BY A WHISKER

Keen-eyed judges, obsessive owners and three-hour blow dries: inside the strange, enduring world of competitive cat shows

- Sirin Kale

The air in the sports centre has a base note of urine. A soundtrack of plaintive mewling is interrupted occasionally by the sharp scratch of a hiss. Humans dart around, attending to the whims of their lusciously furred, bouffant companions. Brushes are wielded; coats are teased to 80s volumes. Over the PA system, comes an announcement. “Long-haired kittens are required in-ring five!”

I have come to the 150th-anniversary celebration show of LondonCats Worldwide (LCWW), in south-east London, where the first cat show took place in 1871. Over two days, 200 competitors will converge on the Crystal Palace national sports centre, cat carriers in hand. In six rings, judges will assess each animal for temperament, condition and conformity to the breed standard, in front of an audience of paying spectators.

Cats of all stripes stare out solemnly from rows of carriers. Somalis, Siamese, Siberians and shorthairs. Balinese, Maine Coons, Scottish folds and Cornish Rex. Persians, of course – those majestic emperors of the species. Abyssinians, with the ticked coat of an African wildcat. Sphinxes, caught in the nude, startled and abashed. Syrupy-sweet Ragdolls with cherubic expressions. Bengals that look like leopards shrunk in the wash. And moggies, of course.

“I have the best job,” says Steven Meserve, dangling a kitten before the crowd. The US-born founder of the LCWW got into the cat business in his first year of university, when he saw an advert in the newspaper for a Bengal. “This was in the early 90s, when Bengals were a pipe dream,” he says. (The first modern Bengals were bred in the 70s, but they were not commonplace until the mid-90s.) “I bought one and the breeder encouraged me to put it in a show. The rest is history.”