Savannah and Opie American Curl babies...
Savannah introduced us to her new family on Friday, 1/26... just hours before we had to head down to San Diego to setup for the Del Mar Cat Show... what a sweetie.
Curl Essence Prince MyCurl... chocolate silver lynx point boy American Curl kitten
6/23... We took Prince to his first show yesterday. He finaled in every ring. I didn't bother to write down the count for each ring, but I did ask the first couple of judges to let me shoot a short video of some of the things they liked about this boy. The videos should help you to know what to look for when you are showing him. He was incredibly easy to wash... at least for his first show washes. Usually, the 2nd show groom is easier than the first. I wouldn't say he was easier the 2nd time, He didn't struggle that much for either bath. He didn't like it, but most cats don't. We washed him on Monday and then again Friday evening. I put a little GOOP on the top of his tail for the Friday wash just to make sure I didn't have any "stud tail" for the show. He doesn't need a lot of product for his coat. I used Davis Degreaser on dry coat first on the entire body... with a small amount of goop just on the top of his tail by his butt. add water and wash entire body. then rinse, rinse, rinse until I don't see any bubbles in the rinse water. Then, White on White on the entire body to brighten the coat. Again, rinse, rinse, rinse. A lot of people will use another product for the coat. Caroline Scott (original Procurlharem) recommended Crystal White before you do the conditioner. He doesn't need anything else except the conditioner. I used Oil of Orchid. I don't think you can find it anymore. I bought a gallon years ago. Whatever conditioner you use, it's a SMALL dab (no more than a small dime worth) in the palm of your hand. and ONLY on the body... not the tail. Again, rinse, rinse, rinse. I have a sprayer on my kitchen sink. When I think I have everything out, I put on the sprayer and it's amazing how much more comes out. Then, After Bath. Again, just on the body. It won't suds up. It neutralizes any product left in the coat. Then rinse, rinse, rinse. Then sprayer until I don't see any bubbles or suds. Then, block the sink so I can "float" him. I fill the sink to about his chest. I use the sprayer part of the time just to show me any bubbles or suds left from any of the products. Drain and float again until there are no bubbles or suds left from the products. The final rinse could be the most crucial part of the show wash. He's got a great coat but if you leave any product left in the coat, it won't be light and smooth. Then, squeeze out water before I wrap in a thick towel. Hold him in the towel to try to soak up as much water as you can. This is a good time to clean ears and clip nails while he's still wrapped in the towel. For ears, I use a damp thin wash rag. I have some old worn out washcloths. that I use. And ONLY DAMP. Squeeze out as much water as you can. Use the damp rag to clean the inside of the ear. Then use the Qtips. You may need the pointed ones in the makeup section at the drug store to get into the folds. Judges will expect your ears to be clean. Curls get a lot of black earwax and it shows more on these tall open white ears. Your Sugar Curl cat may not show as much. Also, I find that for most cats, one ear will have more wax than the other. It's not a big deal. Don't let it concern you.
Now the dry. I have a Flying Pig dryer. They are pricey and it might be hard for your cats to deal with the higher velocity of the airflow, but it's worth the month. I professional breeder turn me on to this dryer. We used Oster on a stand for years. The Flying Pig is more air than heat. It has a light warm heat. This breeder commented on one of my cats about 10 yrs ago saying I was drying out the coat with my dryer so for that cat, I used to sit outside on a swing to let him air dry. It took FOREVER for him to dry but he did start doing better. Coat feel is HUGE for the judges. Several of the judges below comment on Prince's coat. It takes both of us to dry the cat with the bigger dryer. One to hold and one to direct the hose. I think they sell a stand to hold the hose if you don't have anyone to help.
Now the dry. I have a Flying Pig dryer. They are pricey and it might be hard for your cats to deal with the higher velocity of the airflow, but it's worth the month. I professional breeder turn me on to this dryer. We used Oster on a stand for years. The Flying Pig is more air than heat. It has a light warm heat. This breeder commented on one of my cats about 10 yrs ago saying I was drying out the coat with my dryer so for that cat, I used to sit outside on a swing to let him air dry. It took FOREVER for him to dry but he did start doing better. Coat feel is HUGE for the judges. Several of the judges below comment on Prince's coat. It takes both of us to dry the cat with the bigger dryer. One to hold and one to direct the hose. I think they sell a stand to hold the hose if you don't have anyone to help.
These 1st 2 are Lorraine Shelton. Lorraine spent a lot of personal one on one time with Grace. She really tries to follow everything Grace has taught her.
I took this at the show. We brought Celine with us as a companion cat. Prince didn't really need the company, but we were hoping the experience would help Celine come out of her shell. It helped, but I still need to work on her to be able to place her in a new home.
This is just the boys at home wrestling in this small box. It's amazing how they can turn a small box on the floor a place to play. (BTW, we just vacuumed the day before we took this video.)
Profile is also important for a show cat. The nose should be straight from the tip of the nose leather to a slight curve up to the forehead. We are always watching for the "bump" on the nose that shows up on a lot of curls. I have a couple of photos showing that straight nose with gentle curve into the forehead. The first picture above is a great shot of the profile.
We curvature of the ears is usually easier to look at from the back. What we are looking for is that exact same curvature in both ears. Frequently, one ear will be more curled than the other.
I was looking through the pictures I took yesterday for a shot of Prince's face from the front to show the eye shape and placement. The eyes are a WALNUT... not round or oval (or almond). The true walnut is round on the bottom and curved on top but not rounded. The curl standard is all about BALANCE. You need to think 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. You should be able to look at the curl from the front and if you were to form an imaginary line from the base of the outside of the ear to the nose, it should look like everything is 1/3,1/3,1/3. The CFA Breed Presentation has an illustration of this. (In fact that CFA Breed Presentation is by far the best teaching on evaluating this breed. Mike and I redid the CFA Presentation when he was first elected Breed Council Secretary and no one has been able to improve on it.)
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Another thing judges are supposed to look for is that imaginary line flowing from the tip of the ears to the center of the back of the head.
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I have other videos on the different kitten pages with all 3 kittens in them, so please be sure to check out the other pages for more cute videos.
5/31... Here's the new video I just took today.
5/22... Prince has been my first choice for a show cat if we decided to go to shows this year Prince's ears are tall with nice gentle curvature. Prince is 4 months old. We consider the ears "set" at 4 months. Up until about 4 months, the curvature of the ear can still change. It usually doesn't, but if you're thinking about a candidate to show, you're kind of "crossing your fingers" until the kittens are closer to 4 months. We've had potential show cats that looked perfect at 3 months but the ears opened up those last few weeks to put the kitten at the "border line" for a good show cat.
Prince ears from the back. Prince's ears are very tall with just the right amount of curl. Our Standard says tips should point to center of the back of the head plus in the ideal amount of curl, you should be able to image a penny fitting into the curvature of the ear.
Profile should show a slight, gentle rise from the nose into the forehead with a straight nose.
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4/4 videos... We tried to get new still shots of all the kittens, but we settled on just posting these new videos. We just woke them up from a nap. We have a storm coming in this afternoon and tomorrow so we wanted to take advantage of what little natural light we still had. Hope you enjoy these short videos.
4/1... I have a couple of new pictures and videos of Celine and Ace that we took this afternoon. Rather than post them on both pages, I put them all on Ace's page... (but really, mostly because I just LOVE these first couple of pictures of Celine and I didn't want to distract from them. Mike and I both made them our wallpaper on our phones so we could see them all the time.)