 2 of them she was beaten by Lexi’s litter sister so we can forgive that Fizz has still got some maturing to do so we’re sure she’ll do well in the future. There was a great deal of interest in the Classic pattern with lots of lovely comments about Lexi’s colour and pattern. Now and again I had to remind her that she was on exhibition and wasn’t allowed to hide under blanket and she came out with an inquisitive ‘what do you want this time?’ look on her face every time I called her out from hiding, she was very good natured about it all. It was a long and tiring day but very enjoyable and we’re looking forward to the next time!
Last Saturday was the cat world’s equivalent of Crufts at the Birmingham NEC. An expensive day out by the time you’ve bought entry tickets and paid the extortionate £8 to park but a very enjoyable show.
Ocicats on show as exhibition only were Tia, a chocolate, (Fizz’s mum) and Jazzy, a chocolate Classic pattern. Stacie Shorten (Ameeka Cats) had put them in the same pen to show the two very different patterns that exist within the Ocicat breed. The pen constantly had people oohing and aahing at them, many who’d never come across an Ocicat before. One overheard comment was how they were the best looking cats in the show, one I couldn’t agree with more, but then I am biased! Stupidly I’d forgotten to recharge the battery in my camera so unfortunately no photo to share here.
Unfortunately there were only two other Ocicats in the show, one was our Fizz’s dad who made Grand Champion that day. Congrats Skipper! Our two have now got one Champion and two Grand champions in their parentage.
We went to the Ocicat club show today. Often at the GCCF shows you can count the number of Ocicats being shown on one hand so it was nice to see a few more at a show dedicated to the breed. It was a much smaller show than others we’d been to of course but that made it friendlier and it was lovely to meet a few more breeders and catch up with some we already knew. Stacie (Ameeka) was exhibiting her classic patterned Jazzy and got some nice positive comments from the judges. Can’t wait to start exhibiting Lexi now!