70th Anniversary
January 14-15, 2023
Hilton Houston North
12400 Greenspoint Dr
Houston, Texas 77060
281-875-2222
Online Entry forms for January 2023 show
Kittens, Cats, Premier Entries
Household Pets
Please donate to help support our club!
Your donation is Tax Deductible.
Houston Cat Club Charity Cat Show, Inc
a 501c3 organization.
About Houston Cat Club
The original Houston Cat Club was founded in 1922 by a small group of cat lovers. It was reorganized in 1949, and was incorporated in 1959. The distinctive Houston Cat Club logo first appeared in the 1975 show catalog for the 25th Anniversary show. HCC’s first show was in 1951 at the famous Shamrock Hotel. Shows were held there until 1969 when the show was moved to the Albert Thomas Convention Center and then on to the George R. Brown Convention Center in 1985. After many years at the George R Brown Convention Center the show moved to the Hilton Houston North in 2021. HCC shows are very popular with the community and have had huge numbers of spectators. At times, the ticket line has been down to the end of the block and the Fire Marshall guarded the door, letting people enter as an equivalent number exited.
Houston Cat Club is one of the Premier shows in CFA. Its shows were the largest in the country for many years and are still among the largest each year. A record 608 pedigreed cats were entered in competition in 1977! The Household Pet class has been an important part of the HCC shows from the beginning. HHP classes were very large in the 1973 show where 313 companion cats were entered. One of the highlights of the HHP Trick Contest for many years was Kim and Barney, a white Persian who rode on a tray that Kim carried as though she were serving drinks in a restaurant… often she was also on roller skates!
Over the years, Houston Cat Club has made many generous donations to area shelters and rescues from proceeds from the shows; the total exceeds $900,000. Houston Cat Club has also donated to the Winn Foundation, now EveryCat Health Foundation, since 1976, and achieved a cumulative donation of $100,000 in 2007 making it the first club to achieve Boulder recognition under the Winn Donor Tree. Houston Cat Club also sponsored the First Free Spay/Neuter clinic in the U.S. in 1993. Scotty Griffey, an important club member for many years, served on the Houston/Harris County Overpopulation Task Force in 1993.
For more in depth information about Houston Cat Club, please click here or on the History tab.
Houston Cat Club is a very active group. The members are involved with putting on the Houston Cat Club Charity Cat Show, which helps us donate to several rescues and shelters in the Houston area, as well as the EveryCat Health Foundation. We have quarterly Zoom meetings that allow us to have members from outside the Houston area, such as Dallas, Illinois, Louisiana and Tennessee. While these meetings are mainly to plan for our upcoming show, they’re not all work and no play! Through our shows, we give the public the opportunity to enjoy breeds they may never have seen before, learn about cat care and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow cat-lovers.
Our club is brought together by the love of cats and wanting to share that love with others. It’s made up of newcomers to the cat fancy and those who have decades of experience putting on shows and showing cats. Our members show Household Pets, pedigreed cats and some don’t even have cats! If you’d like to learn more about us or become a member, please complete and submit the Membership Information Form. We’d love to have you join us!
Dues and membership payment link
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The Houston Cat Club Charity Cat Show is one of the premier cat shows in CFA and is highly advertised. We pride ourselves on having a wide variety of vendors for our “Meow Mall.” Our vendors offer items ranging from cat trees, cat beds, litter, large cages, and cat toys to people food, clothing, jewelry, flooring, face-painting, artwork, and books! Our show dates for 2023 are January 14 & 15, and we would love to have more vendors join us. If you have a product or service that you think would be of interest to our Exhibitors and Guests, please complete and submit our Vendor Inquiry Form. Our Vending Chair, Wendy Klamm, will get back with you.
Helping shelters and rescues has been a BIG part of the Houston Cat Club Charity Cat Show for decades. In addition to making donations to them, we provide free booth space at our show where the shelters and rescues can have information about their organizations AND bring cats/kittens that are available for adoption. Over the years, MANY cats and kittens have found their forever homes as a result of our shows, and we are thrilled about this! If you are a shelter or rescue that would like to have a booth at our show, please complete and submit the Shelter Inquiry Form . Wendy Klamm is also our Shelter/Rescue coordinator and she’ll contact you.
Instructions for First -Time Exhibitors
Finding a Show
Attend a Cat Show:
One way to decide if you want to enter your cat in a show is to attend one to see what happens and to learn about showing a cat. This gives you the opportunity to meet with the exhibitors, watch how cats are judged, how and when they get to the judging rings, and to watch how the exhibitors groom their cats during the show. Cat show flyers are handed out at shows, and you may notice them on top of exhibitors’ cages in their benching area. Benching is a term that describes the cages which owners are assigned to house their cats during the entire show.
When you attend a show and pay the visitor entry fee, you can ask for a particular breeder’s benching area at the show, or if the show has benching by breeds. Talk to the exhibitors or the show manager to find out when the next show will be taking place and if you can have a flyer for an upcoming show. The exhibitor may give you their flyer because the information is also available online at the various cat association web sites.
Check the Cat Fanciers’ Association Web Site:
The Web Sites have show schedules you can check to determine when and where shows will be held. Most have links within the schedules to the show flyer, which also have links to online entry forms for Household Pets and Pedigreed Cats. You will also need to e-mail the entry clerk at the address listed on the flyer or on the web site schedule to be sure your entries are received.
The Houston Cat Club, incorporated in 1949, is affiliated the Cat Fanciers Association: http://www.cfainc.org
Is your Household Pet Cat or Kitten eligible for entering for competition at a cat show?
Kittens must be 4 months of age to compete. If your cat will be eight months old on or before the first day of the show, then it is considered an adult, and must be spayed or neutered. All cats and kittens should be current on their shots, and you should bring a copy of their rabies certificates.
It is almost impossible to determine how your cat or kitten will react to the environment of a show hall and being carried to and from rings past other cats they have never seen before – until you get there. Practice with getting your cat familiar with being confined in a carrier – take it for short drives or go to Pets Mart or your Vet. If your pet is aggressive towards strangers or becomes uncontrollable after being confined you may not have a good experience and it may need more training before it is ready to tackle a cat show.
Household Pets do not have written standards, and the judges will be looking for clean, well groomed coats, clean ears, clear eyes and good personalities.
Pedigreed Cats have written standards against which your cat will be evaluated against that description and against the other cats within your cat’s breed, age, and sex-including spays and neuters. The breeder from whom you obtained your pedigreed cat should have provided you with the registration information needed for showing your cat.
Find more information at the CFA NewBee Program