Letting About 800 Cats Out of the Bag : Animals: An international show at the Anaheim Convention Center centers on responsible pet ownership, but a lot of felines will be strutting their stuff.

In the ancient days of Egypt, people worshiped cats, shaving off their eyebrows when their pets died and mourning until they grew back.

In the sweltering days of Anaheim, cat lovers aren’t quite as drastic when it comes to their pets, but they aren’t far from it.

The fourth annual International Cat Show opened Friday at the Anaheim Convention Center, where more than 26,000 humans are expected to visit the more than 800 cats entered in contests and shows.

The newest trick in finding the purr fect pet is the Sheba Selectacat computer that matches humans to their ideal cat. The computer made its debut Friday at the convention.

Developed for Kal Kan by Marketdisc of Tustin, the computer has a television screen that plays music and asks potential cat owners 10 questions about their lives: how much they groom their pets, how much they plan to spend on cat food and how much time the cat will be alone. The program then selects three breeds from its 20 in memory and displays a video and small history of each.

“The better the match, the more rewarding the relationship between the human and the cat can be,” said Alice Ragenovich, Kal Kan’s Sheba Selectacat spokesperson. “The computer gives information about a breed that people might not know much about, about its personality and temperament.”

Responsible pet ownership is the focus of the three-day event, organizers say. Experts are on hand to show cat lovers how to groom and feed their cats as well as how to tend to their mental well-being. Pedigreed and homeless cats are available for purchase or adoption.

The show also features more than a dozen contests with hundreds of awards for cats exhibiting everything from the longest whiskers to the splashiest color. There is also a separate contest for formerly homeless felines that look most like their owners.

Dave Stejkowski, 25, and Donna Erickson, 24, both of Los Angeles, hope to win the best household pet contest with their shelter-found feline. The couple spent almost a month searching for the perfect pet and say their cat, Kitty Kiss Sushi, chose them. When Donna picked up the animal, a gray-and-white mixed breed, she immediately offered her tummy for petting. And when Stejkowski tried to take her, Sushi jumped on Donna’s shoulder.

“I think we’ve been adopted,” Donna remembers saying.

Though the show’s goal is to educate people about cats, owners and breeders have traveled to Anaheim from all over the country to show off their precious pets. Some cats come from as far as Europe and Japan.

“If you want to see a cat, it’s here,” said Georgann Chambers of Mira Loma. Chambers has been breeding cats for 13 years and has 40 of her own. She said she’s entering 10 cats this weekend, including a Ragdoll, Blueberry Muffin.

“They don’t think they are your cat,” she said of the breed that originated in Southern California. “They’re convinced you are their human.”

About 40 of the 48 known breeds of cat are represented at the show and one new breed, the Selkirk, will be introduced.

“Cat shows have always been around, but they have been smaller, like Girl Scouts with people giving each other awards,” said Vicky Markstein, who leads the team that produces the show. Markstein and her husband, Peter, both computer scientists for IBM, have been instrumental in orchestrating cat shows in the United States.

The Southern California show is the largest cat convention in the West, Markstein said. The attraction to cats, she said, is the change to a more urban lifestyle with more people living in apartments that are empty all day because both spouses work. She said cats can survive in that kind of environment, but dogs do not fare as well.

Statistics released by the Pet Food Institute in Washington support Markstein’s claim. At last count, domestic cats outnumbered domestic dogs by more than 7 million. And the cat population increased almost 5% from 1983 to 1987, while the dog population decreased almost 6%.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about cats,” Markstein said. “They are too independent, they don’t listen. Then you get one and say, ‘Oh my God, there must be something special about this one. It listens to me.’ But that’s the way they all are.”

And there are plenty of varieties on hand to generate a spark in the cat lover: rare breeds such as the Abyssinian and the practically hairless Sphynx and the traditional American Shorthair and Persian. There are exotic cats and local cats, cats with pedigrees and those without, all looking to win.

“The wonderful thing about a show is that you get to see breeds of cats. These are not your neighbor’s cat,” said Elinor Silverman, press agent for INCATS, the producers of the show and four others in New York, Dallas, San Francisco and Miami.

The show is open today and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and costs $8 for adults. Children under 12 and senior citizens get in for $4. Proceeds benefit Actors and Others for Animals, a North Hollywood-based animal rights organization.