Stretched out on his royal blue satin pillow at this weekend's cat show in the Lucas County Recreation Center, Kiss-A-Frog appears utterly pampered.

Above the Persian cat's cage is a royal blue canopy, topped with another iridescent swath. Below, a matching skirt is wrapped around his table.

Kiss-A-Frog has more personal-care products than many people pack for a weekend away. There's Mega Volume to enhance his long, white hair; sea plasma to reduce static, and a dozen other spritzes and sprays.

His cat food costs about $8 a week. His litter about $4. His shampoo a stunning $5 a week; he gets a weekly bath, which along with a thorough blow-drying, takes three hours.

Has Kiss-A-Frog ever caught a mouse to earn his keep?

Absolutely not, said Donna Shaffer, stroking him in her lap. Kiss-A-Frog has probably never even seen a mouse. And if he did, he might be too well-fed to care. Or the killer instinct might have been bred out of him.

Brenda Shaffer, his other caretaker in Toledo, said Kiss-A-Frog has never walked outdoors. Nor, she estimated, has any of his ancestors for about 80 years before him.

Such is the life of many of the 308 cats in the Mid-Michigan Cat Fanciers Inc. show, which continues today in Maumee.

And for newcomers to the world of cat shows, such as Chris and Jenna Stefanoni of Monclova Township, the event is an amazing sight.

They inquired about the price of a kitten and were stunned at the response: $675. Their own cat at home had come from the Humane Society.

There are such cats at the cat show too, although they aren't all entered in competitions. Wood County Humane Society has about 20 cats there for $80 each.

But most cats entered in the show had price tags in the $300 to $7,000 range.

There are about 15 cats at the show that are in competition for big national titles.

"This is a high-quality show," said John Colilla, a judge from Columbus who works about 40 cat shows a year.

The Mid-Michigan Cat Fanciers show is conducted by a Michigan-based club that is part of the much larger Cat Fanciers organization. The Mid-Michigan group has six to nine shows a year, with this weekend's local show the only one held outside Michigan.

The Cat Fanciers group is one of six national organizations that sponsor cat competitions.

The International Cat Association will have a show Feb. 9-11 at the recreation center, organized by Glass CiTICAts.

On the Cat Fanciers circuit, this weekend's show is sizable. The smallest Cat Fanciers shows draw about 90 felines. The largest get about 400 entries. The national association puts a limit of 450 cats on most shows.

About 30 breeds are represented at this weekend's show, out of 36 that are eligible for Cat Fanciers competitions. Most cats are evaluated eight times - four times yesterday and four times today - by a different judge each time.

In traditional competitions, cats are judged on how closely they resemble the standards for their breed.

"To me, a cat is kind of a little work of art," said judge Liz Wilson, of Saginaw, Mich. She has judged cats for 23 years.

A newer contest, called feline agility, is different. Cats and their handlers are timed as they navigate an obstacle course of steps, tunnels, and hoops.

Brenda Shaffer, who has managed the Toledo show for 27 years, hopes the agility contest will encourage more young people to get involved.

Most cat exhibitors are age 40 to 60, largely because young people are less likely to have money to buy and time to care for such high-priced animals or spend weekends traveling to shows, she said.

The 200 exhibitors at this weekend's show are from as far as California, Louisiana, and Missouri. That's down from the show record of about 270 exhibitors and 408 cats five years ago.

The attendance record is about 6,000 in 2003, Ms. Shaffer said. She predicted 5,000 this weekend, with about 2,000 yesterday and 3,000 today. And in those folks, wandering through the aisles of cages with cats lounging in little hammocks, cats being entertained with feathers and teasers, and cats being combed and fluffed, Ms. Shaffer hopes to instill a love for the animals she holds so dear.

"They give back to you a lot," she said. "They give you a lot of love. They give you a lot of affection."

First Published January 14, 2007, 5:31 p.m.