Mr Marshall Bravestarr has his first show in 3 days!

So Marshall will be attending his first show on Saturday (gccf) and I am a nervous wreck!! The breeders are fantastic and have sorted me out with a kit for show( the white stuff: litter tray, bedding, bowls, litter etc), which I am so grateful for! I was wondering what you all think of him and if he has potential and if I'm missing anything on my list of things to bring/do for prepping!

so my list of things to bring
* Marshall!
*Cat Carrier
* antiseptic wipes
*hand sanitizer
*brush
* food (dry)
* a toy to play with later on
* Nail clippers
*camera

I'm planning on washing him tomorrow evening ( thurs) he hates the hair dryer so this should leave enough time for him to be nice and dry for sat! Nails I will clip on friday evening. should I be talcing him? food wise should I feed him normally or hold back? Any other tips you can think of?

So on to my lovely boy! He is entered into the kitten categories, which I'm quite glad about! Hes 5Kg and just over 7 months old and neutered.

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Thanks for stopping by, if you have any tips for a complete newbie please share!


Christin & Marshall

The very very best of luck to you both....
One very important thing missing for your list is vaccination record,my friend & I always say as long as you have the cat & vacc record you can beg,steal or borrow everything else from people at the show or even buy it...!
I always say to people the first show is a learning curve & all the cats seem to have certain amount of days they need for the coat to settle after a bath,I find it is better with mine to have a whole day afterwards for them to dry,especially if they don't like a hairdryer & on that day do nothing to them,then the next day have a good grooming session,comb them through,slicker brush them up,use a bit of grooming powder in important places if necessary & then hopefully on the day except for a little bit of primping you don't have to worry too much at all.... Is your breeder going to help you with the bathing for the first time or are you going in at the deep end......
With the nails I always find it a help to do them a few days before the bath & they then wear down any rough bits but yep remember to have them with you on the day too.
He looks a super fella & the best of luck to you both,if you are doing the bathing remember to rinse,rinse,rinse & when you think you have done enough rinse again then what I think is the most important thing is take note of his coat from day 1 & I bet there will be a day when you think cor he looks good wish it was the show today & then work back from that to his bath day,when they are younger & the coats finer they do seem to settle quicker but my adult brown boy needs a Weds bath for a Sat or Sunday show,my new girl I done two days before the first two times but she always seemed to look better with an extra day so she too now gets her bath on the Wednesday,as I said earlier all a learning curve....
Have fun,enjoy & photos please....xxx

Oh good luck to you , he is a handsome boy - not sure how faryou are travelling or whether he enjoys the carrier, but i would make sure you have some kitchen role and nappy sacks in case of accidents ( if he is likely to mess in the carrier see if you can get puppy training pad or something similar to soak up any accident). Only other thing is a bottle of water - at my first show i forgot that and the only water at the show was warm !
Good luck with the bath , mine dont seem to mind that too much, it is the drying that the red loathes, the brown tabby amazingly fell asleep while we were doing that !!!
But as Jackie says most people will help you with anything you have missed especially if your breeder is there too.
Importantly enjoy! and pics and brags required afterwards please !

Jckkerrison- thank you so much for replying! I've done quite a few practise baths with Marshall since I first got him... He hates it but it means I know what to do, he's getting so big now a 2nd set of hands is needed! Yes vacc record and reg documents are in the folder ready to go!!

H&swells thank you totally forgot about water!!! Marshall is really good with the carrier and traveling but knowing Maine coons never say never right!! I'll def pop a few things in case he has an accident!!


Does the litter have to be white aswell or can i bring what he's used to?

Well done done on the practice bath runs,does help when you know you are not going to have any slip ups on that side....
When we used to show with the GCCF we used to take the ordinary grey clumping litter along for the trays so would think its still the same but I am sure H&SWells will confirm that & very good point too re accident bag,always have one that I just leave ready packed for show day or if we are taking one of the furries on a visit to parents for the day,did need it in the early days for Shimba,he is the only one that has ever been ill in a car but touch wood the last three years it has not been needed but you never can say never...!
Getting really excited for you ....x

Hi Christin, some people take special litter, but what ever he is used to ... i will say mine never use it , one waits til he gets home ...the other until he gets in his carrier!!! Hence the clear up kit.

Thanks I'll bring some of his usual litter then!


Having a little pre night panic! He has a greasy spot just at the base of his tail!!! Any suggestions???

Most probaly too late to be of help but sounds like a spot of stud tail,put a small amount of powder on that area gently rub well into the fur & give a good slicker brush to get it out & lift the fur again,if in doubt at show ask one of your nice MC neighbours to help you out,good luck will look out for results & photos later....xxx

yup it was stud tail but managed to sort it out!

Show today was brilliant, Marshall was a little freaked out at the start but did really well!

1st and best of breed in his open class and 1st, 2nd, 3rd in the three side classes!

Im so proud of him he did really well!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8455/7...3d831f64db.jpg
Excellent day at the show! Marshall did so well I'm a very proud crazy cat lady!! by The Happiest Princess, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8456/7...c0b3e3ff7b.jpg
All penned and ready to go! Good luck marshmallow see you in a few hours #mainecoon #cat #catshow by The Happiest Princess, on Flickr

Next show is in November and he will be in the adult categories!

Congratulations to you both & a very well done to Marshall,can understand you being such a proud mum,the bug has bitten then if next show is already lined up....xxx

well and truly bitten! I had made the decision that if Marshall didn't like the cat show that would be his only one. He took to it really well and settled into it by the time judging came so we will definitely be attending more and trying to get some PCs!! Next one the pressure will be on as he will be up against the big boys, and they are beautiful so fingers crossed Marshall shows the judges what hes got!