January 2008 Newsletter - United Burmese Cat Fanciers

When Was Your Last Cat Show? By Kristi Graafmans
What are some of the reasons that you find to not attend
cat shows? There must be quite a few rationales, as I have
not seen many of the 50 plus UBCF members at a cat show.
I can give a host of wonderful reasons to attend but today
I will stick with one. I find it is nice to get out of the house
on the weekends and meet new friends and old. Sometimes
I get surprised and see a Burmese breeder that I have not
met before. And I always have a great time getting to know
new exhibitors and breeders. Let me relate a recent experience
I had to you.
Art and I have a sable female kitten named Maya that
was 6 months old in August and she did really well at a
local campaigner’s show. With only 2 months left to show
our kitten, we decided that we would need to travel if we
were to have a chance at a regional win with Maya. On one
of the weekends where there was no Region 5 show I found
a show in Minnesota with a good judge line up for us – so
off I went with Maya in tow.
The last time I showed in the mid-west was 2 years ago.
I went with a Grand Premier and I was the only American
Burmese at the show. I was sort of expecting the same this
time. I eagerly checked the show catalog once I got my
benching set up and saw that I had competition. There were
2 other sable Burmese kittens entered in the show. It did
not take long and we Burmese breeders found each other
and began to ooooh and aaaah over each other’s kittens and
cats.
Brian Tripp was showing a 5-month-old sable male
kitten and a sable spay Premier and he was there with 3
GC De Bears Maya
of his protégés. I had heard of Brian but had never met
him personally. Brian was nice and a little upset that the
show did not bench the Burmese people all together. I was
benched quite a ways away from Brian’s group.
Brian introduced me to his friends which included a
nice couple, Mike and Lauri Henry. This was their first cat
show and they were showing their four-month-old sable
female kitten named Phoebe. When I saw the other 2 Burmese
kittens I thought --- oh boy, I’ve come a long way for
nothing!
We all went up to our first ring together and Maya made
BOB. Brian, Lauri and Mike congratulated me and told me
how much they liked Maya. Maya ended up making BOB
in all the rings and made all 6 finals. And behind me my
new Burmese friends cheered for Maya. The two Burmese
Premiers, between them made 4 finals.
We exchanged names and emails to keep in touch. We
shared stories and show experiences. Mike and Lauri’s kitten
Phoebe was extremely nice but she was just 4 months
old. I told them how Maya did not hit her show stride until
she was 6 months old. Burmese often need time to mature
especially when they are 4 months old and up against other
breeds that are 7 months old.
This show turned out to be more than kind to our Burmese
kitties and I was glad that the new breeders enjoyed
being at their first show.
Mike and Lauri’s kitten Phoebe is now 6 months old and
they are ready to take her out again. I wish them luck with
Phoebe and will cheer them on from Region 5. I hope to
see them in Southern California with their beautiful kitten.
Region 5 has many shows that I would highly recommend.
I would love to see more of this kind of camaraderie by
seeing more of you out at cat shows.
More good reasons to go to a cat show: educate your
eye – keep cattery blindness at bay, keep in touch with
other Burmese breeders, become a certified clerk to build
relationships with judges, join a show producing club so
you get a chance to choose the judges that come to your
local show.
For future newsletters I would love to see a list, from
each of the regions, of judges that you find consistently use
or like Burmese. Have someone from each region identify
shows that are Burmese ‘worthy’ and invite fellow Burmese
breeders from other regions to attend. What interests you
and what would get you out to more cat shows?
I find that more doors open in CFA with participation
and one way is by being seen and being involved in showing
our beautiful Burmese cats.
Page 16 UBCF January 2008