KARACHI: Move over Garfield, Heathcliff, Tom, Puss in Boots and Cat in the Hat. Make way for Cherry, Monoo, PD, Toffee and Marsh for they are out to show who’s boss.

The Me-O Wonder Cat Show at the Royal Rodale Club on Sunday was more than a beauty contest. It was also a competition about health.

Some of the felines were really cat-show material like three-and-a-half-year-old Persian mixed with grey tabby Cherry who weighed 8kg. Its owner, Hira Khalid, said it had won eight trophies in various cat shows so far and was hoping to see it win its ninth.

Another 10-year-old black Persian tom, which was originally named Speedy but somehow came to be known as ‘PD’, came alone without his 16-year-old mother, Lioness. “We decided to let the mother rest today. We have five cats in all but only PD is competing this time,” said owner Abeer Sheikh.

A few that stood out among the younger lot were 15-month-old Monoo owned by six-year-old Arhama Tariq, 18-month-old Marsh, five-month-old Annie with different-colour — blue and yellow — eyes and wearing pink ribbons on her ears making them look like piggy tails.

“We are going to judge all after categorising them,” said the judge, well-known veterinarian Dr Isma Gheewala. “For instance, if we have several Persian cats, we will assign a separate category for the punch-faced, extreme punch-faced and peke-faced ones. If there are Siamese cats, they will have their own category and common cats will be a category, too. There will also be separate categories for male and females because the males are bigger, have bigger heads and are heavier. Also younger cats’ category will have cats under one year with another category for kittens under six months of age,” the vet explained.

“Then in each category there are points for grooming, health, behaviour, etc,” Dr Isma added.

Meanwhile, the owners were more nervous than the contestants. Noticing a catwalk or a ramp like those they have at fashion shows, several people wanted to know if cats were expected to parade on it. But as soon as the show started they realised that they were to hold their pets and walk with them on the ramp. Sensing her owner’s nervousness one cat dug her claws into the owner’s hijab and pretty much tore it to shreds when tried to be separated. Another family decided to feed their cat to help it calm down, but then the pet needed to use the kitty litter and they had forgotten to bring its litter tray along. Instead of winning a trophy, it was a ‘catastrophe’ just waiting to happen then!

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2014