Honors come home on little cat feet

Sabrina the Cornish Rex is a cat-show convert.

Once used as a breeder for cats competing in fancy shows, she posed on Saturday for judges at the Average Joe Cat Show in Shoreline.

These judges couldn't have cared less whether Sabrina's head was appropriately egg-shaped or her chin was well-developed. They were checking to see how closely she resembled her owner, Arlington pet-store owner Gaerin Smith.

Turns out, Sabrina looks enough like him to win first place in the Owner Look-alike contest.

"They don't really look alike. I entered them in that contest because they're so close," said Smith's wife, Deidre, who rescued Sabrina after her previous owner, a cat breeder, died.

The Purrfect Pals cat shelter has held the Average Joe Cat Show for three years to raise money — maybe $13,000 this year, organizers predicted — and awareness about the Arlington-based nonprofit, which expects to find homes for about 2,500 cats this year.

About 1,700 people attended the show on Saturday, and 78 cats entered contests ranging from Most Obnoxious to Biggest Feet to Softest Fur in the West.

Some of the entrants were Purrfect Pals residents who might never find homes. Executive Director Richard Huffman brought them "so they could get out and have some fun."

Tripod, a 15-year-old cat with three legs and "litter-box issues," even snagged a first-place ribbon for the loudest meow, tying with Romeo the Bengal leopard cat from Seattle, who uses a human toilet instead of a litter box — but there's no contest for that.

One disappointed contestant on Saturday was Lili Nyste of Kirkland, who had hoped her tabby-calico mix, Izzie, would win Owner Look-alike.

Lili and 3-year-old Izzie did win a Best Costume blue ribbon, for a custom-made Girl Scout outfit she had constructed for Izzie to wear on cookie-selling expeditions.

Hayley Corpuz, 11, decided not to enter her black cat Jetson in the costume contest.

"I just don't think he likes to have clothes on so much," Corpuz said. "He likes to have his coat of fur."

Several veterans of the Average Joe Cat Show competed on Saturday, including last year's Ms. Personality, Maxine, who this year was Most Well-Behaved.

Her owner, 12-year-old Amara Kallgren of Issaquah, said Maxine's secret is to "just sit there."

Staff photographer Betty Udesen contributed to this article.

Melissa Allison: 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com