My intent was for Cosmo’s first show to be in St. Louis for the CFA Midwest TGIF Show on August 2-3, 2014, however, I inadvertently committed to participate in a 5K with my friends, so instead, his first show was the Mo-Kan Cat Days of Summer show on August 9, 2014 in Kansas City, MO. The intent of the first show is to get him used to the sounds and smells of a show hall… there are a lot of other cats, and of course, he was very frightened once we put him in his benching cage. I seriously considered pulling him from the show because I thought he would hurt himself trying to squeeze through the metal bars. Even in the judging ring, he tried to figure a way to get out, and tried to squeeze himself into the corners.

In the end, he became more relaxed as the day progressed. He was not fond of being caged in the judging ring, as that put him into close proximity with other kittens (one particular sphynx kitten tried grabbing him around the divider, and Cosmo likewise tried to paw at him).

This show had 6 judging rings, and lasted for one day. Of the six judges, two advanced him to the finals (top 10), and he placed 6th and 8th, earning him 37.80 Regional/National points for the day. He was the only Singapura kitten, so his “Best of Breed” and “Best of Color/Division” awards did not earn points for him.

Aside from winning two ribbons, another highlight of the day was getting to meet Cosmo’s brother, Citron (owned by Juli Clark).  The two cats share the same parents, but are not litter mates. To them, they were strangers, and the requisite hissing ensued.

Travel with Cosmo really was not that bad. The drive from our home to Kansas City was approximately 6 hours. We fed him before we left, and set up his litter box, and more food and water, at the hotel. We stayed at a Holiday Inn near the airport (next door to the KC Expo Center), and Cosmo made himself right at home. I lined the litter pan with a medium trash bag so that we had a clean litter pan for the show, and so that we didn’t have that much of a mess for the hotel housekeeping staff. The only thing I did not like about this hotel was that there was no mini-fridge. We went to dinner the night of the show, and to breakfast on the last morning, leaving Cosmo to run loose in the room (we placed the “do not disturb” card on our doorknob to prevent entry by hotel staff). He did just fine, and each time we returned he was curled up and napping on the bed.

It was a good show, and we are planning to participate in the Peoria, IL show in September, 2014.