Dog shows offering owners a chance to show off their canine’s abilities are pretty common, but cats were given their due over the weekend at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles as the Cat Fanciers’ Association held its 64th annual All-Breed Cat Show.
Representatives of the Ohio-based group returned to stage the event at the fairgrounds for the second consecutive year, following many years of being held elsewhere in the Chicago area.
Organizers said the two-day event that ran on Saturday and Sunday was largely about raising money to support cats’ well-being.
Jeremy Basterash, who serves as president and show manager of the Lincoln State Cat Club, said his group is part of a network of clubs that operate “under the umbrella” of the Fanciers’ Association and that the event “serves as a benefit fundraiser.”
“The proceeds from the show go to local area shelters to help them adopt out cats. Directly, there are some in attendance at the show and they bring cats that are available for adoption,” Basterash said before the show. “Indirectly, we also donate to them foods that are collected and dropped off at the door. We also donate to various foundations and larger groups that look at feline diseases to help cats everywhere.”
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Purebred cats are the focus of the show which “draw the people into the venue,” Basterash said, adding that guests “have an opportunity to view some 40 to 50 breeds all in the same building at the same time.”
“Those cats are there competing against each other to see who is the best cat within the eyes of each individual judge that attends the show throughout the event,” he said.
Cats are individually handled by judges and are then “compared to a written breed standard.”
“The head should look like this, the ears should be placed like this, the coat should be like this and each is specific to each breed,” Basterash said. “Each breed scores those attributes differently. For some, 40% of their score comes from the coat. On a different breed it’s 10%, so how your cat – how each entry conforms to that breed standard – determines their score.”
One of the new offerings this year was a cat agility program where the cats were awarded ribbons based on their performance.
Belinda Summers of Bartlett was at the show on Saturday and said she was interested in some cat-related merchandise but also in getting a new cat, a breed known as a Maine Coon.
“I’ve owned cats before. Maine Coon are big, fluffy, lovely, lion-looking cats,” she said. “I’m here to find out more about that breed. This actually is my first cat show so I’m curious about what might be here.”
Summers reflected on what separates cat owners from those who have dogs and said for her, “We’re more used to being ignored and disobeyed.”
“Cats are nonchalant and will do what they want, when they want,” she said with a laugh. “I’m actually being somewhat facetious – they’re lovely.”
Rose Losito of Orland Park also attended the show on Saturday. She said she has three cats.
“What would make my day is just to see all the different breeds and how cute they are and you get to pet them all, so that’s fun,” she said.
“What I like about cats is they are very silly,” she said. “They have a very strong personality.”
Rose’s daughter Riley Lange, 17, said she was also interested in seeing and petting cats “as well as realizing what I would like for my own cat in the future.”
“I’ve had cats since I was 5. I like cuddling them,” she said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.