Feline Club of India is in Panaji this weekend to host the Championship Cat Show 2025
KALYANI JHA | NT BUZZ
In 2017, a few cat lovers came together to share their love for their feline pets through get togethers. The group grew rapidly with people from many cities joining in, leading to a small ‘Pet Together’ show in Nashik. Today, this has grown into the Feline Club of India, founded by Saquib Pathan and Dr.Bhaskar Thakur.
While Pathan has extensive training in cats, having completed the training course ‘Breed Orientation School’ in Hong Kong in 2018 organised by CFA, an international cat organisation, Thakur is a senior veterinarian. And the duo believe that while more and more people are adopting cats as pets, there is a general lack of proper knowledge and awareness about these animals. Through their club, they are trying to change this through feline conventions, a feline registry (to guide and preserve the cat breeds), and cat shows.
“We have organised more than 200 feline conventions in India so far. These are free of cost and have topic experts educate cat parents on better cat upkeep. These conventions are organised in different cities and address the pertaining cat health issues in that city or area. During COVID-19 we also conducted more than 30 online conventions for cat parents, veterinary students etc,” says club
member Rahul Gaikar.
This year, for the first time, they have shifted focus to Goa and will hold the Championship of Cats 2025 on December 14 at the Panjim
Convention Centre.
The show intends to bring in the glamour in cat industry, says Gaikar. “It is a show-cum-exhibition where cat parents showcase their cat keeping quality while pet brands get to interact directly with the customers and show their products,” says Gaikar.
The event will have an international judge coming down to judge the participating cats from Goa and the bordering states. The cats will have to be categorised under kitten
or adult category.
The judging will be based on parameters like health of the cat, playfulness, temperament, behaviour, the grooming, and how active the
cat is. “Basically, this is like a test for the cat parent rather than the cat,” says Gaikar.
