2009 TICA Annual Intl Show

The Annual International show is being held in my region (Southeast U.S.) this year so I'm happy to be able to go to it more easily than last year's in Texas. It's in Orlando, Florida at the Orange County Convention Center this Saturday and Sunday, Labor Day weekend, September 5-6, 2009.

I've entered my chocolate Abyssinian kitten Dancer and will be bringing her future mate Temur (a chocolate male Abyssinian), and any of the three month old brown Bengal kittens that haven't sold yet.

I have one main goal -- to talk to the Abyssinian Breed Committee Chair about two things. First, I would like to find out more about how to get the sex-linked red Abyssinian colors approved for championship. And second, I would like to have her help in finding or starting a forum where all of the TICA Abyssinian breeders can communicate easily with each other. She agreed to talk to me at the Annual, so I really hope we do indeed get to talk and move forward on both of these.

I'll update the blog with photos from the Annual show on the Picasa Photostream on the righthand side. Hope you enjoy them!


UPDATE: I had a very agreeable conversation with the Aby Breed Committee Chair on the New Traits colors and on ideas for better communication among Aby breeders. She did not think the new colors would be approved any time soon, but did not discourage me from showing them. I respect that. She also has a great sense of humor! :-))

Dancer did much better than expected at the Annual, where 350 of the best of the best cats and kittens in the world were shown, and even got a compliment from Bobbie Tullo, one of the judges there and the current Vice President of TICA. Photos of the Abyssinian kitten class and some of the show hall are on the public Picasa Photostream (preview & link at right).

I sold three of the four Bengal kittens I had brought there to find good homes for. I ended up compromising on the price, but they all have wonderful loving homes now (I followed up, like I always do), which was my first priority by far.