Thread: Eye candy for yah'll

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

I agree in one respect I find Wellys white a pain & actually ran a thread on here about getting white socks white, but the one & only time I really got took up on presentation was with my brown tabby boy,I don't know who was having an off day,him or me with the preparation but his coat was as dull as dull,very noticable with a dark coloured cat,so does have the down sides as well....!

Yes - that was meant tongue in cheek I often joke that my next show cat will be a Sphinx, or one that just needs a quick rub over with a damp cloth on show morning
We must be seriously daft to do all that washing, drying, brushing, powdering and general titivating....

I have a brown tabby myself and for the first time in nearly four years he looks really super, his coat is all shiney with no knots or mats. I wish I knew what I'd done because I would do the same to Alfie (my solid white boy) - he looks total rubbish at the moment!

couldn't agree more...my babies are that first..my babies. I have taken cats out to show and have given up quickly because they simply do not like it but I have others who are fine with it all.. Showing Maine Coons has changed my life in many ways and first and foremost has led me to have great friendships all over the country. We have great fun at shows... it can be stressful...getting up at silly o'clock..exhaustive bathing...rather expensive costs....but when we get there the comiradary sets in..something keeps dragging us all back

Originally Posted by Leonais

couldn't agree more...my babies are that first..my babies. I have taken cats out to show and have given up quickly because they simply do not like it but I have others who are fine with it all.. Showing Maine Coons has changed my life in many ways and first and foremost has led me to have great friendships all over the country. We have great fun at shows... it can be stressful...getting up at silly o'clock..exhaustive bathing...rather expensive costs....but when we get there the comiradary sets in..something keeps dragging us all back

Silly o' clock good way of putting it,will use that next time I am asked what time we are leaving,seeing that you are way up country I reckon you are like us,as we live right on the Norfolk coast we are looking at well over the hour to even leave the county so have to do a fair bit of travelling to the shows,if it is anything around two & a half hours we reckon we are lucky it is so close,have given up on the four hour drives now though,cost of fuel is a good incentive.Looks as if the higher costs are starting to hit now though doesn't it,a lot of the shows seem to have lower numbers attending,when we next hit the road with our preened furry,in the dark & freezing cold will think of you.....

I have a brown tabby myself and for the first time in nearly four years he looks really super, his coat is all shiney with no knots or mats. I wish I knew what I'd done because I would do the same to Alfie (my solid white boy) - he looks total rubbish at the moment![/QUOTE]

Do you think as they mature their coats seem to settle into condition more,with Merlyn one show he would bathe up great the next one not so good so you had to work that bit harder on the grooming,a month on & it would all fall into place again,by the time he retired he was coming up to four & he was just so easy to prepare that it made me think it was because all the growing was finished & the body more settled,another year for the two babes to hit that landmark so fingers crossed.Poor Alfie,have you got to try & get his "rubbish"coat looking good for any shows in the near future,looking at his photos I can't imagine him ever being that bad....!

Originally Posted by Halcyon

The smokey cat muzzle is almost frightening.

Which one is that? Do you mean the little fellow named Marshall at the PrairieBaby site? When I saw that one my first thought was: "Wow, El Monto on steroids!"

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

Silly o' clock good way of putting it,will use that next time I am asked what time we are leaving,seeing that you are way up country I reckon you are like us,as we live right on the Norfolk coast we are looking at well over the hour to even leave the county so have to do a fair bit of travelling to the shows,if it is anything around two & a half hours we reckon we are lucky it is so close,have given up on the four hour drives now though,cost of fuel is a good incentive.Looks as if the higher costs are starting to hit now though doesn't it,a lot of the shows seem to have lower numbers attending,when we next hit the road with our preened furry,in the dark & freezing cold will think of you.....

Yes..we have to travel a fair distance to most shows so yes, it is silly o'clock ..in the dark and cold.especially our winter shows..brrrrrr.

I agree about the coats. I do think they settle to show grooming more with age..My Avalanche's coat is so much easier to do now(or maybe I just worry about it less..lol)
I have had the great pleasure of grooming Wendy's Alfie..(as I have travelled to the Maine Coon breed Society show in Bracknell...yes, I am that mad)..He has a very similar(identical really) coat to my Avalanche..being half brothers..but the whites are tricky as they have a finer coat that just seems to look scruffy and limp very quickly and every bit of anything shows up. We have both given ourselfs a very steep learning curve having a white as a 1st show boy but it can only get easier from that..but you know..best of all..I have a very ,very good friend in Wendy now and we are hundreds of miles apart but our boys brought us together...Maine Coons are wonderful things))))

Alfie has just turned two, so has only had one 'proper' moult and I think his coat is still settling. When he had a full coat in the summer he groomed up lovely. Since he started moulting it seems to look 'tatty' very quickly and some of the grooming products I used previously with fab results now just make him look greasy. He's not going to any shows til the Autumn. He's having a bit of a rest from it and, hopefully, growing back his glorious coat! Even if I never showed him again, just having had the experience of the last 20 months meeting new people and making lovely friends (yes, Lou - that is you!) it will still have been worth all the time and trouble