Rhondda Watson

I became a member of the RASCC in 1975 and have bred and shown Siamese and Abyssinians under the Sucheng prefix. Currently I belong to several Specialist Breed Clubs including the Siamese Cat Society, Siamese & Shorthair Cat Club, the Oriental Cat Club, the Bengal Breed Club and the Abyssinian Cat Club. I was President of the Siamese Cat Society for many years and am now President of the Siamese & Shorthair Cat Club. Due to my involvement with Dr Truda Straede during her Australian Mist breeding programme I was appointed Patron of the Australian Mist Breeders Association. I am also very interested in the development of the Burmilla Breed.

In 1983 I was elected to the RASCC Consultative Committee and during this period have sewed on several sub-committees and Training Classes for Stewards and Shorthair Judges. I have organized Seminars for Breeders and Judges. For several years I was the delegate for CCCA meetings where I worked on the Breed Standards & Judges Training Committees. I am an All Breeds Tutor Judge. After the Cat Control became NSW CFA I became very involved with a number of successful fund raising functions including Cat of the Year Presentations & Luncheons, Champion of Champion Contests and many of the CCCA Judges Seminars held in NSW.

My professional background is in nursing where I have gained much experience in management, administration, assessment techniques and teaching.

The popularity of the Open style show compared to the Closed style show has resulted in enormous changes in show management, especially the introduction of the multi-ringed format and the Top 5 Award system. This style of show gives all Judges the opportunity to teach members of the public to be more responsible pet owners by keeping all their cats confined unless supervised. This will help to protect our wildlife and also keep our pets safe from injury. It also gives judges the opportunity to explain the differences in behavior in the pedigreed breeds and advise the visitors to our shows how to select the breed which will suit their particular lifestyle and the importance of having all pets desexed.

I joined the Toastmasters Club to improve my skills in public speaking as it is essential that Judges give a more professional and interesting presentations to the general public who visit our cat shows and to the owners and breeders who want to gain more knowledge about their favorite breed.

My aim is to see a more united Australian Cat Fancy and to help promote the aims and objectives of NSW CFA and to be available to any member who may need advice about breeding or showing.

Ph:  (02) 9972 7070