Spectator's Guide to a TICA Cat Show
Spectators are welcome to walk through the benching area as well as watch
the cats being judged in the rings. We request that you do not touch any of the cats.
This helps eliminate the possibility of transmitting any disease from cat to cat.
Also, please do not enter the actual judging area while the judges are handling the cats.
Take a seat in the judging area and enjoy the show.
Try to take a seat in the 2nd or 3rd row
as the first row is usually where owners sit
while watching their cats being judged.
Please yield to people who are carrying cats to and from the show rings.
This Spectator's Guide will help you understand what is happening in the Show Hall.
It will explain the judging and scoring system used by
the International Cat Association (TICA).
What Happens at a Cat Show
The Show Hall is divided into three general areas - vendor booths,
benching area and show rings.
Vendor Booths: Most shows have several vendors. There will usually be
at least one cat food
representative,cat products, cat related gift items,
usually a photographer and animal welfare organizations.
Many items sold here can not be easily found outside of pet shows.
Benching Area: The benching area is the series of cages where
cats reside ("are benched") while
they wait their turn to be judged
in the various rings.
It is a show requirement that the cages be covered
with curtains on the top, bottom & 3 sides, so owners usually take
the advantage to decorate the cages with complimentary curtains
to their particular breed. The cats' owners are generally found nearby.
Most breeders are happy to discuss the merits of their breed with you.
If you are interested in
purchasing a purebred cat, this is a great place
to get a close up view of the different breeds
and
learn about the breeds' characteristics and requirements.
Show Ring:The Show Ring is the judging area.
The judge's name will be posted above the judging
area with an AB or SP next to it.
This tells you whether they will be judging a All Breed (AB) or a
Specialty (SP) Ring.
In an All Breed Ring, all cats are judged against one another within their
category
(i.e., kitten, cat, alter, household pets) regardless of coat length.
In a Specialty Ring, the
longhairs are only judged against other longhairs
and the shorthairs only against other shorthairs
within their category.
TICA uses a top 10 format.
If there are 25 cats in a category, Top 10 rosettes will be awarded.
Nine
rosettes are awarded for 24 cats and so on. For 20 or less cats,
only the top 5 cats will get rosettes.
Scoring is different for AB and SP rings.
Because it is more difficult to make it into an AB ring,
more
points are awarded for wins.
TICA has a set of written standards for each breed which judges use
to determine their best cat in breed
and show.
The cats are not judged against each other
but rather against the standard (of perfection)
for its breed.
Therefore, if a judge makes an American Shorthair their Best Cat,
the judge is saying
that, in their opinion,
this cat most closely fits the standard for its breed as described by TICA.
And
because each judge interprets the standards a little bit differently,
the winning cats will vary from ring
to ring.
Two day cat shows generally vary from eight to twelve ring shows.
This means that one half (4-6) rings
will be held each show day.
Some times a club will put on a three day show, usually with 4-5 rings on
Friday night.
Each ring is a separate show. The judge in each ring will see every cat entered
in the show on that day.
The judge will award the rosettes for their ring as they see it.
While the Judge and the cats are the main focus of the Show Ring,
there are two other important
people in the ring.
The Ring Clerk controls the ring.
They sit at the Judge's Table and record the results
of the judging.
The clerk compares their book to the judge's book
to ensure that they both agree and no
mistakes have been made in the scoring.
The other person in the Ring is the Steward. They are
responsible for disinfecting
each cage before a cat is put in the judging cage.
All the cats and kittens are called up to the ring for judging by the Clerk.
The cat's assigned number
will be above its cage.
Cats are called by breed, division and color.
Divisions are based on coat pattern
(ie solid, tabby, shaded, particolor, etc.).
In some breeds, there are many colors within these divisions,
for example the Persians.
Some breeds have only one color and division, as the Russian Blue does.
Numbers are assigned to each cat in the show
according to the category in which the cat falls:
Kittens:purebred kittens between 4-8 months of age.
Cats: purebred registered cats over 8 months of age.
They have not been neutered or spayed.
Alters:purebred registered cats over 8 months of age
which have been spayed or neutered.
Household Pets:both kitten and cats.
HHP's are judged on appearance, condition, and personality.
New Breed and Color:experimental breeds of
cats or new colors of already accepted breeds.
