By CATHY ARONSON
Peaches, New Zealand's top domestic longhaired cat, has worked her way from rags to riches.
When Peaches was adopted from the Hamilton SPCA a year ago as a 9-month-old stray, her silver, tortoise and white coat was matted into golfball-sized lumps.
But cat show veteran and SPCA volunteer Annette Ying saw the tattered moggie's potential and good nature and took her home to Huntly to meet her five other adopted cats.
"She was a mess and very underweight. But she was so charming, especially for a stray."
Peaches was shaved, bathed and brushed back to beauty and within six months won her first cat show at the Matamata Mid-Island Cat Club.
Many cat shows later, more than a dozen ribbons adorn her proud owner's walls.
"She has kept the other cats fed on what she's won."
A week before Christmas, Peaches was crowned best domestic longhair by the national cat club governing body, New Zealand Cat Fancy.
Mrs Ying says the cats are judged on grooming and temperament.
"She has a glamorous look and a wonderful temperament. She greases up to the judges and stands on the table with her tail up high. She thrives on the attention."
But Mrs Ying says if the attention gets too much, Peaches will go into well-earned retirement.
Mrs Ying's parents owned a cattery and she grew up loving and grooming cats. At school they called her Dr Dolittle.
Although she has decided six cats are enough, she also fosters kittens for the SPCA in her purpose-built cattery.
Mrs Ying's love of cats is evident in her home, which is decorated with cat photos and trinkets. On top of her television set sits a cat Christmas card from the SPCA.
The card thanks her for "going that extra mile" for the SPCA and reads: "The common house cat often expresses gratitude by leaving a freshly killed mouse or bird for its benefactor. A card, however, is so much more sanitary."
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