Cats on show in Ōtaki this weekend

Lyall Payne with Graham. Photo / Rosalie Willis

A six-month-old kitten caused a stir in the Kāpiti News office last week when Lyall Payne brought in Graham, a blue-eyed, long-haired Birman named after vet Graham Kirker.

The reason for the furry interruption was to talk about the Kāpiti-Horowhenua Cat Club which is hosting a tribute show this Sunday in honour of two stalwart club officials — Margaret Ridge and Val Richards — who have passed away since the club's last show in September 2016.

Bathed, blow-dried and groomed to perfection over 100 cats of many different types of breed will be on display at the Ōtaki Memorial Hall from 10am to 4pm.

"These two people were larger than life," said Lyall, the show's organiser.

"Margaret was our chairwoman for many years and a patron of the club and Val was our vice president.

"If you'd meet Val you would never forget her, she was extremely outgoing and a real character.

"We've invited people, judges, who had a lot of respect for the two who have gone, and who Margaret and Val in return had a lot of respect for.

"As soon as I started talking to people and mentioned Margaret and Val they all said yes straight away."

With 120 cats registered for the show, the show proposes to be a successful one with cats such as Graham being judged on confirmation, compared to a written standard.

"They don't actually compare a cat to another but to a written standard. With a Persian for example, everything about a Persian has to be round.

"Round eyes, a round head, round ears and a round body whereas a Birman is a different style.

"It's still a long haired cat but its more medium in length with a longer tale, a nice little roman nose, point colouring of course and you want those four feet to be nice and even."

Lyall has been a judge in the past but is too busy organising this year's show to be involved in judging.

With judges from New Zealand and Australia and cats and their owners from all around New Zealand the show will be a tribute to two larger than life characters who were so important and influential in the hobby of showing and breeding cats.