I look forward to the day that I can write my president’s message without a comment on COVID-19. Unfortunately, this message will again include a COVID-19 comment. The delta variant is the most common variant infecting the world population. It is 2.5 more times infectious than the original variant. Additionally, we are seeing people who are fully vaccinated becoming infected with the delta variant. Fortunately, for those who are fully vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, your protection is still at, or over, 50% protection. Our U.S. populations have very emphatic and vehement opinions of getting vaccinated. I made the decision to get the vaccine due to my history of diabetes. Diabetics have more free Ace 2 receptor sites where the COVID-19 attaches to our cells. The decision was a no-brainer for me. There is a push from our government leadership for everyone to get the vaccine. The debate is still ongoing for vaccinations for those that have immunity from recovery from being infected by the virus. We can let the scholars debate that issue. My advice: talk to you doctor and weigh the benefits vs. the risk of getting the vaccine. Please remember that viruses are masters at mutating. We are very likely to see future mutations. I hope those are less infectious!

At our August board meeting, we scaled back the number of meetings for future board meetings. Committee reports and club application reviews will be limited to the “in person” (some of which are still being held by Zoom) meetings: i.e. February, June (in conjunction with the Annual), and October. All the board members are hard-working people trying to make CFA a great organization. Some meetings have gone into the early morning hours, and as we all know, we don’t function at our best when we are tired. We do have meetings on the schedule for each month, but the “monthly” meetings are for emergency matters only. You can be apprised of upcoming meeting by watching the CFA News announcements and postings on FB pages.

Some localities are allowing spectators to enter our shows. Those notices must be sent to the judges and listed on show flyers. Currently, we are being required to wear masks across much of the country. We still are in a heightened state of COVID. Take the necessary precautions to protect yourself.

Stay safe while we continue our fight against COVID-19.

The following clubs were accepted at the August 3, 2021 CFA Board meeting:

1. Central Breed Cat Club, International Division - Asia; Nonthaburi, Thailand

2. Dragon King Cat Fanciers’ Club, International Division - China; Suzhou, Jiangsu, China

3. GLB Cat Fancier Club, International Division - China; Xiamen, Fujian, China

4. Oriental Crown Cat Fanciers’ Club, International Division - China; Jiashan, Zhejiang, China

5. Tan Malaka Cat Fanciers, International Division - Asia; Tangerang, Indonesia

6. The Polaris, International Division - China; Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Cat Talk's certificate winners, their authors/creators, and categories are:

WRITTEN ARTICLE: HEALTH

Iris Zinck - Facing Those Final Days With The Special Care Your Cat Needs

WRITTEN ARTICLE: BEHAVIOR/TRAINING

Lucy Drury - Peaceful Coexistence in “Cat-tivity”

WRITTEN ARTICLE: VETERINARY MEDICINE & RESEARCH

Iris Zinck - FIP Fighters

Lucy Drury - PURRsuing FIP and WINNing

WRITTEN ARTICLE: PEDIGREED CATS

Ann Strople - The Veterinarian-Vaccine Dilemma

Candilee Jackson - What You Don’t Know About Maine Coons

Candilee Jackson - What You Don’t Know About Russian Blues

Lucy Drury - Use of Melatonin as Birth Control

PERIODICAL/NATIONAL CIRCULATION PUBLICATIONS (print or online).

Teresa Keiger - Cat Talk Magazine

COLUMN/SERIES

Laurie Coughlan - My First Cat

Nancy Kerr - Furnames

PHOTOGRAPHIC ART

Teresa Keiger - Sheltering In Place - wraparound magazine cover

Teresa Keiger - Homecoming - wraparound magazine cover

Did you know you can advertise your cattery and its accomplishments in Cat Talk?

Did you know readers from all over the world can subscribe to Cat Talk online via Magzter ?

Did you know vendors and small cat-related businesses can take advantage of special advertising pricing?

Check out our pricing, or contact Teresa Keiger for more details.

If signed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, House Bill 1711 would mark the 5th state to ban pet stores from selling cats and dogs. HB 1711 amends and adds to the Animal Welfare Act to limit pet stores to obtaining dogs and cats for resale only if the dog or cat is obtained from an animal control facility or animal shelter. Facilities supplying pet stores, whether in-state or out-of-state, must be in compliance with the newly added Section 3.9 prohibiting sources involving breeders. The Illinois Department of Agriculture is also proposing changes to its Animal Welfare Act Regulations.

New Hampshire enacted House Budget Bill 2 that creates an Animal Database Registry requiring certificates of transfer for cats, dogs, and ferrets that are transferred in the state.

Click here for the complete article

What's Hot………… From the Texas Sunset Commission Review to the End of the 2021 Legislative Session, What Happened with the Licensed Breeder Program?’ 

Please report legislation happenings in your area to the Legislative Group – legislation@cfa.org  Visit the CFALegislativeNews Facebook page and the CFA Legislative Group Blog to see the current legislative news.

Wildfires in the West, floods in the East, tornados and heat waves in the middle, disasters may occur no matter where you live. IRS Tax Tip 2021-115 has advice for advance preparation as well as information to obtain tax relief should a disaster occur. The IRS recommends you review your emergency plans at least once a year to keep up with current changes. Important documents should be kept in a safe place, away from the disaster. Many records are already kept online, hard copy documents may be scanned and installed on a device or in the cloud. Pictures or video of your belongings may make it easier to prove losses to your insurance company, or for a deduction on your federal tax return. IRS form 584 includes worksheets to inventory your property now, for use after a disaster later. Links to help you understand relief available, as well as links to federal disaster tax relief, may be accessed from the IRS Tax Tip online.

