Newsletter: November 2016

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Christmas / End-of-Year Get-together - Reminder

Please put in your diary Sunday 11 December 2016 at 12.30am at Manawatu Golf Club for this year’s Palmerston North Cat Club end-of-year get-together.

This event is a great chance to all our club members and their families to get together outside the show season and the committee would love to see you there. Please RSVP to Emma by 7th December.

- Date: Sunday 11, December 2016
- Place: Manawatu Golf Club, 19 Centennial Drive, Palmerston North
- Time: 12.30pm
- RSVP: by 7th December 2016 to Emma Kimberley, pncc.secretary@gmail.com
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Membership

Subs for your club membership are due on 1st January 2017.  After 1st February 2017 those who have not paid their subs will be removed from the list of financial members.

- Full Membership
Single $15.00 / Double $25.00 / Triple $35.00

- Associate Membership
Single $15.00 / Double $25.00 / Junior $5.00

- Family Membership
Mixed membership (full for adults, associate for juniors) $25

Please make cheques payable to ‘Palmerston North Cat Club Inc’.

The club account number for online payment is 02-0630-0172405-000.  It is important to include a reference when making your payment (your surname at the very least) and to follow it up with an email to the club secretary.
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Privacy - Reminder

As a club affiliated with the NZCF we may send our membership list to the EC Secretary so that she can confirm the people renewing or applying for prefixes are financial members of an affiliated club.  It is important that our club members are aware that this is part of renewing their membership with the Palmerston North Cat Club Inc.

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New Members

Palmerston North Cat Club welcomes two new members:
•    Trish Scofield from Masterton
•    Judy Formby (FLURMONZ) from Cambridge
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Member Profile

To enable us to all know a little more about our fellow club members I’ve asked people if they would supply a profile of themselves.  It’s a no-guidelines, free-form sort of exercise, and club president Denise Grace’s profile has arrived to lead us off. 

- Denise Grace
I grew up on a dairy farm so always had pet lambs and calves as well as the obligatory farm and house cats - all moggies. That included a very special short-haired ginger moggy that used to allow himself to be dressed in dolls' clothes and wheeled around in the doll's pram. He always slept with me, including one time when I was sick in bed and the doctor was called (yes, doctors did house calls in those days!). Said doctor was somewhat surprised when he pulled back the bedclothes to check my chest and a furry ginger head popped out! As I got older a pony and then horses joined the menagerie but there were always cats in my life. I always wanted a pet dog but, as in most farming families then, dogs were farm animals and were there to work not to be made pets.

Denise stewarding at the Pet Expo in 2013

Married life started with the addition of two moggie cats and yes, one was ginger and then, not long after our first child was born, I finally got my first pet dog, a pure bred Rough Coated (Lassie) Collie and this was the start of my love affair with Collies. A couple of years after that I obtained a female pedigree Collie with the intention of breeding and in 1975/76, whilst living in the UK, I purchased a Tricolour male and later a Sable and White male which both travelled back to New Zealand with us. This was the beginning of almost 25 years of very successful Collie breeding and showing which included All Breeds Best in Show and Specialist Best in Show winners. Soon after returning to New Zealand in 1976 I joined the Dominion Collie Club and within six months became Secretary of that Club. After serving for several years as Secretary I became President of the Club and over the years was also Secretary/Treasurer of the Central Districts Working Dog Club and Secretary of the Horowhenua Kennel Association. I began my training as a dog judge in 1990 and, starting as a specialist Collie judge, gradually worked my way up the ladder to the stage at which I was (and am) qualified to judge All Breeds of dogs at Open Show level and all breeds in the Toy, Gundog, Hound, and Working Dog Groups at Championship Show level. This includes a total of 100 different breeds at Championship level. I bred my last litter of Collies in 2000 which was the year that I got my first Pedigree cat - a bluepoint Ragdoll.

Denise handling at Central Districts show in 2015
(Photo: Diane Gaskin)

By this time I had decided that I would like to try my hand at showing cats and, not long after ‘Merlin’ joined the family, I also joined the Palmerston North Cat Club and it wasn't long before I was also persuaded to join the committee of the Club. Merlin didn't really enjoy cat shows - but I did, so I decided that I would like to try breeding Ragdolls. This I did very successfully for several years and I am very proud to have bred the Longhair Entire Cat of the Year in the 2006 NZCF Annual Awards: Gld Db Gr Ch Jaymlyndols Aztec's Return (later also taken to the title of Gld Db Gr Pr by his current owner, Karen Grantley and family). Whilst breeding and showing the Ragdolls I learnt about Norwegian Forest Cats and, after meeting some during a judging trip to Australia, I embarked on importing and subsequently breeding these magnificent cats which, I have to say, really are the love of my life!

