Spectator's Guide to a TICA Cat Show

Spectators are welcome to walk  through the benching area as well as watch the  cats being judged in the rings.  We request that you do not touch any of the cats.  This helps eliminate the possibility of transmitting any disease from cat to cat.  Also, please do not enter the actual judging area while the judges are handling the cats. Take a seat in the judging area and enjoy the show.  Please yield to people who are carrying cats to and from the show rings. 

This Spectator's Guide will help you understand what is happening in the Show Hall. It will explain the judging and scoring system used by the International Cat Association (TICA). 

What Happens at a Cat Show

The Show Hall is divided into three general areas - vendor booths, benching area and show rings. 

Vendor Booths:  Most shows have several Spectators  are welcome to walk  through the benching area  as well as watch the  cats being judged in the rings.  We request that you do not touch any of the cats.  This helps eliminate the possibility of transmitting any disease from cat to cat.  Also, please do not enter the actual judging area while the judges are handling the cats. Take a seat in the judging area and enjoy the show.  Please yield to people who are carrying cats to and from the show rings. 

This Spectator's Guide will help you understand what is happening in the Show Hall. It will explain the judging and scoring system used by the International Cat Association (TICA). 

What Happens at a Cat Show

The Show Hall is divided into three general areas - vendor booths, benching area and show rings. 

Vendor Booths:  Most shows have several vendors. There will usually be at least one cat food representative, cat products, cat related gift items, a photographer and animal welfare organizations.    Many items sold here can not be easily found outside of pet shows. 

Benching Area:  The benching area is the series of cages where cats reside ("are benched") while they wait their  turn to be judged in the various rings.   The cats' owners are generally found nearby.   Most breeders are happy to  discuss the merits of their breed with you.  If you are interested in purchasing a purebred cat, this is a great place  to get a close up view of the different breeds and learn about the breeds' characteristics and requirements. 

Show Ring:  The Show Ring is the judging area. The judge's name will be posted above the judging area with an AB or SP next to it.  This tells you whether they will be judging a All Breed (AB) or a 
Specialty (SP) Ring.  In an All Breed Ring, all cats are judged against one another within their category (i.e., kitten, cat, alter, household pets) regardless of coat length.  In a Specialty Ring, the longhairs are only judged against other longhairs and theshorthairs only against other shorthairs within their category.

TICA uses a top 10 format.  If there are 25 cats in a category, Top 10 rosettes will be awarded. Nine rosettes are awarded for 24 cats and so on. For 20 or less cats, only the top 5 cats will get rosettes.  Scoring is different for AB and SP rings. Because it is more difficult to make it into an AB ring, more points are awarded for wins. 

TICA has a set of standards for each  breed which judges use  to determine their best cat in breed and show.  The cats are not judged against  each other but rather against the standard (of perfection) for its breed.   Therefore, if a  judge makes an American Shorthair their Best Cat,  the judge is saying that, in their opinion, this cat most closely fits the standard for its breed as described by TICA.  And because each judge  interprets the standards  a little bit differently, the winning cats will vary from ring to ring. 

Two day cat shows generally vary from eight to twelve ring shows. This means that one half (4-6) rings will be held each show day. Some times a club will put on a three day show,  usually with 4-5 rings on Friday night. 

Each ring is a separate show. The judge in each ring will see every cat entered in the show on that day.  The judge will award the rosettes for their ring as they see it. 

While the Judge and the cats are the main focus of the Show Ring,  there are two other important people in the ring. The Ring Clerk controls the ring.  They sit at the Judge's Table and record the results of the judging. The clerk compares their book to the judge's book to ensure that they both agree and no mistakes have been made in the scoring. The other person in the Ring is the Steward.  They are responsible for disinfecting  each cage before a cat is put in the judging cage.

All the  cats and kittens are called up to the  ring for judging by the Clerk. The cat's assigned number will be above itscage.  Cats are called by breed, division and color. Divisions are based on coat pattern  (ie solid, tabby, shaded,particolor, etc.).   In some breeds there are many colors within these divisions. Some breeds have only  one color  and division.

Numbers are assigned to each cat in the show according to the category in which the cat falls:

Kittens: purebred kittens between 4-8 months of age.

             1-49   LH kittens      51-99   SH kittens 

Cats: purebred registered cats over 8 months of age.  They have not been neutered or spayed.

        101-199   LH cats       201-299   SH cats 

Alters: purebred registered cats over 8 months of age which have been spayed or neutered.

        300-349   LH alters    350-399   SH alters 

Household Pets: kitten and cats. HHP's are judged on appearance, condition, and personality.

        400-449   LH HHPs   450-499    SH HHPs     
        Kitten numbers come before adult numbers. 

New Breed and Color: experimental breeds of cats or new colors of already accepted breeds. 

         500's 

For Sale or Exhibition Only: Cats in the show hall but aren't being shown. 

         600's 
 

Judging

The Judges

The judges evaluating each cat comprise an elite group in the cat fancy. These are people with many years of both breeding and showing experience. They have a broad knowledge of genetics and biology, a thorough knowledge of  the standards of each breed. Each judge has spent countless hours of study and testing, apprenticing in the show ring under several judges before becoming a judge. They are required to take continuing education classes. 

Cats are primarily judged on conformation. That is, each cat is judged against  a written standard of perfection for its breed. This standard is a detailed description of the ideal physical characteristic for each breed.  A point value  has been assigned to each characteristic depending on the importance of  that characteristic to the breed. 

    Scoring

Some of the judges will be doing an All Breed format which means they systematically examine all the cats in a major category - kittens, cats, alters, HHPs and NBC.  Then they will pick their top cats in each category. The judges doing a Specialty format will do the same but they will then divide each major category into Longhairs and Shorthairs. 

    Color Classes

The cats entered in the show are each assigned a number. This is their "identification tag" for the show. The cats are summoned to the judging ring by breed group called for by number.  The competition and elimination begins at the  level called "Color Class".   The judges are looking  for the best examples of  the  breed in  question within that particular color class.   They closely examine the heads, bodies and coats of each cat, and by handling them they can evaluate things that are not outwardly obvious, such as muscle tone. They will put colored "flats" or ribbons on the cages. The ranking of the Color Class awards is as follows: Blue for First Place, Red for Second Place, Yellow for Third Place, Green for Fourth Place and White for Fifth Place. 

    Divisions

After considering all the cats within the appropriate Color Classes, the judge moves on to the next bigger grouping - the Division - and makes choices for further ranking the cats by quality. The Divisions TICA uses are: Solid, Tabby,  Tortie, Shaded, Particolor, Solid Point, Lynx (Tabby) Point, Tortie Point and Particolor Point.  Within each Division  the  judge will pick  what they consider to be the best three  cats as follows:  Black for Best of Division, Purple for Second and Orange for Third. 

    Breeds

After finishing at the division level, a selection is then made from the top Division cats for Best, Second Best and Third Best of Breed.   These Best of Breed cats are those which, more than all others in their breed  competition, most closely represent the ideal set forth by the standard of Perfection. 

    Finals

The rosettes are awarded during Finals to the judge's choice of the Top Five to Ten  (depending on the number of cats in the show within each major category).  These are selected primarily from the Best of Breed winners.  Reaching the Finals level means the judge thought the cat was among the very best entered in the show. Final awards carry points which are used toward  attaining championship rankings.   Presentation of the Final awards is usually very interesting, and you  will enjoy hearing the comments by the judges on the outstanding features each of the cats had that made them worthy of selection for a Finals award. 

See the breeds page for a short description/link of the different cat breeds shown in TICA.

Developed by Robin Williams