MAINE COON BREED COUNCIL NEWSLETTER FEBRUAY, 2009

There were 39+ Maine Coon Breeders present at the MCBC meeting in Atlanta in conjunction with the International Show.  This was a well-attended meeting that featured Sheila Haskins’ Eye Color/Deafness Presentation.  It was great to see so many of us in one place.  Let’s continue that.  We will hope for another International so that many of us from all over the World can meet together.

Our meeting opened with introductions followed by thanks to the many folks that help our Breed Council with the many jobs that keep us up and running.
Thanks were given to Dennis and Trudie Allen for maintaining the MCBC web site and keeping our MCBC list going; Geree Martin for heading up our Standards Committee; Teresa Signore as our MCBC Historian; Nan Moses for keeping us up-to-date on all our health news as our Health Committee chairman; and to Grace Ann Cox for being the Chairman of our Breed Booth Committee.

Nan Moses had a brief written report on the Convienia antibiotic injection that is now available.  If you would like more information on this please contact Nan privately.  I am sure she will be glad to discuss this with you and also tell you if your cat may benefit from this. 

Many, many thanks and a round of applause was given to Grace Ann on her wonderful job with the Breed Booth.  YEAH!!!  We won 2nd place this year.  Many of us had our photos taken in front of the booth.  Made a spectacular background!!   We also discussed getting Grace Ann to set up the old booth (background only) and take a picture of it then getting that picture to Sherry Campbell.  Sherry agreed to put it up for sale on E-Bay.  We could then take that money as a down payment for the new one.  That way we would not take too much money from our account just to pay for the new booth.  ON A GOOD NOTE here, Grace Ann has reported that the new booth has be DONATED to the Maine Coon Breed Council.  What a blessing.  But, perhaps we can still sell the old one.
Again, thanks to Grace Ann!

We spent a little time on the ballot items and then went into Shelia Haskins’ presentation on Deafness/Eye Color.  Thanks to Sheila for all her time and hard work for the research on this.  It is great to see that there is new research being done on this.  I do have about 6 more copies at $5 each and I am sure Sheila has some as well.  Let either one of us know, if you would like one.  Thanks again for a great presentation, Sheila.

I am still working on the possibility of holding an All Maine Coon Show.  I will be calling on one person from each of those breed clubs to form a committee to look into this. An All Maine Coon show could possibly be held someplace in the center of the country with the proceeds going to a yet to be determined Maine Coon project (it could be a health related study, breed rescue, or other).  We know we must be respectful to shows in all the regions and work with the National Show Scheduling Committee.  I heard through the grapevine, that there may be some proposals from the annual this year about the possibility of eliminating the Nat SS Committee, so I am going to wait to see what this outcome is before proceeding with the endeavor for an ALL MC Show.

One thing I have discovered from talking with Karen Lawrence is that the link to renew your BC Memberships on line never gets activated until July.  So, to be a current paid member, you will have to sail mail your forms with $$ to the CFA CO.  In any breed, Breed Council membership runs from January 1st to December 31st.  Please check your application for that information.  It is stated as such.  I know you have a long time to renew, until August 1st.  However, it still runs out on December 31st.  So, if you wait until August to renew, you have a lapsed membership and truly are not a member until you re-join.  This is a CFA Central Office policy for all Breed Councils.  Also, the web site for current members may not be up-to-date until sometime in February, so don’t rely on that to know if you are currently a member. 

Thanks again to all for attending and I will look forward to seeing you at the annual meeting in Palm Springs, CA.  Time and place will be announced on the MCBC list when our meeting will be.

Respectively submitted,

Martha Auspitz,

Maine Coon Breed Council Sec.