VENTURA : Cat Show Breeds Fun at Fairgrounds

Maybe it wasn’t glamorous, but it was a chance to earn some money and to work her first cat show. Julie Pampuch, 13, a member of Ventura’s Loma Vista 4-H Club, made $25 cleaning cages.

“One cat sprayed one time, but it wasn’t that bad,” Pampuch said.

Summing up the day’s experiences, Pampuch concluded, “It was fun.”

And that seemed to be the verdict of nearly everyone at the Poinsettia City Cat Club’s January cat show, which was held at the Ventura County Fairgrounds on Saturday and will continue today. The two-day event features about 160 cats judged in numerous categories by eight judges from across the country.

Show manager Becky Orlando said the club, whose members are mostly from Los Angeles and Orange counties, usually puts on at least one show a year.

Kathy Teasdale of Camarillo, who is contract manager at Point Mugu Pacific Missile Test Center, entered her tortoise-shell Persian, Katpourri’s Karamel Dream. Teasdale said she’s been breeding cats for about 10 years and goes to about 20 shows a year. “I’m just out for fun today,” she said.

Matt Beatty’s cat Momesso won the ribbon for best cat in the all breeds category. Beatty said Momesso is one of the top seal-point Birmans in the nation. There are only 4,000 Birmans in all of North America, he said.

Beatty, who is in the Navy and lives in San Diego, said he and his wife, Roberta, have been breeding cats for about 2 1/2 years and they go to about 20 shows a year.

Contest judge Robert Molino of Philadelphia has been judging cat shows since 1983; he bred cats for about seven years before that. Now he travels across the country to about 36 shows a year.

“This would be considered a very small show,” Molino said. “Larger shows can have about 450 cats.”

With his expenses and fees paid by the sponsoring cat clubs, Molino said his hobby doesn’t cost him much. He judges the cat shows because he enjoys it, but he said he doesn’t mind escaping the cold weather in Pennsylvania at this time of the year. Next week, he’ll be judging a show in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.