Hundreds of feline competitors show off in annual cat contest in Monroeville

An exotic shorthair cat from Baltimore took home top prize at the seventh annual Steel City Kitties All-breed Cat Show in Monroeville.

Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) judges awarded Best Cat in Show to “Perzot Something in the Water.”

The pet is owned by Dave and Shirley Peet and Sarah Sieffert, all from Maryland.

Perzot outperformed approximately 400 other cats at the Monroeville Convention Center Feb. 9-10 and could go on to become a national champion in April.

Between 1,500 to 2,000 people visited the center those two days. The show also featured 30 vendors selling the latest in cat accessories.

“It went very well,” said Marilyn McBane, event promoter and Steel City Kitties secretary. “We had a nice gate. A lot of people were there, a lot of spectators and children, which is really nice.”

She said the show is always the second weekend in February so people can plan their trips.

Monroeville Scout Troops 143 and 9143 volunteered at the event. They assisted the six judges at the contest.

The CFA gave coloring books to children. The books featured different breeds and explained how to take care of them.

McBane had the youngest kitten in the contest, a 4-month-old Maine coon called “Kramnkoon Mary Poppins of Catgo.”

The kitten category is open to 4 to 7 month olds. McBane’s cat just turned 4 months the day before the contest. It took home the seventh-best-kitten ribbon.

“It is really hard for a young kitten to do as well as she did,” McBane said. “Typically they go with the bigger kittens. I was very pleased.”

The Steel City Kitties competition is in Region 4, also known as the Great Lakes Region. It covers Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, the western part of New York, the eastern part of Kentucky and the eastern part of Canada.