Photos by Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Candy, a Himalayan Persian kitten, gets a bath at the Holiday Inn as her owner gets her ready for the Star City Cat Fanciers Winter Cat Show, "Cats in Coats."

Diane Boettcher hugs Candy after she’s refluffed for the cat show.

If you want to go

• Star City Cat Fanciers
  Winter Show, "Cats in Coat"
• Where: Holiday Inn, 3315 Ordway Drive, Roanoke
• When: Today, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Cost: $5
• Call: 230-4148

Diane and Harold Boettcher's fifth-floor hotel room looks like a tiny campground. Four child-sized, igloo-shaped tents line up along the walls, and inside four pedigreed Persians wait, purring, pacing and meowing sporadically.

Soon, Diane Boettcher will begin her job as stylist to her show cats, grooming the quartet of kitties for this weekend's Star City Cat Fanciers Winter Show.

"Good cats don't happen by accident," the 10-year cat show veteran explained. "It takes a lot of work."

More than 200 cats from all over the country will participate in the all-breed show. Boettcher, the show's manager, knows her four felines will have to look their best to be competitive.

She lays out the brushes, scissors, clippers and combs that she will use to carefully coif her cats.

Prancepaws Candlelight of Dal-Bo, also known as Candy, a 6-month-old flame point Himalayan Persian kitten, is first to get her preshow makeover. "You have got to get their faces just right," Boettcher explained as she gently plucked stray tufts of hair from around Candy's chin. "You want them to have that sweet, little round face."

The kitten's bath starts with a quick wipe of her face, ears and chin. Candy purrs.

Boettcher then places the still-purring kitten in the tub and begins slowly wetting her down, working water through the thick fur down to Candy's pink skin. Boettcher then douses the formerly fluffy feline, who now appears about half of her original size, with a series of cleansers, including Goop hand cleaner and Dawn dishwashing liquid, to remove any residue that could weigh down her coat.

After a few rounds of degreasing, shampooing and rinsing, Boettcher conditions the kitten's fur with an oil treatment to keep her soft and control static. Then its shampoo, rinse and repeat.

She swaddles the soaking cat in a soft towel, and starts with the brushes and blow-dryers. Fine strands of white hair swirl around the bathroom as Boettcher returns Candy's fur to its proper poof. Candy only offers the occasional meow of protest as Boettcher works.

Almost two hours after she began, Boettcher pronounces the cat clean and ready for the show ring. Candy covers her stylist's face in little kitty kisses. One down, three to go for Boettcher.

What are Candy's chances of winning this weekend? Not very good, Boettcher admits. Candy is young and small, the cinnamon tint to her coat is not yet as rich as judges look for, and this is only her third show, so she's still a rookie in the ring. And she may have one less-than-desirable physical characteristic.

"Her ears are a little big," Boettcher confessed, careful not to dwell on Candy's only flaw. Candy is, after all, a family member.

"They are pets first and show cats second," Harold Boettcher said. When the show closes this afternoon, Candy and her fellow felines will return to their Apex, N.C., home, for the pleasures of pampered pethood: Playing with toys, sleeping on laps and sunbathing near the windows.

Read more about the cat show at blogs.roanoke.com/thehappywag