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cimoreneAnubis has previously made an impression on judges at a few cat shows that our breeders took him to, so even though he doesn't like being shown they decided to try another one.
That's what we knew in advance of the cat show the weekend of April 1. Anubis is a huge handful of kitty and he can be quite resistant when he doesn't like things, but for the most part he isn't much of a fraidy cat. I mean he did run away from the bunnies when he first saw them, admittedly, but still, we weren't really expecting the full extent of how much he didn't like the cat show! Which we saw because I said I wanted to come to the cat show. I've never been to one before, and I was curious about what it's like.
I've never seen a dog show either, but I have seen animal judging for cows and rabbits in the 4H tents of an American state fair. The details are fuzzy now, but I saw a bunch of rabbit judgings - I guess a cousin or my aunt was helping in the tent? - and some judges examining some cows in our walks around the other tents, and I thought they were fascinating and funny, and I was looking forward to seeing the cat judges interacting with the cats. Sadly, the cat judges were mostly pretty silent, and when they did talk we couldn't hear them because the "hall" at the "conference center" in Turku is more akin to an aircraft hangar and it would've been impossible to hear anybody who wasn't practically yelling in your face with even a quarter as many people as were present. So that part wasn't that entertaining, but it was still interesting to see how it works and I really enjoyed seeing the huge variety of different cats up close - which is to say, in person, from a meter or so away; mostly you don't get to interact with them because of the noise and the crowds. So I wouldn't want to do it again, but it was a fun enough time.
As you can see above though, Anubis hated it, and that's almost an understatement. He was clearly way too overstimulated, perhaps by the crowds and noise, or perhaps by the strange animals - none close enough to touch, but of course he could see and hear and smell them. He didn't come out from under his blankie voluntarily the whole time, and had to be manually put into and taken out of the carrier for all the judgings. A friend of the breeders' who is a vet tech did the showing, and you see her holding him in the collage. He spent most of that time trying to hide, typically by crawling/burrowing into her shirt/under her boobs/behind her elbow, and his attempts to escape (and verbal complaints) were repeated. The judges were both very impressed by his other qualities and charmed by him; the first judge said right out that she would've nominated him to the judges' favorites round which leads to Best in Show except that it would obviously be so stressful for him.
This is likely to be his last show ordeal though. Anubis's mother, who was their bestest most beautiful and perfect queen, had to be fixed for her health after only one litter, all boys, and Anubis was the best of those, so they plan to find a few stud agreements for him in the hope of getting to keep a daughter, and ribbons and awards from cat shows look very good on his CV/dating profile so they could be valuable in making those arrangements. He's still not fully adult yet, so it's too early to make the agreements, and until there are a couple of litters he can't be fixed, and all the aggression problems we've been having with him are most likely related to the fact that he's not fixed yet, even though he is having his hormones suppressed by an implant. Perhaps not fully suppressed? There isn't as much data for the use of hormone suppressing implants in cats - they're usually used for dogs.
So after the show Anubis went home with the breeders for a little vacation - the agreement was two weeks, but they're keeping him a little longer because it's going well at their house (that is, he's fitting back in with the kitties he was raised with) and they hope to give him a little longer to forget whatever crazy/murderous ideas he's got about Tristana.
Also I apparently caught covid at the cat show - the first gathering with crowds either of us has attended without masks since 2019! But like I said, aircraft hangar, and obviously air-conditioned; I would've expected the ventilation to be good there, and although there were tons of people, we weren't forced into strangers' personal bubbles. But I got sick two days later, and Wax got sick two days after that, and we haven't fully recovered yet (Wax has maybe got a tiny bit of her sense of smell back but she's still got an unpleasant cough and a runny nose. I just have very irritated sinuses, not necessarily even sinus congestion. We're both back at work).
