Purr-fection

Patrick is, officially, the best house cat in Manitoba.

Not only is the three-year-old orange tabby cuddly and charismatic, he also has the hardware to back up his winning personality.

Last year, after his first full season on the cat show circuit, Patrick was named 13th best household pet in North America by the American Cat Fanciers Association and was crowned first in his region, which spans Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.

“I’m a proud mama,” says owner Karen Choptain.

This year, Choptain is gunning for another title: winner of America’s Favorite Pet, a competitive fundraiser for the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) with a cash prize and a cover shoot for Modern Cat magazine.

Patrick has earned an impressive number of ribbons and accolades, but he didn’t start life in the winner’s circle.

Choptain, a veterinarian at Bridgwater Veterinary Hospital, met Pat two years ago as a patient in a precarious situation.

The little orange stray kitten had gotten stuck inside the wheel well lining of a vehicle. The driver lived nearby and gunned it to the clinic when they heard screaming after turning on their car. Luckily, it was a case of right time, right place.

“We happened to have a client in who was a mechanic, so he went out and took part of the car apart,” Choptain says. “They came rushing back in the clinic with this screaming wet kitten. I went to see if he was OK and he wasn’t injured, just scared. I scooped him up and I didn’t need another cat, but I was like, ‘Nope, he’s coming home with me.’”

Patrick — known as Patrick Swayze at home and as Patty Cakes Bakers Man of Karalot in the show ring — now lives a comfortable life with a crew of cat brothers, all orange, and an elderly canine sibling named Turtle.

“They have the best personality, they’re outgoing, they’re super friendly — particularly orange male cats,” Choptain says, adding that the online discourse around the subpar intelligence of orange cats also checks out.

“It’s absolutely not wrong. Some of them are very smart; Pat knows some tricks. But then one of my boys, Kevin, you look at him and there’s just one brain cell bouncing around in there. He’s a sweetheart, just not very bright,” she says, laughing.

Choptain, 46, is a lifelong cat lover. Her front door is adorned with cat signs and a cat doormat. Two large cat trees are visible in the front window and there’s a large catio in the backyard.

She grew up in a pet-friendly household and started showing cats at 10 years old as a member of the Manitoba Cat Club — a local cat show organization that shuttered during the pandemic.

Choptain had taken a long break from showing until Patrick came into her life at 10 weeks old.

Cat shows took some getting used to initially, but Pat has become a judge favourite.

“He’s just a ham on the table,” Choptain says.

Since most of Canada’s cat shows are concentrated in Ontario, she primarily competes in the United States and has road-tripped as far south as Kansas for shows with Patrick and her other cat, Simon.

Unlike breed-oriented dog shows, most cat shows have a household pet category, which highlights non-purebred animals.

“It’s probably more competitive than the purebreds because there’s no breed standard, so you’re looking for the friendliest cat, the most playful cat, the ones that are going to grab the judges because they’re ultimately picking their favourite,” Choptain says.

With hundreds of cats in the running, America’s Favorite Pet, hosted by celebrity couple Jenny McCarthy and Donnie Wahlberg, is Patrick’s stiffest competition yet.

The winners are decided by public voting and Pat is currently sitting at third place in the quarter finals. Visit americasfavpet to cast a vote; voting closes on Thursday.

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