Moscato Cats

Sweet and sparkly!

Cosmo’s Show #6: Rock Valley C.C., Rockford IL (ACFA)

By:

Cosmo Winner - medium

The Rock Valley Cat Club was Cosmo’s and my first show in an ACFA association show. Just a two-hour drive from home, this was a two day show and Cosmo did well, both in terms of points AND his behavior! This was a 2-day show with eight rings, and Cosmo placed in 5 of them (0, 10th, 5th, 0, 9th, 6th, 9th, 0), despite having a little chunk of fur pulled out of his backside by one of the big cats in a secret Kitty Fight Club (see below). If his color was solid, it might not have been as obvious, but his fur is ticked, meaning that each strand is light with a couple of dark bands, so the dark bands of the remaining fur made the gap quite visible. [See Cosmo’s page for his Rock Valley photo gallery]

missing fur

The best part of the show was meeting such nice people. Rarely have I seen poor behavior by another exhibitor (but I have – it’s usually in the form of condescending behavior and words), but the people I was benched near were very helpful and it was a delight to spend two days with them.

NUMBERING: One thing that I really liked about ACFA over CFA is the way the cats are numbered (each cat in a show is assigned a number, and you have to listen for your number to be called to the judging rings). In CFA, they are all just numbered 1 – 225 (based on how many total cats are in the show), and while the number ranges are based on the four classes, #141 could be a cat in the Premier class, and #142 can be a Household Pet. In this ACFA show, cats numbered 0-99 are all kittens. 100’s are longhair adults (intact); 200’s are shorthair adults (intact); 300’s are Alters (spays and neuters); and 400’s are the Household Pets. So at this show, I could just glance at a judge’s ring and see which class is being judged based on the numbers posted on the cages. You can do that at a CFA show, but you have to know where each number range begins and ends for each class.

SCORING: I think I like the scoring system in ACFA better than CFA, but I don’t entirely understand either, so I won’t give a big explanation here. Suffice it to say that I need either a calculator or a points chart for CFA, and I need to know the entry counts for the show in order to figure his points. Points in ACFA is much simpler.

This ACFA show was a little smaller than the CFA shows that I’ve been to, but that made for judging that was a little quicker (and no overlapping of classes in the ring), and we were able to leave the showhall a little earlier than we can for CFA shows.

That said, there are aspects of CFA that I like better than ACFA. The shows are very similar, but each association has differences that make make them both good associations to be a part of. I’m glad to have discovered the ACFA shows within driving distance of my home!

Cosmo to be Shown in ACFA

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I only recently discovered that there is an ACFA show in February, just 2 hours from my home, in the Rockford, IL area. My concern at the last show was that Cosmo had become more afraid, and was not used to being at shows after having a break of over 2 months since his last show. My goal is to get him into as many shows as I can reasonably attend given my full time job and duties as a mom. This meant that I have to register Cosmo with the ACFA. The procedure was easy enough… Fill out the application (which meant that I had to complete 3 generations of his pedigree), have his breeder sign it (I scanned and e-mailed to her, and she returned it to me within a few days), and submit it to ACFA along with the registration fee.  Also, I submitted my own membership application as well as a cattery registration.

I was worried about the processing time for Cosmo’s cat registration, because the show is only 2-3 weeks away and a registration number is required by the day of the show for inclusion into the catalog. So, although I mailed his application to ACFA, I also scanned the documents and e-mailed them. I was delighted to get an e-mail this morning telling me his registered name and his registration number, so I can get him signed up for the Rockford show right away (actually, after payday tomorrow! 🙂 ).  The ACFA person was also kind enough to tell me that my requested cattery name, Moscato, was approved. Cosmo’s ACFA is different from his CFA name, I am told because there is an ACFA cattery named Cosmo, so that name cannot be used as his first name. No problem, we just made him Junior Cosmo, instead (He is Cosmo JR with CFA).

I was quite impressed with the level of service provided by Cindy at ACFA, and I can’t wait to see how their shows work. The rules will be a little different than CFA, so I’ll have to do more reading about that. I am less impressed by their website, which seems a little slow and outdated, but it does contain most of the information I need, so it is, for the most part, functional.

 

 

Peanut

Peanut's theme song is "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf. He thinks he was meant to be a wild cat, and tries to sneak outside at every opportunity. He prefers to bask in the warm sunroom than be trapped in the house.

Rex

Rex's theme songs are "I Don't Want to Live Without Your Love" by Chicago and "Every Breath You Take" by The Police. He's definitely a Momma's boy, and is the peacekeeper of the bunch. He hates when the cats wrestle around!

Piston

Piston's theme song is "Lay Your Hands on Me" by Bon Jovi. He loves to be brushed and pet, especially while cuddling on his favorite blanket. But, you absolutely *cannot* get your face close to his without him freaking out. No kisses for Piston.