Chibi
Proud mother of- the Gang of- Four! | 
 | | Purred: Sat Apr 26, '08 11:06pm PST |  | |  | | Thanks for your input, Rory. We're learning little by little as we go along about the world of showing (and breeding, which is related). We're located in Japan, and while we're showing with the CFA, which follows the same standards as in the U.S., I think there may be a few differences in the judges' preferences here. For example, when we occasionally have an American judge come to a show, they are definitely more enthusiastic about Leila and me than the Japanese judges are. There's one Japanese judge who has a definite liking for torties, but as a well-known Maine Coon breeder told me yesterday, "Well, she's a Persian breeder, and there are a lot of tortie Persians, so that's probably why she likes your torties." A left-pawed compliment or what?!? I have been told that torties are generally not well-received in the show ring, but if the cat is a truly superior specimen (which includes, of course, being unusually big for a female), they do occasionally become Grands.
I'm curious about which colors are preferred in the United States. Although I don't like cultural generalizations very much, I would say that the Japanese tend to prefer the orthodox, which in the Maine Coon world means brown tabby or brown tabby and white. I wonder if most Americans prefer brown tabbies as well.
Right now in the Japanese cat show world, among the Maine Coons being shown, silver tabbies and, more recently, whites have become quite popular, and do quite well in the show ring. But I have yet to see a black cat. Red tabbies, like torties, may be more popular in the States than in Japan--there are not too many competing, although among the ones that are currently being shown, a half-nephew of mine is one of the top cats in Japan this year. My own breeder says that red tabbies sometimes sell well and sometimes don't, although he mostly sells to pet owners rather than breeders/showers. There's a breeder in the U.S. that specializes in BIG Maine Coons, and they have a particular preference for red tabbies, so I think that maybe red tabbies, like torties, may be more popular in the U.S. than in Japan.
I love black cats, too (I had one for 18 years), so I'm interested in getting a black and white for my next Maine Coon (yes, there will be more...). Again, black and white cats are fairly rare in the show ring, although I don't know if this is because they simply are not as common or popular as the standard brown tabby, or because they are not as successful in the show ring.
Another color class I'm interested in is the cameo tabby. They appear from time to time in the ring and seem to do well enough, but again, are vastly outnumbered by the brown tabbies.
If I got the meaning of your post right, not only are black cats at a disadvantage in the show ring in the U.S., they are not even much in demand as pets, which is strange, because many people are wild about black cats. Does this mean that Americans, like Japanese, prefer the orthodox brown tabby Maine Coon?
Sorry to go on and on like this...it's my new (actually, only) hobby, and quite fascinating to me, especially since I have so much to learn.
Hope to hear from you again!  |  |  | |  |
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