The largest cat show in the country, the Cape Town Christmas Cat Show, will be hosted on Saturday 22 November by the African Independent Cat Club (AICA) at the Bergsig Dutch Reformed Church in Boland Way in Durbanville from 09:00 to 16:00.
This 71st championship cat show and the last for the year will be presented in association with two other independent clubs, Oriental, Siamese and Related Breeds Group (OSRBG) and SA Cats.
More than 135 cats have been entered so far, including an interesting variety of breeds — from the largest Maine Coon, to the smallest Singapura.
Rarest breeds
The show will feature some of the rarest breeds, including the short-legged Munchkin, the hairless Sphynx, the Japanese Bobtail and one of the newest breeds, the Serengeti.
Some of the other well-known breeds on show will be Persians, British Shorthairs, Burmese, Siamese, Exotic Shorthairs, Bengals, Devon Rex, Abyssinians, Norwegian Forest Cats and many others.
The cats will be judged by 18 judges, including judges from Gauteng and Japan. Apart from Cape Town-based cats, some will travel from as far as Johannesburg to compete for the various titles and winning points towards qualifying for the annual invitational event “SA Indiecat”, where only the top cats compete to become Cat of the Year.
At this show there will also be a special opportunity to meet a real celebrity cat, who will be on exhibition. Grand Premier LesBeauxChats Rosemary — called Rosy at home and owned by Johan and Thea Lamprecht from Durbanville — is a 15-year-old Blue Calico Japanese Bobtail spayed female.
“She is special, not only because she is one of the last of her breed in the country, but also because of her excellent show condition, despite her advanced age. She recently beat several other cats at a show when she won the veteran class. This is the equivalent of a 76-year-old human model winning a beauty competition. Sadly, there are no longer breeders of this unique breed in South Africa,” Lamprecht , show manager and also an international all-breeds judge, says.
‘Good luck cat’
“Japanese Bobtails are common in Japan and can sometimes be considered to be street cats. They are relatively small cats with short, curly tails, forming a pom-pom. The legend is that these cats saved the Japanese silk industry, when they were set free by Emperor decree and got rid of the mice that were eating all the silkworms.
“From then they were seen as the ‘good luck cat’, as one would be assured of a successful silk harvest when one of these were sitting on your porch. This is the origin of the well-known Me-Ke cat ornament, with one paw in the air, seen in many Chinese and Japanese establishments. The popular ‘Hello Kitty’ was also based on the Japanese Bobtail,” Lamprechts explains.
“This celebrity’s appearance will probably be her last at a show, as she now deserves a graceful retirement at home, playing with her friends, controlling her humans and demanding snacks by being cute, sitting with the one paw up, just to show she is really a Japanese Bobtail,” he says.
Various stalls
All cat lovers are welcome to visit and see the large variety of pedigree and non-pedigree cats and kittens. There will also be various stalls, with lots of Christmas and cat-related merchandise. One of the features of the show is the competition for best-decorated cage according to the theme “Cape Town Christmas”.
Entrance is R30 for adults, R10 for pensioners and children under 12 years and R50 for families.
- Visit www.africancatclub.weebly.com, www.osrbg.weebl.com and www.sacatsbg.weebly.com for more information.
