Seward County Independent

    Some were slim and sleek. Some were large and long-haired. Some were direct descendents of feral ancestors. Some were bred to allow certain characteristics to dominate. Some were old and some were young. Almost all of them were pedigreed.
     But the cats competing in the Ninth Annual Sandhills Cat Show were all looking their best and vying to be named the best in their class, and hopefully, best in show.
     The show, put on by the Sandhills Cat Club and held at the Seward County Ag Pavilion on Oct. 14, had 162 cats competing. One hundred sixty-four cats had been registered for the show, but two entries did not make it. Rodene Brchan, the show secretary and a competitor, said that is a relatively low amount of no-shows.
     "Usually you 15 to 20 that are absent, or so, it was a really, really good turnout," Brchan said.
     Considering the distance many of the competitors had to travel, from as far away as Illinois, Colorado and Minnesota, those are very good numbers indeed.
     Brchan said another factor helping to up the number of competitors at the show is that there are usually eight cat shows being held the weekend of the Sandhills Cat Club's show, but this year there are nearly half that number.
     "We're the only one in the Midwest. It was a good weekend, because we didn't have to compete with anyone for exhibitors," Brchan said.
     This lack of competition allowed for a wide variety of breeds to be present at the show. Twenty-seven breeds in all were represented at the show.
     Breeds ranged from Persians to hairless cats to Norwegian Forest cats, which Brchan was showing, and Maine Coon cats. These last two breeds represent two of three or four breeds that can still be found in the wild.
     "There's a lot of different breeds," Brchan said. "I think they're really represented across the board."
     Although it was the ninth year a show has been put on by the Sandhills Cat Club, it is only the second year it has been in Seward. The show was formerly held in Hastings, which is part of the reason the club is called the Sandhills Cat Club.
     But the club is somewhat small, currently consisting of only six members– two from Kansas, one from South Dakota, two from Lincoln and one from Elkhorn. The group meets primarily on the internet to hold discussions and plan events like the cat show.
     As the members all live closer to the eastern end of Nebraska, making the move to Seward was a natural decision.
     "It just made sense to get it closer to where we worked," Brchan said. "Seward's such a nice environment. We love the hall (ag pavilion) and everything."
     The Sandhills Cat Club is a member of Cat Fanciers Association (CFA), the world's largest pedigreed cat registry, and acquiring CFA licensed judges is one of the tasks the Sandhills Cat Club is responsible for in hosting a cat show.
     Brchan said each member of Sandhills Cat Club submits a list of judges they would like to have, and the club narrows it down from there. Six judges were present at the show in Seward, including Brian Moser, and wife Pam, from Gresham, Ore.
     "I do about 30 shows a year all around the world," Moser said.
     The group or club sponsoring a show is responsible for every judge's expenses and wages. The Sandhills club raises money at the show with entrance fees from competitors, by charging admission to visitors and holding a fundraising raffle during the competition.
     In the past year Moser has travelled to Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, Australia and New Zealand to provide his expertise as a judge.
     In order to get licensed as a judge, Moser had to put in time and money as a participant in shows. Among the requirements for a judge are being a member of CFA for at least seven years, being a breeder of both long and shorthair cats and having shown cats that are either regional or national winners.
     Moser started showing cats in 1973 and also spent time as a sort of apprentice to acting judges, learning the different aspects of judging. He has now been judging for 14 years. He said that, although he and Pam still show cats occasionally, they are now too busy with judging to breed cats.
     " We no longer breed because we just don't have time," he said.
     Judges are helped out in the ring by a clerk and a steward. The clerk helping Moser was Cheryl McCoonell of Des Moines, Iowa. The responsibility of the clerk is to make sure that the ribbons given to competitors sync up with what has been recorded on the judge's sheet.
     Ashley Douthit of Staplehurst was Moser's steward. She is a member of the Girl Scouts, who were helping out with the show.
     "The steward is very important because they keep everything going," Moser said.
     The stewards make sure the cages in the show ring are clean and ready for the next class of competitors. Brchan said that the Girl Scout stewards at the show were a great help and did a good job.
     "I haven't heard anyone complain that they've had a dirty or wet cage," she said.
     When cats enter the ring to compete they are judged on several standard aspects, the color and shape of the eyes, the body of the cat, the coat, the shape of the ears and the bone structure of the animal.
     Based on these criteria cats are awarded ribbons within their class. High-ranking cats get to move on to compete for best in show. Best in show is awarded to the cat that epitomizes what the judges are looking for in a feline.
     "They have to be better than any other breed," Moser said.
     This competition aspect was present throughout the show, but many competitors did not seem too obsessed with the rankings in the ring and spent time catching up with other competitors, discussing cats and perusing the cat-related items offered for sale at the show. From the perspective of the Sandhills Cat Club, the show was a success.
     "We really did a great job on it, pulling it all together," Brchan said.