From: www.cityweekly.net

At Ring 2 in the Hotel RL Ballroom, Adriana Kajon wrangles somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 pounds of feline from a cage onto a waist-high table that looks a lot like a stage. On either side, a vertical scratching post rises another three feet, with a wooden bar connecting them, creating the effect of a proscenium.

The cat—an adult female Maine coon—responds agreeably to being handled by this stranger who is checking bone structure, grooming, coloring and multiple other factors against the standards of the breed established by The International Cat Association (TICA).