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www.journaltimes.com
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/10/05/local_news/doc48e851888c886990500987.txt
Cats Fancy Festival Hall during event
Woman traveled from Rockford, Ill., to take part in show
By Paul Sloth
Journal Times
RACINE — Alison Paruzynski pulled her cat Infinity out of his cage
before she started teasing his fur. Then she had to remove his tiny bib before
they headed off to ring five for another competition.
Paruzynski traveled
with her 11-year-old daughter, Laura, of Rockford, Ill., on Saturday to take
part in the Milwaukee Cat Club’s annual Feline Renaissance Faire event, which
was held at Festival Hall.
Her cat, a copper-eyed white Persian, whose
full name is Kissables Infinity of Kingdomkatz, took top prize for long hairs
and second overall in one of several competitions that Paruzynski entered
Saturday.
Paruzynski, who raises Persians and Himalayans, was excited
about Infinity’s success. Her effort had paid off. She’s been raising cats
and showing them for the past nine years.
She decided to get involved because of her absolute passion for cats, she
said.
“Which is something you have to have to do this,” Paruzynski
said. “There’s a lot of commitment. There’s a lot of joy and a lot of
heartbreak.”
Pat Jacobberger judges a calico oriental
cat on Saturday during the Milwaukee Cat Club’s Feline Renaissance Faire at
Festival Hall.
For Mary Beth Minkley, it all
started with her first kitten, a tortoiseshell named Mehitabel. Her mother told
her, if she was going to get one, she might as well get a good
one.
Fifty-two years later, Minkley, a cat fancier from Wind Point, still
raises and shows cats. It’s a hobby for the former assistant superintendent of
the Racine Unified School District, who still works in education in
Racine.
Minkley, who is president of the Milwaukee Cat Club, said she
wanted to become a beautician before she got into education. Showing cats gives
her an outlet for that.
“They afford me the opportunity to cut their hair
… This is a beauty contest really, and it’s a lot of fun,” Minkley
said.
In addition to showing her cats in competitions, Minkley takes them
around to nursing homes, assisted living facilities and hospices to visit with
patients and residents.
The Milwaukee Cat Club is part of the Cat
Fanciers’ Association. The Cat Fanciers’ Association recognizes 35 breeds and
there were several of them at Saturday’s event, including Himalayans, Persians,
Maine coons and Japanese bobtails.
Events like this annual championship
show are held throughout the country. The club has held shows all around the
area since 1941, said Pat Rohde of Oak Creek, the club’s vice
president.
There are 600 such clubs in seven regions, Rohde said. In
addition to the competitions, there is a social element to the Milwaukee club,
Rohde said.
Events like Saturday’s are also an opportunity for the club
to spread its message about cats — about proper care, spaying and neutering and
keeping them indoors.
For some visitors, the show was an opportunity to
shop around for a cat, which is what brought Dr. Elizabeth Russell to Festival
Hall. This was only the second show she’d ever attended.
Russell, a
Pleasant Prairie physician, owns two Siamese cats she called “show-cat rejects,”
which she brought at the first show she ever attended. One of the cats is in
poor health, so Russell planned to look to see if she might find another
Siamese.
“There’s something about Siamese cats; they’re so intelligent,”
said Russell, who likes lap cats. “In a way, they’re kind of
dog-like.”
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