International dog and cat show at Coimbatore: Native breeds hog limelight

COIMBATORE: It was a perfect paw fest for pet lovers at the international dogs and cat show organised in the city on Sunday. Totally 35 breeds of dogs and 10 breeds of cats enthralled the visitors.

Also, in a first, native breeds were displayed. Dog breeds including Tamil Nadu's native breed - Kombai, Chippiparai and foreign breed like Pitbull, Rottweiler, Belgian Shepherd, Poodle, Great Dane and Chihuahua took part in the 18th All India Breed Dog Show. On the sidelines, the second International Cat show was organised by Anaimalai's Kennel Club and The Coimbatore Cattery Club.

B Prathap, vice president of The Coimbatore Cattery Club said that, more than 250 dogs belonging to 35 different breeds and 120 cats belonging to 10 different breeds competed at the shows this year. The dogs and cats were chosen for prizes based on the standards followed in international shows.  We got a good response as the show was organised after two years due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The ten breeds of cats like Maine Coon which is one of the natural breeds in North America, silver marble colour Bengal cats, Exotic Shorthair, Ragdoll and Persian cats also attracted the crowd. Judges Komal Dhanoa from Punjab and Harish Patel from Gujarat judged the dogs and Judges Sudhakar Katikineni, Anne Carrol and Dr Pradeep judged the cats.

J Pratheeba, treasurer of the association said unlike earlier, many people are showing interest in rearing cats. It clearly shows that they have busted the myth that cats are bad luck. Apart from Tamil Nadu, participants were from Hyderabad, Nagpur, Bangalore, Mysore and Kerala.