THE GREAT and good of the cat world were in town on Saturday and Sunday for the International Cat Show.

Hundreds of felines and their owners crammed themselves into the Bracknell Leisure Centre to be eyed up by judges from the USA, Canada, Austria and Australia.

In attendance was Stone, an American Shorthair and the reigning International Kitten of the Year, as judged by The International Cat Association.

On Saturday afternoon however, a young British longhair owned by Amanda Hill stole the hearts of judge Elaine Hopsworth-Whites, who travelled from Seattle, Washington to put Bracknell's furry friends through their paces.

"I travel all over the world," she explained.

"Three weeks ago I was in China. It could be a full time job.

"To qualify to be a judge in the International Cat Association you have to have bred at least 10 grand champions, three international winners which is a top 25 in the world and you have to go through an 18 month training programme.

"We have 69 different breeds of cats and during that training you have to learn 69 breed standards."

Across the sports hall cats inside cages sat across rows of tressell tables, lovingly preened by their breeders who were looking to pick up a coveted pink rosette.

"It was a lovely class of kittens," Mrs Hopsworth-Whites continued.

"33 all bred. Obviously I love the British long hair because that was my best kitten and the Bengal was the second best.

"Out of the 33 kittens I had 16 in my shortlist. When I started having to rank them some dropped off my list.

"We look at head structure, body structure and coat, amongst other qualities.