Getting ready for the show tomorrow...

Rockstar is looking nice.  He is really enjoying all the attention I've been giving him :)  He loves grooming and one on one time.

I wish I was a better Persian groomer.  I have come a long way, but there are still things I really need to learn.  No matter what I do, I still kind of feel like he is unfinished.  It's his face.  He is in kind of an in-between stage--his coat is much bigger than it was, but it still isn't enough to support a whole lot of face and head sculpting.  So while I have made things look pretty round, he still looks a bit bushy to me in spots.  If I work on those too much I think it will look out of balance.  Always reminding myself I can always take a bit more later, but if I do too much, I can't put it back on!  There are some REALLY great Persian groomers here in Region 5--so the competition is stiff, and my developing skills leave me feeling insecure sometimes.  I am anxious to hear what people have to say this time around.

It makes the Exotics so appealing.  LOL.  I get such a sense of accomplishment and pride when I make him look good.  But I always have that little voice tripping me up, and wondering what I screwed up.  My Exotics are easier, by comparison.  The bathing is very similar, even the blow dry.  But "sculpting" them is mostly just watching for hairs sticking out, or bulges developing where they ought not, and plucking them a couple times a week -- along with stray wrong colored hair in the color blocks.  You can do so much more with Persians to make them look great, but if you lack skill and confidence--it can be a daunting task.

/end blathering :)

I have some AWESOME pictures Stephen and I took last weekend of his and Kozi's babies, which I need to upload here (soon, after this weekend).  Stephen offered to put them on his tablet and on display in our benching area--for all the world to see.  I can't wait--they're beautiful.  It is like a prelude to their coming out to show this winter!

DECIDED TO SHOW ROCKSTAR THIS SATURDAY...

I've decided I am going go ahead and enter Rockstar , my Persian male, in the Superstition cat show this Saturday.  I had been looking forward to it since last spring when I first started showing him in his short coat.  Some background information--I originally took Rockstar on as a project kitty--he was a nearly 4 year old male who'd been living in a cattery environment, and one that had never been shown.  He'd been clipped not too long before I met him, and had lots of stains from liking to dump his food in his water, letting it get mushy, and then wading thru it, amongst other things. :)  Since he is white, and his coat is naturally very cottony and porous--you can imagine the stains. I brought him out a month after he came home with me, and he looked pretty good,  He is such a nice kitty--quality-wise, and especially in heart.  He did really well at the couple shows I took him to--despite having no ruff, short hair, crispy spots in his coat where I'd had to bleach the stains, and having no public experience.  Then the show season wound down for summer, and I got busy...

When I was showing him in the spring I envisioned that by October he would have a big, long, healthy coat, and that I would bring him back out and knock everyone's socks off... Well, it is October ;)  We had a hot summer here in Phoenix, Arizona -- a particularly hot summer, even by our standards.  And my family was tight on money, so we kept it a little warmer than I'd hoped we might in the house.  

End result?  He does not have the totally amazing coat I was dreaming about.  BUT... I was looking at his spring pictures, and he looks sooo much better.  It's all new coat, all well maintained coat.  It's considerably longer.  He has a small ruff.  His tail is beautiful.  He's carrying a little more weight, although he's dropped a bit in the last month <.<