When preparing your cat for an exhibition, you need to take care of a number of important points, including the animal’s temporary home. A cat show tent is more than just a container for a living exhibit. A correctly selected accessory will provide not only comfort for the pet and its owner, but also the attention of the audience, and will also increase the chances of success at the show.
Varieties
When choosing a model, you should focus on many factors: size, design, functionality, color. A durable tent can serve as a portable home when traveling and travelling. Based on size and design, the following types are distinguished:
- Single - suitable for small breeds, but not spacious enough for an adult with all the attributes. These models are best used for young cats or kittens.
- One and a half - optimal for adult animals: you can freely place both a cat and her things in them.
- Double - will be a good option for both one cat and two. partitions with zippers allow you to divide the tent into sections or, conversely, combine 2 “rooms” into one.
- Triple - mainly popular with clubs and kennels representing several animals at once.
- Prefabricated - consist of a tube frame and a fabric cover, have the shape of a cube. Awnings are bulky and inconvenient to install, but due to their mass they are stable and durable; You can put awards or place an animal on the flat roof.
- Arched - lightweight models with a flexible frame sewn into fabric. This type of tent is much easier to set up, but the sloping roof will not allow you to place a pet or cups on it. Arched tents are more expensive than prefabricated tents.
Having one or more closed sides will give your pet a feeling of comfort and security.
The height of some models allows you to install shelves or hammocks, thereby turning a regular tent into a two-story one. This solution is suitable for a cat with kittens or several small animals. Regardless of the design, the tent should have an opaque curtain so that the cat feels comfortable and can hide from unnecessary attention or unfriendly neighbors. Zipper locks will prevent your pet from getting out and running away.
General recommendations for preparation
An exhibition is a serious matter . Here, even the slightest shortcomings can significantly reduce the jury’s scores and move you away from the goal - the desired victory. Therefore, it is worth paying enough attention to both the pet’s appearance and its inner peace. The animal must be socialized and prepared for large crowds of people. To do this, you need to leave the house with him more often, visit noisy companies in which the presence of other pets is welcome. Some time before the exhibition, you can start giving calming drops, for example, “cat Bayun”. They will help the animal endure with dignity the hardships of an unfamiliar environment and a crowded environment. The dose and frequency will be determined by your veterinarian.
A show cat should be groomed on a regular basis. Weekly wool treatment should become a habit. Every seven days, it is enough to treat the coat with dry shampoo and comb it with a comb, depending on the type of coat. The tail should not be touched; damaged vegetation in this area takes a very long time to recover. A week before the exhibition itself, you can wash the animal with water and a proven shampoo. It is important to use a product that you have trusted for a long time in order to avoid untimely embarrassment with allergic reactions and changes in coat color before the competition itself. After washing, you need to dry the animal's fur with a towel and dry it thoroughly with a hairdryer. In the case of long-haired cats, you can create a noble style. This will also protect your pet from colds.
Important! Antistatic agents and special tint powders will help the animal look even more presentable at the exhibition. All products intended for use must be tested a month before the event in order to avoid unpleasant situations.
If your animal is willing to show its claws and is likely to scratch the judge, you will be immediately disqualified. Therefore, it is better to cut them off in advance. If there are a few solitary hairs that violate the integrity of the cat’s color, it is better to pull them out with tweezers. Uniformity of color increases the chances of winning.
For the exhibition you will definitely need: a veterinary passport, tools necessary for grooming (spray, antistatic agent, powder, shampoo, etc.). You also need a tray with filling, a bowl of water for drinking and a supply of food. To successfully present a cat to the public and the jury, you cannot do without a special exhibition tent.
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Purchasing a tent
Since a cat tent is not an “ordinary” product, you won’t find it in your local pet store. The purchase should be considered carefully, especially if the owner plans to participate in exhibitions multiple times. The tent must match the size of the pets, be durable, reliable and easy to use. A separate plus will be the complete set of attributes: a bed, a hammock, a removable tray and a waterproof cover.
Where can I buy?
- In the online store. Pet store websites, including importers of foreign brands, allow you to purchase a display tent online. This way, the purchase will be cheaper than at physical points of sale, and the range of models and brands will be wider, but it will not be possible to inspect the product before purchasing.
- On the manufacturer's website. Domestic tents are sometimes inferior in quality to imported ones, but among them you can find models with an optimal price-quality ratio. Thus, the Russian company has proven itself well, producing carriers, enclosures and exhibition cages for cats for 20 years.
- Buy secondhand. Sometimes used tents appear on message boards or online flea markets, but the selection is limited and the condition is not always perfect.
- Directly at the exhibition. This method allows you to evaluate the tent “live” before purchasing it. As a rule, at competitions you can find stands of manufacturers with presented products. This makes it possible to check the quality of the fabric, structural strength, and ease of use. If the desired model is not available at the stand, you can select it and order it from the seller’s catalog.
Color selection
The color scheme of the house design is selected based on the color of the pet.
Choosing the best color for a tent is not an easy task, because in this case the role is played not by the preferences of the owner, but by the color of the pet. The choice of fabric tone and pattern will affect how impressive the cat will look on display, so color decisions should be taken seriously. The best option would be a palette that emphasizes the advantages of the animal’s color, while professional breeders take into account both the tone of the coat and the color of the eyes.
To choose the optimal shade, it is recommended to experiment by applying multi-colored scraps of fabric to your pet’s fur coat. Substituting the background to a photo of a cat in a graphics editor will also allow you to determine the most advantageous combination.
The main point: a patterned tent will suit a monochromatic cat, while only a monochrome one will suit a variegated pet, otherwise the animal will get lost on the patterned background. In addition, you should be careful with saturated colors: a white cat will turn green or red in a bright tent, and a black cat will blend in with a dark backdrop. Cat accessories (bowls, rug, tray) are also selected in the same color scheme as the awning.
DIY cat tent
Several times I saw photos of cats in tents on social networks, but unfortunately they were just photos without instructions on how to make a tent for a cat with your own hands. So I decided to make a tent house for my cat named Luna and document it so that you guys could make one too. :D
DIY cat tent
Step 1: What you need:
- cat :D
- medium t-shirt
- a piece of cardboard 38x38 cm (I had a slightly smaller one 38x33 and it turned out to be bent)
- two wire hangers (as in the photo)
- pins
- something that can be used to bite through the hangers and also bend them - I used large pliers.
