My name is Laura Gregory.  Ragtime Cats RagaMuffins is a small cattery located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.  I was a cat lover as far back as I can remember, but I began my love affair with showing cats as a pre-teenager.  Our family rescued a pregnant domestic longhair who gave birth to three kittens.  We found one a home, and kept the other two.

 

I read every cat magazine I could find and discovered they contained listings of upcoming cat shows.  Whenever there was a show in our state, I would contact the entry clerk and obtain a show flyer.  My wonderful mother finally agreed that we could take our three beautiful longhair HHP's to a show just two hours away - and I was hooked.  To this day, whenever my mom says anything to me about cat shows, I remind her that it is really all "her fault" for taking me to those early shows. Of course, she enjoyed it also and became just as defensive when she thought our beautiful girl should have placed higher.

 

Eventually, things like high school, college, and our HHP's getting up in age took me away from showing, but once out of school I again adopted a darling domestic shorthair.  I quickly recalled all the fun I had at a cat show growing up so once again I began showing.  There was a small local cat association called UFO (United Feline Organization) that accepted a breed called the RagaMuffin.  I was fascinated with the breed.

 

I was introduced to Janet Klarmann of Encore Cats RagaMuffins, and fell in love with my first show boy, Encore Cats Stradivari, a blue lynx point male.  Ragtime Cats was officially founded in 1999, with Encore Cats Stradivari as our first RagaMuffin and stud.  Very soon Stradivari was followed by RAG Maria of Ragtime Cats (seal point & white) and Encore Cats Allegra of Ragtime Cats (Arden's great grandma).  While the RagaMuffins were accepted in Championship in UFO, they were still working to gain full status in ACFA, and were not yet being considered in CFA.  I quickly joined the team working for the advancement of RagaMuffins.

 

I assisted Janet Klarmann at the presentation to ACFA for our acceptance.  I then took our standards to AACE and CFF, gaining our acceptance.  A few years later, I led the process that led to CFA’s initial acceptance and then advancement to full championship.  I have served as our Breed Chair and then Breed Council Secretary in CFA since our acceptance in 2003.

 

I am highly involved in showing, and have had a very successful show career.  In ACFA, I have 13 Top 20 National Wins, 57 Top 20 Regional Wins, 3 Legacy of Achievement Cats and 2 Legacy of Excellence cats.  We also have 47 Grand Champions in ACFA.  We then had to move to CFA, as it is too difficult to try to support multiple associations at this level, and in leading the acceptance movement, I needed to be dedicated.  Since our acceptance, I have 23 CFA grands, 19 of those of my own breeding.  I also have 9 Regional wins and 4 National Breed Winners (BW), along with several second and third national breed placements.  We are extremely proud of our female/spay GPD, RW Ragtime Cats Dazzling Autumn, who was the very first RagaMuffin to become a “Grand” in CFA and also earn the coveted Grand of Distinction title, being the second cat of ALL breeds to earn this title!!

 

We have served CFA as a Licensed Ring Clerk and Master Clerk, Ambassador, Mentor, and now we are in the Judging Program.  We recently became a LH Apprentice and have begun judging Longhair rings.  This has been a dream and goal that has taken over a decade of work, study and dedication. 

 

It is hard to believe it has now been 22 years since I met my first RagaMuffin and fell in love with this breed.  It’s also amazing to me that I am now the longest continuous breeder of RagaMuffins that is still breeding!  Once you have one of these precious babies, you too will know our amazing breed.

 

To read more about "Arden Forest" go to: https://www.showcatsonline.com/tc-sco/RagtimeCatsArdenForest.shtml?fbclid=IwAR17m3hcoEvVssKtSSwchLxVxDdIwytYtJbaCQsDc2bVmVLhnTTShDWc7XY 

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