For Sale or Exhibition Only:
Cats in the show hall but aren't being shown.
Judging
The judges evaluating each cat comprise an elite group in the cat fancy.
These are people with many
years of both breeding and showing experience.
They have a broad knowledge of genetics and
biology,
a thorough knowledge of the standards of each breed.
Each judge has spent countless hours
of study and testing,
apprenticing in the show ring under several judges before becoming a judge.
They are required to take continuing education classes.
Cats are primarily judged on conformation. That is, each cat is judged against
a written standard of
perfection for its breed. This standard is a detailed description
of the ideal physical characteristic for
each breed.
A point value has been assigned to each characteristic
depending on the importance of
that characteristic to the breed.
TICA Russian Blue Breed Standard
HouseHold Pets obviously have no written standard to be judged by,
so each HHP is judged on it's attitude, playfulness, overall healthy appearance
and impecable grooming.
Scoring
Some of the judges will be doing an All Breed format which means they systematically
examine all the
cats in a major category - kittens, cats, alters, HHPs and NBC.
Then they will pick their top cats in
each category.
The judges doing a Specialty format will
do the same but they will then divide
each
major category into Longhairs and Shorthairs.
Color Classes
The cats entered in the show are each assigned a number.
This is their "identification tag" for the show.
The cats are summoned to the judging ring by breed group called for by number.
The competition and
elimination begins at the level called "Color Class".
The judges are looking for the best examples of
the breed in question within that particular color class.
They closely examine the heads, bodies and
coats of each cat, and by handling them
they can evaluate things that are not outwardly obvious,
such
as muscle tone.
They will put colored "flats" or ribbons on the cages.
The ranking of the Color Class
awards is as follows:
Blue for First Place, Red for Second Place, Yellow for Third Place,
Green for
Fourth Place and White for Fifth Place.
Divisions
After considering all the cats within the appropriate Color Classes,
the judge moves on to the next
bigger grouping - the Division -
and makes choices for further ranking the cats by quality.
The Divisions
TICA uses are:
Solid, Tabby, Tortie, Shaded, Particolor, Solid Point,
Lynx (Tabby) Point, Tortie Point
and Particolor Point.
Within each Division the judge will pick what they consider to be the best
three
cats as follows:
Black for Best of Division, Purple for Second and Orange for Third.
Breeds
After finishing at the division level, a selection is then made from
the top Division cats for Best, Second
Best and Third Best of Breed.
These Best of Breed cats are those which, more than all others in their
breed competition,
most closely represent the ideal set forth by the standard of Perfection.
Finals
The rosettes are awarded during Finals to the judge's choice of the
Top Five to Ten (depending on the
number of cats in the show
within each major category).
These are selected primarily from the Best
of Breed winners.
Reaching the Finals level means the judge thought the cat was among the very best
entered in the show. Final awards carry points which are used toward
attaining championship rankings.
Presentation of the Final awards is usually very interesting,
and you will enjoy hearing the comments
by the judges
on the outstanding features each of the cats had
that made them worthy of selection for
a Finals award.
Spectator's Guide to a Cat Show used & slightly adapted
from
the information found on TICA's NW Region website.
| Kitten picture | Seattle TICA Show, February 1998 |
 |
Emerald Frst Zhivoy of Vatrushka (age 6 months). TICA Judge Karen McKinchak is looking him over. Zhivoy has a wonderful profile & nice, plush coat. Karen eventually included him in her finals!!! Thanks Karen!! *** Here the judge is checking Zhivoy's profile, earset and eyecolor. |
 |
Silverlock's Kaissa of Vatrushka (Essa May at 6 months) She is very much a Princess, totally bored with the show routine-- She seems to say "Examine me if you must, but you should be able to SEE that I am beautiful!!" She handles wonderfully for the judges!! *** Here the judge is checking to make sure Kaissa has no tail kinks--a disqualifying feature. |
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Emerald Frst's Myska of Vatrushka (Mouse at 5 months) She is not a happy kitty at the shows, as her expression in this picture indicates!! Normally, she has the sweetest face, very loving, great green eyecolor, but because she did not like judges touching her, I keep her at home now. *** Here the judge is checking for the plushness and silver tipping in Mouse's coat by brushing the coat backwards and also for fleas--another disqualifying feature!! |
