Vancouver pet expo with rare cat breeds attracts animal lovers

Throngs of animal lovers gathered here Saturday for an annual pet expo that features rare cat breeds this year.

Visitors strolled the show floor of the massive expo in the Vancouver suburb of Abbotsford searching for products for their special friends, or searching for a special friend from a host of dogs, horses, rabbits, ferrets, llamas, and even spiders.

But cats are the focus at this year's show. There are roughly 110 cats from the United States and Canada, including some of the most rare, newest breeds on earth.

Breeders and cat enthusiasts displayed unique breeds such as the Canadian Sphinx, Cornish Rex, Maine Coon and Singapura seeking best-in-show glory. The judges assess the cats in the categories of adult, kitten, altered and household.

Yvonne Patrick, a cat show judge, said it had been a great experience introducing pure bred cats to the general public. They know about cats, they have just regular household pets, but it' s very interesting for them to see the actual breeds.

Local breeder Brenda Main brought Molly, a rare Peterbald breed that came from Russia after being crossbred from a Donskoy and an Oriental.

"This is a new breed and I imported these cats, two of them, from Siberia, and this is Molly' s first show here in Canada. We are competing here basically to bring attention to the breed. There are only four of us across Canada that are breeding this breed of cat," Main told Xinhua at the pet show on Saturday.

The cat show, which wraps up on Sunday along with the Pet Lover Expo, also gives the public a chance to visit with cat breeds that they've never seen before -- or even heard of.

Lea Walton, a cat lover said it was really interesting. "There are cats here I didn't even know existed. So it's kind of cool to see them all." Endit