Cat Breeder’s Dictionary

June 2025
| The Cat Breeder's Philosophy
| By Patricia Peters
Attitude Acres American Bobtails

ANGULATION: Degree to which exhibitor will bend over backwards to impress the judges.
BALANCE: How to arrange the checkbook so your spouse won’t know how much money you spent on cat shows last month. Often done in the bathroom with the door locked.
BENCHING: Place where the entry clerk puts you… usually at the far end of hall, near the concession stand or the intercom loudspeakers.
BITCH: a) Name for a lady dog. b) Name often overheard at cat shows, although not always to describe a lady dog.
CAGE: a) Place in the judging ring where you put your cat prior to judging. b) Place where your cat decides to spray for the first time.
CARRIER: a) Container used to transport your cat to the show hall. b) Container cat poops in one minute before you reach the show hall.
COAT: The hairy covering of a cat. It often falls out the day after you enter a show.
CURTAINS: The things you use to decorate your benching cage – often much nicer then those that hang in the windows of your home.
DAM: a) A lady cat with children. b) Expression frequently overheard at cat shows as losers leave the ring.
ELBOW: Method of speeding your journey to ringside when you are in final call.
EXPRESSION: Look adopted by cats while staring at the toy on the judges stand.
FANCIER: Degree to which some gentlemen exhibitors dress more than others… especially if they own Persian cats.
FEATHERING: What winners are accused of doing to Judges’ nests.
FINALS: What the judge’s top 10 cats are called back to be awarded. Usually followed by the words, bitch and dam.
FINAL CALL: What the ring clerk gives when your cat is using the litter box.
FRONT: The part of the show hall where entry clerks are up to their ears in paper work.

HEIGHT: How far your cat jumps off the judging table when startled by a noise in the show hall.
HOCK: The place your cat’s tail should a) reach b) exceed c) not come anywhere near if you are a Bobtail.
HOCK (alternate meaning): Something you do to jewelry such as wedding rings in order to finance your cat showing hobby.
KITTENS: Small, catlike food-processing machines with the ability to smell up an entire house and collectively destroy your new sofa. These creatures have not yet been perfected as they can be dangerous to weak hearts and bank accounts.
LITTER: a) Trash left all over the building and parking lot after a cat show. b) The thing that never seems to show up on day 65.
MASK: What to wear when you have the owners you sold a pet kitten to six months ago, turn up with it entered at the show.
MUZZLE: What to put on your kids at a cat show to prevent them from calling your competition what they overheard you call him last night at home.
NUMBER: a) What is given to your cat to know which show cage it is to be placed in. b) Often a pink or blue card. Often the wrong color. c) What is written down on the back of your hand.
OUTCROSSING: What your spouse tells the minister you are doing out in the cattery with the stud and the queen.
PAWPRINTS: Marks left on your floor when the kitten plays in its water bowl then visits the cat box.
POINTS: Invisible award for winning which you cannot convince your spouse is more important than a cash prize.
QUEEN: a) Female cat with children. b) Something that the owner of the BEST of the BEST is usually called (but not to their face).
RING CLERK: Person responsible for calling cats to show ring. Often a psychic who will call at the worst possible time.
SHOW: Place where various crazy cat ladies congregate to see who is best overall.
SHOW RING: Area in which select cats are placed in small cages to be teased and tormented by various toys and/or irritated by the presence of other cats.
SHOW CAGE: Place where your cat decides to spray for the first time.
STUD: a) Name for an intact male cat. b) Name often used to describe male exhibitors, most notably, owners of Maine Coon and Norwegian Forest cats.
WATCH: a) Something that is never needed because shows never start on time. b) Something you do at ringside from behind your hand when your cat is finaled for the first time.

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“You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats.”
*Colonial American proverb