That's what we knew in advance of the cat show the weekend of April 1. Anubis is a huge handful of kitty and he can be quite resistant when he doesn't like things, but for the most part he isn't much of a fraidy cat. I mean he did run away from the bunnies when he first saw them, admittedly, but still, we weren't really expecting the full extent of how much he didn't like the cat show! Which we saw because I said I wanted to come to the cat show. I've never been to one before, and I was curious about what it's like.
I've never seen a dog show either, but I have seen animal judging for cows and rabbits in the 4H tents of an American state fair. The details are fuzzy now, but I saw a bunch of rabbit judgings - I guess a cousin or my aunt was helping in the tent? - and some judges examining some cows in our walks around the other tents, and I thought they were fascinating and funny, and I was looking forward to seeing the cat judges interacting with the cats. Sadly, the cat judges were mostly pretty silent, and when they did talk we couldn't hear them because the "hall" at the "conference center" in Turku is more akin to an aircraft hangar and it would've been impossible to hear anybody who wasn't practically yelling in your face with even a quarter as many people as were present. So that part wasn't that entertaining, but it was still interesting to see how it works and I really enjoyed seeing the huge variety of different cats up close - which is to say, in person, from a meter or so away; mostly you don't get to interact with them because of the noise and the crowds. So I wouldn't want to do it again, but it was a fun enough time.
As you can see above though, Anubis hated it, and that's almost an understatement. He was clearly way too overstimulated, perhaps by the crowds and noise, or perhaps by the strange animals - none close enough to touch, but of course he could see and hear and smell them. He didn't come out from under his blankie voluntarily the whole time, and had to be manually put into and taken out of the carrier for all the judgings. A friend of the breeders' who is a vet tech did the showing, and you see her holding him in the collage. He spent most of that time trying to hide, typically by crawling/burrowing into her shirt/under her boobs/behind her elbow, and his attempts to escape (and verbal complaints) were repeated. The judges were both very impressed by his other qualities and charmed by him; the first judge said right out that she would've nominated him to the judges' favorites round which leads to Best in Show except that it would obviously be so stressful for him.
This is likely to be his last show ordeal though. Anubis's mother, who was their bestest most beautiful and perfect queen, had to be fixed for her health after only one litter, all boys, and Anubis was the best of those, so they plan to find a few stud agreements for him in the hope of getting to keep a daughter, and ribbons and awards from cat shows look very good on his CV/dating profile so they could be valuable in making those arrangements. He's still not fully adult yet, so it's too early to make the agreements, and until there are a couple of litters he can't be fixed, and all the aggression problems we've been having with him are most likely related to the fact that he's not fixed yet, even though he is having his hormones suppressed by an implant. Perhaps not fully suppressed? There isn't as much data for the use of hormone suppressing implants in cats - they're usually used for dogs.
So after the show Anubis went home with the breeders for a little vacation - the agreement was two weeks, but they're keeping him a little longer because it's going well at their house (that is, he's fitting back in with the kitties he was raised with) and they hope to give him a little longer to forget whatever crazy/murderous ideas he's got about Tristana.
Also I apparently caught covid at the cat show - the first gathering with crowds either of us has attended without masks since 2019! But like I said, aircraft hangar, and obviously air-conditioned; I would've expected the ventilation to be good there, and although there were tons of people, we weren't forced into strangers' personal bubbles. But I got sick two days later, and Wax got sick two days after that, and we haven't fully recovered yet (Wax has maybe got a tiny bit of her sense of smell back but she's still got an unpleasant cough and a runny nose. I just have very irritated sinuses, not necessarily even sinus congestion. We're both back at work).
(no subject)
Date: 17 Apr 2023 04:35 pm (UTC)and then Anubis got you and Wax sick...
(no subject)
Date: 17 Apr 2023 04:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17 Apr 2023 08:44 pm (UTC)Hoping his vacation will mellow him out about Tristana.
Glad you are feeling better.
(no subject)
Date: 17 Apr 2023 09:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18 Apr 2023 03:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 24 Apr 2023 07:07 pm (UTC)