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| Donna Fuller |
Thanks to the Show Committee and members of the Palmerston North Cat Club for the opportunity to judge at your 2015 show. This was an area of New Zealand that I had never visited so was all a new adventure. Special thanks to Emma Kimberley and Genevieve Rogerson who took such good care of me and squired me around plus took me to the bird sanctuary to see the white Kiwi as well as the other special New Zealand creatures. All together I had an interesting and rewarding visit. But above all, thanks for the opportunity to handle your wonderful cats.
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As I was not asked to do a Supreme ranking or otherwise combine the various groups, I will just comment on a few cats and kittens that I found especially memorable. Even though I can’t include every finalist, all of them were worthy and well-presented.
LONGHAIR ENTIRE CATS
My best in this category was a lovely orange-eyed white Persian female (#101) with a short cobby body, round head and large round eyes. This girl was beautifully groomed and conditioned and met the Persian standard to a T. Second was a seal bi-color Ragdoll male (#115) with wonderful bi-color markings, a well-muscled body and beautiful silky coat. Also of note were a seal-point Birman female (#107) with near perfect gloves and laces plus the breadth of head not common in a female, and a young brown tabby Exotic male (#105) with a wonderful plush coat and great head and eyes.
LONGHAIR ENTIRE KITTENS
This was one of my favorite groups in the show and included many memorable entries. My best was a black and white van Persian female (#202) with a short cobby body, fabulous coat and beautiful expression. A very close second was a precious little brown tabby Exotic female (#208) with great color as well as the round head and short body to go with it. I was also impressed with a brown tortie-tabby Maine Coon girl (#223) with body like a boy as well as a young blue bi-color Ragdoll female (#221) with beautiful markings and lovely coat.
LONGHAIR DESEXED CATS
A brown spotted tabby Exotic neuter (#308) took my first in this category with a wonderful coat texture, very muscular body and fabulous head-type. A blue and white bi-color Persian spay (#306) with tons of beautifully presented coat was my choice for second.
LONGHAIR DESEXED KITTENS
Although this was a small class, the quality was very evident in my choice for best – a tortie Persian (#401) with a beautiful head and short round body plus beautiful coat.
SHORTHAIR ENTIRE CATS
The Burmese breed excelled in this group taking Best - #507 chocolate female and 3rd Best - #506 chocolate male. Both of these entries had great feel to the body, even color and proper head-type and profile. Taking second was a blue British Shorthair (#503) with the wonderful coat density that I only find in Australia and New Zealand; I could have dug my fingers through that coat for hours!
SHORTHAIR ENTIRE KITTENS
My favorite kitten in the show was a black tortie silver tabby British Shorthair (#602). While I usually prefer my Brits in blue, I was really impressed with the coat texture on this little tabby girl. She also had a wonderful expression and overall was a great example of her breed. Second best was a lilac Burmese female (#605) with beautiful color and coat texture. Also of note were a lilac-point Siamese female (#601) with long tubular body and great refinement and a black shaded silver Burmilla male (#608) with very even coat color and wonderful eyes.
SHORTHAIR DESEXED CATS AND KITTENS
Once again I was able to revel in the depth of a proper Brit coat as British Shorthair neuter (#705) was my best desexed cat. He also had beautiful head-type and great eyes. Second cat was a chocolate tortie Burmese (#712) with a wonderful feel to the body and very pretty tortie pattern. A snow-seal Bengal neuter (#715) came in 3rd and was one of the prettiest of this color that I have judged. As there were only two desexed kittens, I rated the Burmilla (#802) best and the seal Burmese spay (#801) second.
COMPANIONS AND DOMESTICS
In this group, my favorite was clearly a LH Companion (#957) an absolutely wonderful seal-point Birman boy who would have been a winner in the regular classes but for his little white chin patch. He was a very happy cat and fun to judge. I was also impressed by a brown tabby and white Exotic-type boy (#980) who was quite roly-poly, and a sparkling white blue-eyed semi-longhaired neuter (#901). All of the cats in these groups were well presented and happy and fun to judge.
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Once again, I thank all of the breeders and show committee for making my Palmerston North show such a fun and rewarding day.
Donna Fuller
CFA Allbreeds judge
