From Show Cat To Therapy Cat

Sometimes good things turn out even better than expected. That pretty much sums up first-time exhibitor Deena Stevens’ experiences with her shaded silver Persian, GC Castlegate’s Khoja of AsyuWishPurr. As a show cat, Khoja placed second in the Silver/Golden division in Region 2 as both a kitten and an adult, and 10th overall in the CFA Silver/Golden division in the 2016-2017season. As a therapy cat, he brought joy and extra benefits to seniors with serious illnesses.

- Ann Strople

Khoja came to Deena with a very special extra—a true mentor, his breeder, Barbara Bosco. “Barbara was amazing,” says Deena. “She gave me the opportunity. Of course I had to let her know that I was serious. She made sure I understood the ramifications of choosing a shaded silver Persian as my first show cat, and how difficult that can be.”

Once the decision was made and Deena had her show-quality Castlegate kitten, the help Barbara gave Deena went above and beyond. Their relationship didn’t end when Barbara placed her kitten with Deena quite the opposite. With Deena on the West Coast and her mentor on the East Coast, there weren’t a lot of opportunities for hands-on and face-to-face sessions, but that didn’t mean Barbara wasn’t there to help. She spoke with Deena often, offered suggestions and advice to help Deena succeed, and even sent videos showing how she bathes her cats.

Sometimes, though, even detailed information can be a little confusing and things don’t go quite as expected. That was the case with Deena’s initial experiences bathing Khoja. She got it right eventually, and “… in hindsight it’s funny,” she says; but like most people starting out with all that’s involved in bathing a show cat or kitten, she discovered it’s a bit more complicated than it seems: