#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The international exhibition, organized by the Krasnoyarsk cat lovers club Elite of Siberia, was held as part of the charity project Sprouts of Good, designed to draw attention to the problem of abandoned pets.
The event was attended by both representatives of catteries, who received an additional opportunity to introduce their pets to city residents, and ordinary Norilsk residents who are not involved in breeding cats. Without a doubt, each cat attracted a lot of attention from the audience: people admired the graceful animals, and it seems that more than once over the weekend, a children’s “Oh, what a cat! Mom, let’s get a kitten!” was heard.
Alexey, the owner of an oriental cat cattery, brought several pets to the exhibition, including eight-month-old chocolate Glasha and raven-colored Yesenia. He says that cats of this breed are popular with Norilsk residents:
“Kittens move to new homes at the age of three months, and by the time they move there are no more free kittens left. These cats are clingy by nature, in a good sense: they always try to be close to people”.
There was also a six-year-old, almost 12-kilogram Maine Coon named Mason. The jury had already awarded him the day before. Mason’s owner shared that this was not the first time the cat was at the exhibition, so he generally reacted to attention with royal calm. However, when he got very tired, he began to growl.
“This is my first Maine Coon, and I have two more cats of the same breed at home. This breed requires careful care, they need to be accustomed to grooming, because they are semi-longhaired animals, so their fur gets matted without proper care. It is important to take them to a specialist at least once every three months”.
Representatives of the cattery share that Maine Coons are very gentle in character, extremely calm cats. The breed is widespread in the city, moreover, some take one animal, and after a while – a second or third. The cost of a purebred Maine Coon with documents and gene tests starts from 50 thousand rubles.
Bengal cat Miley of a rare black silver color was at the exhibition for the first time: the cat is only five months old, so all the exhibition experience is still ahead, says her owner Olesya:
“We brought her from the Krasnoyarsk cattery. This is not our first Bengal. These cats have strong character, are very active, jumping, they need attention. This is not the kind of cat that will curl up and sleep all the time. But they are friendly, cheerful and trainable, like dogs, they can, for example, bring a toy on request”.
Tusya, a Kurilian bobtail, is the only representative of her breed not only at the exhibition, but also in all of Norilsk. This little lynx of a unique shade of fur called sunshine (or Siberian gold), came to Norilsk from a Novosibirsk nursery. Her owners say that they plan to open a nursery of this breed in Norilsk. Tusya herself is already waiting for a groom in Novosibirsk.
“This is an aboriginal breed of cats that lived for more than three centuries in the natural environment of the Kuril Islands. But many experts believe that their ancestors were Japanese bobtails. This breed was not bred artificially. Because of this, they have good health. The Kurilian bobtail is a real Russian breed of cats, there is no other like it anywhere. Its distinctive feature is the absence of a tail. These cats have the character of a dog, real companion cats. They can even be trained. But future owners should keep in mind: it grows up to eight kilograms”, says Maria Tulina, the owner of seven-month-old Fortuna, known as Tusya.
It is interesting that this exhibition brought together representatives of the rarest breeds, as well as cats that have not yet found their home and live in the Talnah shelter Koshki-Murloshki. The gray handsome Bezymyanny and the white cat Lesik came to the exhibition from the shelter. The latter had already been adopted by a family, but then the cat again ended up outside and returned to the shelter.
“We have gathered here today to get the city residents acquainted with our shelter. Today we have up to fifty cats, and there are dogs too. The number of our pets is not strictly limited: we try to help everyone we can”, said Elena Solovieva, a representative of the nursery. “Unfortunately, people are not actively taking them home. I would like Norilsk residents to treat animals left without a home with more warmth. And we are always happy to help: anyone who wants to can bring us animal food, transfer money – details about the shelter, the financial report are posted in our VKontakte group”.
Olga Itygina, an international expert in all breeds of cats, a member of the exhibition jury, noted that she supports the idea of adopting cats not only from catteries, but also from shelters:
“If you choose an animal from a nursery, you can be sure about the qualities inherent in the breed. This makes it easier to choose a pet. But I am a supporter of people taking homeless or simply mongrel cats. Even if they do not meet the standard, they can become very loving pets. Moreover, today people often bring domestic cats without a clear breed to exhibitions and are rightfully proud of them”.
Judging by this exhibition, Norilsk residents love cats and know how to take care of them:
“All the animals presented are of a very high class. We evaluate the condition of their fur, external parameters of conformity to the breed. For example, someone should be long, thin and sonorous at any age, no matter whether it is a kitten or an adult animal, another can be more compact or heavy. The length of the fur of different breeds also differs. All the animals are also prepared amazingly: I just had one exhibitor, the owner said that she did the grooming herself. I was very surprised, because this is her first cat! In general, Norilsk residents approach the maintenance and preparation of cats correctly and responsibly. In Norilsk, there are many wonderful Maine Coons of different colors, and there are no aggressive animals. This indicates that the owners love their cats very much”.
She noted that the largest number of Maine Coons were presented at the exhibition:
“But there are also some real rarities: for example, Munchkins, short-legged cats. A very strong cattery of Orientals and Siamese. There are animals of complex colors, for example, tortoiseshell, such elegant ones, a wonderful Kurilian bobtail, shown in a single representer”.
Over the two days of the exhibition, visitors saw up to 80 animals – rare and not. But the owners say that each one is absolutely unique, which is impossible to disagree with. Representatives of the winning cats received official awards, as well as prizes from the exhibition partners.
Earlier, we wrote that Norilsk residents can get acquainted with the diversity of the North animals.
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Text: Maria Sokolova, Photos: Tatyana Guliyeva, Anastasia Gerasimchuk, Oksana Pavlyuk, Rufina Karmayeva
