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GC, BW, NW Dandy's Hey Jude of Ivy Cat BY PAM DEGOYLER Photos copyrighted by the individual photographers
Ivy Cats My name is Pam DeGolyer of Ivy Cats Persians & Exotics. I bought my first Persian in 2000 and attended my first cat show in 2001. I was new to the cat fancy and didn't know a quality cat so had to learn the hard way. I loved the look of bicolors, tabbies, Himalayans and solids. I was not experienced enough to know what was required of a cat breeder or exhibitor. I had teenagers still living at home, so I could not travel to the shows much until I bought my first Exotic from Michelle Broadbent of Sunstream cattery in 2006. With my kids grown and independent, I finally had the freedom to indulge my love of cats and breeding and showing. I joined both the INDY Cat Club and the ILLINI Cat Club. I started showing and finished my first Grand Champion in CFA — a blue mackerel tabby Exotic boy, Sunstream Peyton Manning of Ivy cat. I continued working with Sunstream's lines to produce my first regional winner in 2008, GC, RW Ivy Cat Mini Cooper. I added outcross lines to produce my first national winner, my homebred boy GC, BW, NW Ivy Cat Black Ice of Purrelli. I have now produced 20 Grands, 13 Regional Winners and 4 National Winners in a 5 year period.
Hey Jude Natalie is a Beatles fan — that's how she named Penny Lane. To follow in the Beatles theme, we wanted to name the kitten something from a Beatles' song too. I love the song "Hey Jude" so the kitten was called Dandy's Hey Jude of Ivy Cat. Jude was a 'next season' kitten, which means his kitten career ended a couple months into the new season. That meant we would be showing him as a kitten when the kitten counts were quite low — too low for national win regardless of how spectacular a kitten might be or how well he did. His first show as a kitten, Jude made 3 of the 8 finals. The judges told me he was so cute and had a wonderful head. I continued to show him as a kitten and he earned his RW as a kitten in Region 5.
Jude In Championship Once Jude finished his kitten career, he entered his first Championship show at 8 months. He was a 6-ring Grand — making 5 finals as Best Cat over all the other Grands in the finals. We were so pleased! We planned to retire him, taking him home to start breeding him to some girls . . . but Jude had other ideas. He was no lover. He hissed and wanted nothing to do with the girls whatsoever. Not good. We thought about it and decided that if Jude was not going to breed, we might as well take him back out and try for a low national win. The champion counts were still low at the beginning of the season, so we took it slow. When we couldn't find high count shows close to home, we had to start getting out and pushing hard. Jude was doing well at the shows and quickly moved up the national standings. Then we struggled with weight loss and Jude blowing coat. It took a few weeks to get him back in top shape, but we did it. Jude had been designated a Region 5 cat as Natalie lives in Phoenix, but since he was now living with me most of the his adult show career we decided to re-assign him to my region.
Ice Breaker Gerald Walker had been waiting for two years to get a top show cat from Ivy Cat to campaign in Premiership. In March 2013, I sent him a kitty named Ice Breaker on a co-ownership. Ice Breaker is a beautiful solid black Exotic. His father is one of our previous National winners, GC, BW, NW Ivy Cat Black Ice of Purrelli. His mother is GP, RW Ivy Cat Sookie, a brown tabby zot.
Gerald took Ice breaker home to San Francisco and started campaigning him in May 2013. He was doing brilliantly at the shows and by June Ice Breaker was #4 Cat in Premiership. They were well on their way to a national win!
Then Gerald became ill and had to be hospitalized. Ice Breaker missed his "dad". He was not eating well. By the time Gerald returned home from the hospital, Ice Breaker had lost weight and blown his coat. Gerald was was very concerned that Ice Breaker was no longer in top show condition. Gerald called me about what we could do to help Ice Breaker get back into condition and back on the campaign trail. We decided to discuss it at the Garden State cat show in July where I would be showing Jude. The Garden State Show Ice Breaker had dropped to #26 in the standings during his time away from the show ring. Gerald brought Ice Breaker to Garden State where he made three finals even though his weight and coat needed some work. Jude made all the finals except one. Gerald and I decided it would be best for Ice Breaker to come back home with me so I would work to get his weight and coat back in shape. It took a few weeks, but he was soon looking his best again. Since I was already campaigning Jude, we decided I would take Ice Breaker with me to the shows, giving Gerald time to recuperate.
A Weighty Matter So that is how I came to be showing two zots in 2013 for their co-owners — Jude in Championship and Ice Breaker in Premiership. Jude has a sweet personality. He loves to stay in the hotel so he can run around the room and chase crumbled balls of paper. Jude was a natural showman and he enjoyed the show world from beginning to end. A smart campaigner, Jude would nap while the judge was handling other cats, then when the judge would place him on the judging table, Jude was instantly wide awake and would play with any toy offered to him. He also loved climbing the poles on the judging table.
As the season moved into the winter months, both boys were in full coat and great weight. Ice Breaker was up to 13 lbs and Jude was at 10 lbs.
Campaign Adventures We drove to most of the midwest and eastern shows — battling snow, ice, floods, tornado warnings and severe storms. Most of our high count shows were out west, which meant flying — and especially in winter, that can mean delayed flights. Once we were stranded in Houston, TX for five days due to a ice storm in Indianapolis. Thank goodness we had friends to help us with extra food, money, and hotel bills while we were marooned. Speaking of friends, the campaign was so much fun because I often traveled with my good friends; Donna Zimmerman who was showing a Manx in Premiership and Sophia Staples who was campaigning her Persian in Championship.
Campaigning takes a lot of stamina. For me it often meant departing for the show on a Friday and not getting home until Monday. That only leaves four days to recover and catch up on my regular life. Fortunately I have a wonderful pet sitter who takes care of things when I am away, but for the last two months of the show season she was out of commission with a knee replacement. That's when my amazing husband, Rick, stepped up. He was working 60 hours during the week and taking care of the cattery on the weekends. Twice he even delivered kittens . . . and he had the house spotless clean for me every time I returned home from a show. Now that's what I call a real man! Without Rick, I couldn't have continued showing. First-Timers Jude and Ice Breaker continued to impress the judges and steadily made their way into the top half of the national standings. By season's end, both boys were national winners. GC, BW, NW Dandy's Hey Jude of Ivy Cat was CFA's 8th Best Cat in Championship and Best Exotic. GC, GP, NW Ivy Cat Ice Breaker of GR8Katz was CFA's 7th Best Cat in Premiership. This season's accomplishments are very special to me. For both Natalie and Gerald, this was their first national win. As their friend and the cats' co-owner, it was an honor to have been able to help them achieve their goals. I think that perhaps this is what CFA is really all about . . . sharing the love of pedigreed cats with new exhibitors and reaching out with experience to help them reach the heights of CFA.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Below are more photos from the show career of GC, BW, NW Dandy's Hey Jude of Ivy Cat Cream Spotted Tabby Exotic Shorthair Male CFA's 8th Best Cat In Championship 2013-2014 Born Oct 3, 2012
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Below are photos from the show career of GC, GP, NW Ivy Cat Ice Breaker of GR8Katz Black Exotic Shorthair Neuter CFA's 7th Best Cat In Premiership 2013-2014 Born February 25, 2012
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