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GC, BW, RW, AM Ragtime Cats Arden Forest BY LAURA GREGORY Photos copyrighted by the individual photographers
Ragtime Cats RagaMuffins My name is Laura Gregory. Ragtime Cats RagaMuffins is a small cattery located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I was a cat lover as far back as I can remember, but I began my love affair with showing cats as a pre-teenager. Our family rescued a pregnant domestic longhair who gave birth to three kittens. We found one a home, and kept the other two. I read every cat magazine I could find and discovered they contained listings of upcoming cat shows. Whenever there was a show in our state, I would contact the entry clerk and obtain a show flyer. My wonderful mother finally agreed that we could take our three beautiful longhair HHP’s to a show just over two hours away — and I was hooked. To this day, whenever my mom says anything to me about cats shows, I remind her that it is really all “her fault” for taking me to those early shows. <G> Of course, she enjoyed it also, and became just as defensive when she thought our beautiful cat should have placed higher. Eventually, things like high school, college, and our HHP’s getting up in age took me away from showing, but once out of school I again adopted a darling domestic shorthair. I quickly recalled all the fun I had at cat shows growing up so once again I began showing. There was a small local cat association called UFO (United Feline Organization) that accepted a breed called the RagaMuffin. I was fascinated with the breed.
ACFA Acceptance It was not long before the RagaMuffin was being considered for championship status in ACFA. Janet and I loaded up the van and made the trek from Florida to South Dakota with 18 cats & kittens to present to the ACFA board. It was August of 2000, and while driving through Iowa, our van's air conditioning quit, leaving us rushing along in 100+ degree temps, and doing everything we could to keep young kittens from overheating along the way. We pulled into our hotel none too soon and rushed everyone into the cool lobby. While the van’s air was repaired over the next couple days, the RagaMuffin breed in all colors and patterns was advanced to championship status in ACFA. We started competing in ACFA with the new show season in 2001. I had a RagaMuffin entered in every show held that first season by ACFA. Ragtime Cats enjoyed great success in the show rings of ACFA. In just six years we achieved 12 National Winners, 52 Regional Winners, 40 Grand Champions, 3 Legacy of Achievement Cats and 3 Legacy of Excellence Cats. Acceptance In CFA In 2003, I decided it was time for the RagaMuffin to begin working towards breed acceptance in CFA. I gathered a small group of breeders and compiled the necessary paperwork. I presented the breed to the CFA Board in Houston, TX in 2003 and we were accepted as a Miscellaneous breed. We were off and running. After six years as a Miscellaneous, in 2009 the RagaMuffin advanced to a Provisional Breed. In 2011, I presented the application to advance the RagaMuffin to Championship — and it was granted! I have been the Breed Chair since the original petition in 2003 and starting in 2011, I have been the CFA RagaMuffin Breed Council Secretary. First RagaMuffin Grand In CFA At 10 years of age, GPD, RW Ragtime Cats Dazzling Autumn became the first RagaMuffin to grand in CFA in July of 2011. She was also the breed's first Regional Winner the same year. Continuing to show, she was the second cat and the first female cat in all of CFA to obtain the title of Grand Of Distinction.
Autumn made CFA history for her breed, but she would not be the only Ragtime Cats history-maker . . . and so we come to tell the tale of a kitten named Arden . . . Along Came Arden Arden's father is GC, NW (ACFA) Ragtime Cats Snow Covered Forest. He started the "forest" tradition of naming our kittens. All of his children are named for either trees or forests of the world. Arden was named for the great Ardennes Forest, found primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg but stretching into Germany and France.
Arden was the only kitten in his litter. As a singleton, he spent his days nursing from his mother wherever she sat or lay down. He slept so soundly and deeply that more than once I had to poke at him to make sure he was actually still alive. He was such a roly-poly kitten, I wondered how he would ever walk. It seemed the little butterball could not possibly get that body up on those legs. <G> Of course, he managed. Since he had no competition for his mom's attention, he was very indulged. He was also spoiled by me. He was such a gorgeous baby, so sweet and muffin-floppy, I just wanted to hold him, cuddle and kiss him. The Girls Behind Arden Arden's mother is GC Rivndellrags Pandora of Ragtime, known as “Dora”. Dora, is a vibrant calico who has twice been 3rd Best of Breed nationally in CFA.
Dora’s mother, Arden's grandmother, ACFA GC Ragtime Cats Florida Sunshine (Sunny), only showed a few times in ACFA but she was the final grand needed for her father, GC Elfun California Sunshine to earn the title Legacy of Excellence (the equivalent of CFA’s DM title). Sunny recently made her first appearance in CFA at 11 years of age, working on her GP title.
Sunny’s mother is (ACFA) GC & RW, Legacy of Achievement (CFA) GP Encore Cats Allegra of Ragtime Cats. Allegra is a real ham and has loved showing since she first started as a four month old kitten. Making her debut in CFA at 12 years of age, she was a total show-off, simply begging the judges to “pick me”. With the genes from these girls in his background, Arden was destined to love showing. A Slow Kitten Career Arden did not have a particularly amazing kitten career. RagaMuffins are quite slow to develop and because the breed was only in its second year of championship in CFA, many judges were still working to feel comfortable with what was correct in the breed, especially as a kitten. Arden made a few finals overall, enough to qualify for the Best RagaMuffin Kitten award in the Southern Region, but during this time he was gaining valuable experience, practicing how to stand on the judging table, when to play and how to win over judges and the crowd. In short, he was learning how to be a show cat — and just like his mom, grand-mom and great-grand-mom before him, he loved strutting his stuff.
Agility At the same time as Arden was finishing off his mini-campaign, we discovered the agility ring! Arden was a natural. In his first competition, he banged out a 13 second run, and came in first! Needless to say, we were now hooked on competing in Agility. In the short time left in the 2012-2013 season, Arden was 9th Best Cat in Agility in the Southern Region. A Cover Boy While enjoying himself in both the agility and championship rings, Arden also found time to have a photo shoot and become a cover boy. Arden's photo by the impeccable cat photographer, Tetsu, was the winner of the CFA Cover Cat Contest and was featured on the cover of the June 2013 issue of Cat Talk.
The same photo was made into a title poster for RagaMuffins that became part of the breed booth displayed at the CFA World Show.
The 2013-2014 Season As the new season began in May 2013, Arden began his first full year in both the show ring and on the agility course. He just kept showing and racing. Arden was an easy cat to campaign. He loves to show and is a wonderful traveling companion. He meets his standard extremely well and that was appreciated by the judges as the season unfolded.
As much as Arden enjoyed his time on the judging table, he lived for the thrill of running the agility courses. Indeed, we were soon choosing shows based on whether they offered agility competition. At shows, when I would take him out of his benching cage, he would perk his head up and look around the show hall, pushing on my hand underneath him, telling me, "Go faster, mommie. Where is the agility ring?" He couldn't wait to compete. A History-Maker Arden merrily campaigned in show rings and agility rings, both charming the judges and racing against the clock. This time at the end of the season, he was the Breed Winner . . . but he also made two historic firsts for the RagaMuffin in CFA:
I am so proud of Arden and his accomplishments. He is an exceptional RagaMuffin with both beauty and brains. and a history-maker . . . but he is more than that. He is my baby boy. I love him so . . . and happily continue to spoil him rotten.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: More photos from the show career of GC, BW, RW, AM Ragtime Cats Arden Forest Red & White McTabby RagaMuffin Male First RagaMuffin to earn a Regional Win in Championship in CFA CFA Breed Winner 2013-2014 Born May 5, 2012
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