Our friends at Motel 6 would like CFA to continue to receive the 10% discount at participating locations by using the new updated reservation code of CPOAPHHT. There is a dedicated reservation site for CFA at www.motel6.com/en/cp/cfa.html or you may call 800-466-8356.

A wonderful celebration of two show seasons was held on July 17 and 18th in Morgantown PA. The show’s theme was “Holidays.” Special thanks to Omar Gonzales and Gary Veach for all the beautiful decorations and rosettes in both the show hall and at the banquet.

Also thanks to the help we received from our neighboring regions, NoraLyn Marquess Heisig, Deb Curtis, and Carmen Marie Johnson-Lawrence. Thanks to the National Norwegian Forest Cat Club and Delaware River Cat Club for co-hosting the show with us. Special thanks to Dave and Shirley Peet for all their extra work in making this a success. We could not have succeeded without all your hard work.

Congratulations to Julie Keyer, this year’s spotlight award winner.  Julie was recognized for all the hard work she does not only in the region, but also with Purebred Rescue.

Thanks to all the judges who made this a festive occasion.

Looking forward to next year’s show….

This past weekend, August 14, 2021 was the region's “Picnic in the Park” held at Hudson-Parcher

 Park in Rainier, OR. It was great to see all my friends and fellow exhibitors for the first

 time in over a year! Hopefully we will have some great pictures for the September newsletter.

Please stay safe, get vaccinated and hopefully will see you at a show soon.

Greetings from Region 3 (the Gulf Shore Region). This time last year we were still trying to find other things to do to keep us busy as we were just 6 months into our “no shows” period. Region 3 is sincerely hoping we don’t see August end like last year did with hurricanes wreaking havoc in much of the more southern parts of our region.

We are getting ready for our delayed regional picnic and awards presentation later this month. This year should be more fun than last year when we had to find creative ways to deliver everyone’s plaques, certificates & rosettes!!

Please continue to stay safe everyone!!

Well, the Southwest Region is finally back up and running with shows!

Our first show of the season is the Opposites Attract Cat Club’s Royal Jewels on 80/28/2021! We will also be handing out our awards for the 2020/2021 show season at the show and we look forward to congratulating the winners, and celebrating the first show of the Southwest Region for the 2021-2022 season!

Coming up, we have three more shows scheduled before December so make sure you check out the CFA Show Calendar for all details. We’re back!

At the end of the MWR awards show on June 5, members donated show rosettes to the local 4-H group who was planning a cat show of their own. Although spectators were not allowed to visit the awards show, several masked 4-H leaders dropped by for information on “how to put on a cat show” and spent time with several exhibitors and judges.

The 4-H community kept MWR personnel busy: RD Cathy Dunham judged the 4-H and County Fair feline entries for Scott County in Winchester, Illinois. Although only one kitten and three adult cats were entered, the kids did a wonderful job presenting their projects, and answering the questions from the judge. Little Miss Winchester (Cathy’s great niece) helped present awards for the 4-H, the fair, and the special awards for best presentation, best talk, best cat and best kitten.

As Sophia Petrillo would say, “Picture it …” Dave Peet is driving a truck full of cages to the Timonium Fairgrounds Friday morning to set up the show hall for the next day and is stopped at the gate. He is informed that the fairgrounds cancelled their cat show for the next day. There is the state fair scheduled for that location in less than two weeks and due to the pandemic they have been unable to hire the number of staff needed to prepare the grounds for the fair. They need the extra time to set up for the fair. A devastating blow for any club, right? What must have been running through Dave’s head? Once he got over the initial shock Dave started looking for an alternative location for their show.

Fortunately, nearby was a facility used for several other local shows, the Tall Cedars of Lebanon Hall. It was rented on Friday but was available for the weekend. The club could not set up until Friday at midnight but the show would go on! Friday was devoted to making sure the judges, clerks, vendors, and exhibitors were aware of this last-minute change of location. Friday was also spent re-benching the show. Since it was near the original location there was no need to change hotels. The show was not advertised for spectators so that was not an issue. Almost every exhibitor was familiar with the new location and was pleased that there were a number of food options for lunch just steps away. While the original facility was much larger than the replacement, a positive for the club is that the new location was considerably less expensive. The show was a 6x6 and the hall easily accommodated the 152/160 entries with room for social distancing in the benching area.

Major kudos to Dave & Shirley Peet, co-show manager Leigh Hughes, Sarah Sieffert, and everyone else involved in pulling off this miracle of a show!

The Southern Region is planning on celebrating its 2020-2021 season winners with a celebration at the Holiday Inn – Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, GA on Saturday afternoon at the Cotton States show. This celebration will include hors d'oeuvres, awards, and a fun time for all. YES we will be offering award sponsorships for all regional winners, and trophies can be picked up at the celebration or in the show hall the following day. We’re still wrapping up details with the hotel, but complete information will be on the region’s website and Facebook page as they are finalized.

It has been very hot and humid days in Japan, however all cat fanciers are fine. All of us always have been very careful of Covid-19 and others. We need to stay safe for our lovely cats.

Here is a update on what is happening in China.

I’m proud to announce that China had its first Agility show on July 24-25, 2021 in Hangzhou. It was a great success and there will be more Agility shows to come down the road. I would like to personally thank all the winners in the agility ring for a job well done.

China is now planning their banquet for the year's winners. It will be held in October 15, 2021. They are looking for a venue as I write this article. Many congratulations to all the winners.

Last but not least, we have two new NGO filings for Shanghai and Hainan in progress.

That’s all for now, and I hope that all of you are having a wonderful summer.

Feel free to contact me at  tkeiger@cfa.org