than 20 years experience in pedigree showing . `` Some people like to go to the golf course on the weekend . I like to go to a cat show , '' she says with a smile . This time around , it was last weekend 's Cat Fanciers ' Association 's International Cat Show , in Atlanta , Georgia -- touted as the Western Hemisphere 's largest cat show , with 729 cats from 41 breeds and 14 countries . Elaborately decorated cages fill both sides and the back of the convention center floor . Vendors sell everything from cat hammocks to gutter guards -LRB- even the show manager is n't sure why gutter guards are there -RRB- , and a man in a wig shows off his tightrope-walking cats . But arguably the most important activity takes place just past the garbage cans marked `` Dump litter here , please . '' Judging Bob Druzisky carries Zoe -- short for Mittsnpaws Zoe of Wyldephyre -- two-handed under her belly , stretching her out to her full length as they walk to one of the 12 judging rings . '' -LSB- We do this -RSB- to show her off
ATLANTA , Georgia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Murphy bounds up the stairs , down the stairs , over the hurdles , through the tunnel and stops . He cautiously sidesteps the large white ring in front of him and sits down . Betty Yadlosky tries to tease her Himalayan Persian named Tangerine with a feather . `` Through the ring ! Come on , Murphy , through the ring ! '' his owner encourages , as she enthusiastically jingles a feathered toy on the other side of the obstacle . Murphy glances over , clearly saying , `` There is no way I am jumping through that hoop . '' And anyone watching -- anyone who has ever owned a cat -- knows he is right . `` It can be frustrating , '' Donna Hinton says from the sidelines of the agility course . `` But it 's a challenge , a new dimension to showing . '' Hinton is the owner of Kevi , one of the nation 's top agility cats . Dressed to impress , Hinton looks more like a business executive than a cat fanatic -- but the breeder of Maine Coon cats has more