Cat Lovers Bristle at One Callous Owner, Then Learn Ways to Make a Feline Purr

Someone attending the International Cat Show in Anaheim Saturday had done the unforgivable: The person had locked a cat inside a car, windows rolled up tight, to swelter in the parking lot.

“This is not good,” a voice over the loudspeaker boomed. Cat lovers milling about cages, exhibits and judge’s stations fell silent as the voice continued, searching for the feline’s owner. “Get the cat out, please. This is very serious.”

A few minutes later, there was an update.

“Police have been called regarding the kitten in the car,” the voice announced, still pleading for the owner to come forward. “Police are going to do something about it, if you won’t.” Applause broke out.

The case of the callous cat owner, however, was the only dour note Saturday as hundreds of cat fanciers showed off their cats to hundreds of cat admirers on the first day of the weekend show.

Lecturers advised cat lovers on pet training, skin problems, nutrition and other health concerns. Judges peered into the eyes and checked the forms of some 350 cats before awarding ribbons. Pictures of cats adorned shirts, blouses and smocks. Exhibitors hawked cat food, cat portraits, cat drawings, cat toys, cat boxes, cat magazines, cat scratching posts, cat houses.

The only mention of the word “dog” had to do with keeping one’s yard free of menacing, meandering cats.

Offering a recipe for “one way of discouraging other cats from coming around” and taunting housebound pets, Newport Beach animal behaviorist Sue Myles advised the audience to obtain “a bit of dog urine,” mix it with water and spray the yard.

“When they run into that dog urine, they put the brakes on,” Myles said in her lecture on “cat communication.”

Although her audience might agree that “cats are people, too,” Myles reminded them that communicating with felines involves “trying to get human beings, who speak one language, to get through to cats, who speak another language.

“What’s fun to a cat is not fun to a human. I don’t have too many two-legged clients running around with a dead mouse in their teeth.”

The best way of communicating, she said, is through training, but that does not mean tricks or punishment.

Physical punishment only produces an anxious cat and a bad owner-pet relationship, she said. In cat culture, there is no such thing as punishment or dominant-submissive behavior; consequently, the animal will not understand “when the owner decides to mash the cat,” Myles said. The cat will learn only to be nervous or to avoid the owner, she said.

Instead, she advised, reinforce good behavior with inconsistent rewards of a special treat. “A cat learns in just one or two tries,” but the cat’s independent nature must be recognized, Myles said. If the cat refuses to cooperate, she said, it could be that the cat has learned, “but it just may not be interested in doing it. You cannot take the catness out of the cat.”

She offered a few tips to the cat fanciers, such as never punish the cat near the litter box, and never let children tease the cat while it is occupied and vulnerable there. The cat will associate bad things with the litter box “and it may kick off behavior problems,” she said.

During training, try not to handle the cat too much--for example, do not roughly restrain the cat while trying to teach it to stay--because “the cat usually will say, ‘This is not my idea of a good time,”’ Myles said. “Training has to be fun. The cat never signed a consent form, agreeing to be trained.”

Fun and Rewards

Elsewhere at the convention, cat lovers concentrated on the fun and rewards of living with felines.

Three of the seven cats that Save-A-Pet of Riverside brought to the convention were quickly adopted, all by people who already have at least one cat at home, said Frances Salyer, director of the humane organization.

“All these people are real cat people,” Salyer said. When Save-A-Pet sets up adoption displays at parks or in stores, people ask questions about what to feed the cats and how to groom them, she said.

“These people don’t ask questions. These people tell us about their cats,” she said.

In the center of the convention hall, lovingly decorated wire cages played temporary home to about 350 cats competing for prizes at the show.

‘God Created Cats’

One empty cage--signaling that its occupant was probably hard at work--was ornately decked out in frilly lavender and white lace curtains. A sculpture of a cat’s head hung on the door, and inside was a carefully embroidered pillow reading, “And on the eighth day, God created cats.”

A few rows over, two cardboard cutouts of the Statue of Liberty were propped atop two cages, joined together by a banner proclaiming the occupants to be “NY Cats.”

“Since we came to California for the show, we thought it would be be fun to really come as people from New York,” said Bernard Hayduk, who traveled to the convention with his wife, Linda, and cats, Orange Marmalade and Madeline Matisse, from their Long Island home.

In striking contrast, next to the Hayduks’ cats was a spartanly decorated cage. Beige sheet-like fabric covered the sides, a cardboard box held the kitty litter, and plastic margarine tubs served as food and water bowls. But 10-year-old owner Kevin Burke of Long Beach lavished attention on the tortoise-shell Persian cat inside.

Officially named Lyrishans Christmas Carol but better known as Princess Diana, the cat was a Christmas present for the family “but mostly for me,” Kevin said, hugging his 9-month-old pet.

“I always wanted a pet, but a cat was my favorite choice,” he said. “I like playing games with her, and teasing her and sleeping with her.” The cat show, he said, was fun “because I like taking her to the (judging) rings and watching her win prizes.”

The cat was nicknamed Princess Diana, Kevin said, “because it’s a special name, and she’s special to us.”