Felines, friendship highlight youth fair cat show

Judge Kelly LaPreze checks the ear on Katherine Pruitt's cat, Vanilla, the cat LaPreze decided was Best In Show. "She"s a very nice looking cat," LaPreze said. "They all are. You're making this very hard on me."

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

Three cats were the stars of the show at the Vernon County Youth Fair Cat show Thursday evening, held in the home economics building at the Vernon County fairgrounds. The owners of the cats, Alexis Brown, 16, Bronaugh 4-H; Erin Reedy 14, Bronaugh 4-H; and Katherine Pruitt, 10, Milo-Oakdale 4-H, each brought a cat they had owned for some time to the show.

Photos by Steve Moyer/Daily Mail Erin Reedy stands by and answers questions as Kelly LaPreze judges her cat Thursday at the Vernon County Home Ec building for the Vernon County Youth Fair Cat show. Erin took the Reserve Champion ribbon for her cat.

Alexis said she discovered her cat, Pumpkin, on the porch one Sunday.

"I've had her since she was a kitten," Alexis said. "One day we came back from church and she was just on the porch. We had seen something in the yard on the way to church and we had wondered what it was, we thought it was a squirrel or something, but it was this kitten, all covered in mud. She wasn't doing too well so we cleaned her up, took her to the vet and got her shots and she's been with us ever since."

Pumpkin is not her first feline companion. "I've had several cats, before Pumpkin," she said, but didn't elaborate.

Alexis said she had been in 4-H for eight years and liked cats, so she decided to show them for the fair.

Erin said she got involved because of her best friend, Alexis.

"My best friend here..." Erin said, nudging Alexis, "... said that my kitty was beautiful and I decided to go into cats. I've had three cats and she's my this year's cat. I just love her."

Katherine said she had cats and showing them was a natural outgrowth of that.

"I had two cats and I thought it would be fun to enter them, just to have them in the fair," Katherine said.

The fact cats use their whiskers to avoid going places too small for them is one of the more interesting facts Katherine has uncovered as a result of her work with them. She has a three word answer when asked what the most frustrating thing about cats is: "The cat hair."

Judge Kelly LaPreze was very complimentary about the condition of all three cats she examined during the show.

In the end, Katherine was awarded the Best In Show ribbon for her cat, Vanilla. Erin took Reserve Champion and Alexis received a blue ribbon for her cat, Pumpkin.

Although the contestants had their pictures taken with the ribbons, they had to return the ribbons until Tuesday, when dog and cat show awards will be officially distributed.