Kori Feener
Carolyn Prucha plays with a cat she’s judging at the Sun Prairie cat show.
Hello Kitty and Basil have come a long way, figuratively speaking.
Their exact origins are unknown, but Hello Kitty was discovered in rough shape on a DeForest farm.
“We rescued him from a farm close by to us,” says his owner, Madeline Erce. “Before we got our hands on him, he had his tail chopped off in a tractor incident and had a bunch of worms.”
Hello Kitty looks white and gray, but in sophisticated cat show parlance, he’s labeled a “blue tabby with white.”
Erce’s other cat, Basil, came from a humane society shelter at the ripe old age of 15. She chose him because she wanted to take in a cat unlikely to be adopted by anyone else. “He was the oldest cat they had and he’s black, which is the hardest color to adopt,” she explains.
Despite both cats’ humble beginnings, Erce is showing them off at the household cat show in Sun Prairie on a Saturday in November.
“Hello’s missing a tail and Basil’s missing some teeth, but we thought, ‘Why not bring them to the household cat show?’” Erce says inside the cavernous Angell Park Speedway Pavilion.
For the moment, the cats are chill inside their kennel, but minutes before, they’d been examined and reviewed by a judge in front of a live audience.
“They seemed to like it,” Erce says. “I thought Hello Kitty would be a little more playful. He’s getting used to the surroundings still.”
The cat show, sponsored by the American Cat Fanciers Association and the Windy Kitty Cat Club, has brought out 35 cats and their owners, says Karly Chnupa, one of the organizers.
There are some pedigreed cats here — including some Maine Coons and Ragdolls — that have shown in competitive cat shows. But this show is for fun. One goal is to help owners socialize their cats so the felines are not so freaked out by traveling or seeing new people.
“Most times, when people have a cat, where do they go?” Chnupa asks rhetorically. “In a carrier to the vet, where they get poked and pried and are given shots. It’s always a negative experience. This is a positive experience.”
Some cats here are old hands at chilling out in public. Betty, a 21-pound Maine Coon mix, has attracted a crowd of ogling fans, who caress her soft long fur and rub her ears. Through it all, Betty lies unperturbed in the arms of her owner, Linda Johnson, who works with animal rescue group Angel’s Wish.
“Betty was going to be put to sleep and the vet wouldn’t do it,” Johnson explains. “So he called me and I went and got her.”
After adopting Betty, Johnson realized that she had a special personality. “She sleeps with my Great Danes,” Johnson says. “She was so chill with my dogs, so friendly.”
Johnson decided to have her certified as a therapy animal. About twice a week, Johnson takes her to senior centers and private homes for people to spend time with.
“It was like she was born to do that,” Johnson says. “As the judge called her, she’s a gentle giant.”
Since it’s not a pedigreed show, the judging criteria today is more subjective, Chnupa explains. Judges check the overall appearance and health of the animals, making sure there are no fleas, their ears are clean, their fur well groomed. They’ll test how playful the animals are.
But a judge might pick a winner because it “reminds them of their childhood cat,” Chnupa says.
Neither Hello Kitty, Basil nor Betty win any ribbons in today’s show. But Erce later says that she gave her cats a Squeeze Up treat when she got them home. “It looks like Go-GURT for cats,” she explains.
“I think they were a bit overwhelmed at first, but they got used to the commotion as the day went on,” she says. “We also did the costume contest at the end of the show. Basil was a witch and Hello Kitty was a taco, so it was a long day for both of them, but they behaved really well.”
45: Pedigreed breeds currently recognized by the Cat Fanciers’ Association
Tobycat: The newest breed recognized by the association
Egyptian Mau: One of the oldest domesticated cat breeds
Ragdoll: Most popular breed of 2018
GC Pinkpawpal Cassiopeia: Best in show winner of 2019 Cat Fanciers’ Association show
1871: First modern cat show, held at London’s Crystal Palace
Feline Historical Museum: 260 E. Main St., Alliance, Ohio