Denise and Kristoff at Porirua Pet Expo 2016

Since joining the committee of the Palmerston North Cat Club in 2000 I have been a member continuously except for a short break of four months from October 2012. Prior to that I had served for several years as Vice-President to two different Presidents until I was elected to the position of President in 2012. Following the aforementioned four month break from the committee from October 2012, I returned to the committee in February 2013 and was again elected to the position of President at a Special General Meeting held in July 2013. I have held the position continuously since then. Besides my involvement with the Palmerston North Cat Club, I am also a New Zealand Cat Fancy qualified Steward and Handler and enjoy stewarding for other Clubs at most of the shows I attend. To finish on what I think is a somewhat humorous note: looking back at a time when I had ‘a lot’ of Collies, two children, two moggy cats and was working full time, I can distinctly remember one evening when I had arrived home from work and was rushing to get dinner, see to children, feed dogs etc. and two cats were also wanting to be fed - they were told “you'll have to wait, I'm the dog person not the cat person”! At that time, I never imagined that I could enjoy cats as much and derive as much pleasure from them as I do.
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Committee Meeting – 17th November 2016

The November committee meeting was held on 17th November and held at Not Now James (opposite the hospital on Ruahine Street).  Ten committee members were present with vice-president Paul Holden taking the chair.

- 2017 Show

• The judging contracts for the 2017 are almost finalised (most with the Judges PM for approval).  Due to a change in circumstances a replacement judge has had to be selected it is hoped this will be settled in the near future.
• ProPlan have confirmed that they will sponsor the show.
• Sponsorship packages for rosettes are in the process of being organised and sponsors will be invited shortly.
• With the major sponsor confirmed the 2017 show webpage can be started.

- Fundraising

• The committee is hoping to another ‘high tea’ fund-raiser which was enjoyed by those who attended earlier this year.  Details will be advised.

- Miscellaneous

• The committee is following up with the Shows PM about the Palmerston North Cat Club remit to the last AGM (re: additional titles after Gold).

- Next Meeting: Thursday, 15 December 2016
-- Time: 7.30pm
-- Location: Not Now James, Ruahine Street, Palmerston North

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Fundraising – Cash Raffle

Raffle tickets have been produced and distributed amongst committee members.

Prizes: 1st $300 / 2nd $150 / 3rd $50

$5 per ticket or $25 for a book of 5 tickets. Please contact any committee member if you would like to purchase tickets or could sell some for the Club. This is to raise funds towards next year's show so any help with this would be much appreciated.
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The Stay-At-Homes

- Not a Show Pony – The Grantley Family’s Balou

In November 2015 we received sad news. Rosie’s cat we had rehomed met with a tragic accident and passed away. It was a terrible shock. Rosie took the news badly.

In mid-December, Balou crossed our path as an abused and unwanted adoptee. He had been on the run, but was found dumped in a box outside a store in Hamilton. Balou is about 3 years young, and probably one of the quirkiest cats we own - we've owned a few. ☺  Something special about him reminded Rosie of Jasper, so we made an 11 hour return trip to bring him home.

Balou isn’t a show pony. If he was, he would be classified as a shorthair Domestic. He is passionate about food, and could never go without a meal for the sake of a day at a cat show. (He gets "hangry" waiting for dinner to be served. A judge would probably end up on the receiving end of that - not show temperament for a Domestic). If we did show him, his show name should probably be "Hit n Run". ☺ For all that, he is all noise and a bit of a pussy.

Perhaps from being dumped in the box Balou is terrified of enclosed cat carriers. We have discovered old abuse injuries that include holes in his ribs, and a lower back injury. A few days before collecting Balou we received a call to say the collar he had been wearing got caught up while he was outdoors. He had strangled himself. In his struggle to break free he had sustained a deep gash to his neck and hair ripped from his skin where his collar had been. Despite that, he made it home alive.

A vet check found Balou had other health issues, indicating we needed to consider palliative care. Through this, his life may not be a long one. With nothing to lose, we decided to pursue homeopathic treatments. A year on Balou is healthy, and still with us. We love showing cats. Balou is beautiful. But sometimes there are cats who come to you to seek refuge and healing. Balou is one of those. He will never be shown. Every now and then when he's cuddled up tightly and purring, he looks intensely into our eyes and gently places a paw on our cheek. In his world, he is home.
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History Notes – 1976

Included because I like looking at the photos of winning cats from 40 years ago.  This is from New Zealand Cats for July/August 1976 and the full title (which is spread across two pages) is ‘Major Winners at the 13th National’.

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