It was my first time at the huge Garden State Cat Club show in July. I knew ahead of time there were going to be FORTY SEVEN vendors; that’s a big show! I packed up Fudgie for competition in the championship division along with retired Nougat to be a Pet Me cat and to be on display in the breed showcase. I also packed up the RagaMuffin breed display  to put up. I drove to New Jersey and arrived in plenty of time to set up at the exhibition hall the night before the show.

I settled the cats in at the hotel and made the short drive to the show hall. It took a couple of trips to haul in all the crap I had with me. Oops, I mean to gently carry in the fabulous show set up I had. It was 90 degrees and the AC was not on in the show hall yet. It took an hour and a half to set things up. Needless to say, I was not exactly fresh when finished. But, I did get it done.

The next morning, the cats and I went to the show hall. The place quickly filled up with cats, other exhibitors, and lots of spectators. As a Pet Me cat, Nougat was busy getting, well, petted. He spent quite a bit of time getting photographed in front of the breed booth. He wore his purple tux for the occasion. Twice on Saturday and then again on Sunday, I carried him to the front of the hall for the breed showcase, where a judge would take each breed represented out one at a time and describe the characteristics of that breed to the spectators. Again, lots of pictures.

Fudgie was busy actually being judged. While he didn’t feel the love from some of the judges, he did come home with a rosette and the crowd loved him.He discovered a new treat that he loves. I now have to hunt it down to buy some more for him. It is a paste that is tuna and scallop flavor. Yum.

As always at a cat show, I enjoyed seeing my cat friends who were scattered through the hall. I made my rounds of the many vendors, eventually deciding on a new cat tree made by Furwood Forest for my furry darlings. Lots of things to see in the venue….like the mini motorized car with trailer that passed me with a cat driving and another in the trailer. There was also cat agility present. Some of those cats are really good! Others, not so much.

I came home exhausted, but happy to be home. The cats are tired as well; being beautiful is hard work.