I am doing everything I can to rebuild
what I built after it I was decapitated
after I was literally slandered. There
is a swirling mass of accusation and
counter accusation. There's another
group that says they're both wrong.
>> We all know about Cruffs. Huge dog show.
Loads of money thrown at it. Big event
on national television. Cat shows. What
is a cat show? I mean, I'm guessing it's
similar.
>> It is similar. And I suppose the silver
lining around the litter tray of this.
>> Oh, is this going to be a podcast full
of puns?
>> No, it's not. I'm going to limit myself.
>> Okay.
>> It's everything to do with cats. So,
normally having a cat is a fairly lonely
pursuit. The ones I've had, you can't
cope.
>> You have a cat yourself?
>> I don't at the moment. I've had them in
the past and they're a cat lover.
>> I am a cat lover. and they've been the
kind of pets that you could hardly coax
from behind the sofa, right?
>> This is different. These are cats being
showed off and there's really a bit of a
a disruptor movement going on that since
the 70s you've had these cat shows that
have been rather rulebased. There are
rules about what a cat should look like,
what the breed standards are. This new
way shows, yeah, they're a bit more
informal. Okay.
>> Got a sense of humor about them.
Basically, it's everything cats. You can
look at cats. You can talk about cats.
You can stroke cats. You can buy things
to do with cats. You can buy photographs
of cats. You can buy merchandise with
cats. Cats. Cats. Cats. And they've
really tapped into something.
>> Do they kind of walk around and do
tricks? Is it
>> They do tricks.
>> Well, I mean, you know, in crafts they
do, don't they?
>> It's really about their look and their
shape. And yeah, there are some
obedience trials, but cats aren't
>> That's what I mean. those kind of
>> aren't that obedient. Even I've
discovered that with my limited pet
ownership
>> and there is a kind of a clear leader in
terms of organizations that put on these
shows and one of them is called LCWW,
Loving Cats Worldwide. Is this just the
perfect model or something? Is that is
that that's why it's the the biggest,
the best, the most well-known and it
exists all over the world or just here
>> is is the rub of the dispute that we're
coming to. That's the nervous decision.
>> But certainly they're very high-profile.
They have operated for 10 years under
the badge of loving cats worldwide. Uh
they operate in 14 countries. Ecuador,
Peru, Colombia, Japan, all across the
USA, here in the UK, Australia,
they're everywhere with these cat shows.
And a lot of it is to do with Steven
Meserv, who's going to be a character.
>> He's the boss of it all.
>> He's the boss of it all. He kind of puts
a showman into the cat shows. There's a
bit of razledazzle there, you know. He
he will see the funny side of the cats.
And also what's important that we're not
just talking now about pedigree cats. In
the old days it was just a thing.
>> Yeah.
>> For the top drawer, top breeds.
>> Now these new type of shows, including
the loving cats worldwide and the rival
organizations that have come along
recently, they're more expansive. So
humble pet domestic.
>> Yeah. Your mogis can come along if they
got a bit of personality. There's
something developing there that I think
we're going to see and hear a lot more
of.
>> See more of it.
>> And of course there's a commercial
aspect to it all.
>> This whole kind of business has been
mired a bit in in controversy recently.
What's happened?
>> Right at the nub of this three UK cat
shows organized by Loving Cats Worldwide
and its affiliates have been cancelled.
We spoke to around a dozen people who'd
bought tickets and not had refunds.
>> The show didn't cancel ahead and they've
not got the
>> despite the published cancellation
policy on the Loving Cats Worldwide site
that promises refunds in the event that
shows don't go ahead.
>> They haven't been refunded. So, a fairly
simple consumer tale, you might think.
When we started to investigate and ask
why people hadn't been refunded, we were
told by loving cats worldwide and its
head guy Steven Messerv that the reason
for the cancellations is that a rival
organization
has been responsible for bad publicity,
driving people away from attending the
shows, from buying tickets, making the
whole thing impossible
>> and and therefore seeing these three
shows who's just become non-events.
It's strange that people who share the
same love, the same hobby are at it like
cat and dog, you might say. You wouldn't
expect the gentile world
>> clang. That's too perfect.
>> Sorry. You wouldn't expect the gentile
world of cat fancying, which is what
they call it. um to be like this,
whether angry words being spoken, calls
for peace, bitter language,
>> refunds,
>> whether this is about rivalry, whether
this is a a cat fight, clang third,
between organiz,
you know, an argument between rival
organizations or companies, whatever.
The bottom line is people have be are
out of pocket because of this. You put
these complaints from customers to
loving cats worldwide. Their boss Steven
Messv. Let's have a little listen.
>> We are refunding on a rolling basis and
to the best of our ability.
>> Some people have been waiting months
despite your promises.
>> But we don't have any revenue. There's
no revenue.
>> It's not their fault.
>> It's not their fault. But this is the
way this is the way that business goes,
right? I am doing everything I can to
rebuild what I built after it. I was
decapitated
after I was literally slandered.
>> I mean, he's quite emphatic there that
he's trying his best to give the dosh
back, but
>> not giving much of it back or any of it
back or what?
>> No. Um, he says that he's trying to
repay when he gets the funds to do so.
>> That's not how it works though, is it?
>> Not really. No. But, you know, to give
him his due, he he claims to be trying
and some refunds have gone out. All of
them should have been repaid. Obviously,
uh it's not the consumer's fault that
all this is going on.
>> What kind of amounts are we talking
about?
>> Uh 30, 60, 100 pound. Some people um
were exhibitors, so they paid to
actually have a stand,
>> trade stand there. Others were members
of the public but they had booked hotel
and transport and all that kind of as
you can see not as trivial as it might
sound in financial terms and
particularly in the grip of a cost of
living crisis and and having spoken to
some of the people that haven't had
refunds they are angry and they want an
explanation. Now there we heard the
explanation that Steven Meserv says that
there have been cancellations and
there's a lack of revenue into the
organization because of claims being
made by a rival group and they are
called Fancy Cat Organization. One of
the people that runs that organization
used to work alongside Steven Mserve. So
you see it all gets very messy. Kelly
McDy. She is now running her own cat
shows and sorry to say this, but she's
obviously been accused of running a
copycat organization.
>> That's number four. Number four,
>> that was inevitable. You know, I I
couldn't I couldn't get away from that
one. That one just had to be
>> You just had to say, didn't you?
>> She she she denies that there's been any
slander. She says that Loving Cats
Worldwide has been mismanaged, which is
why she set up a rival organization,
Loving Cats Worldwide, deny that, make
counter accusations. So, you see
>> this world of of cat loving seems so
cuddly
>> is far from it. Let's have a little
listen to what she said in her response
to these accusations. Then,
>> for me, it's not a copycat because all
the show rules are different. Um, to be
fair, I wouldn't want to copycat LCW.
Here we have actually members that are
catreeders from all different aspects of
life.
>> Now I should have words with her. She
used copycat pun twice in that answer.
You've been along to both both of these
shows. Um what do you make of this spat,
Chris? Well, yeah. Our team has been to
shows from either side and there is a
swirling mass of accusation and counter
accusation. At the middle of it that
there are consumers losing money which
is our main interest in this in terms of
who's right, who's wrong. It's very hard
to adjudicate there. There are lots of
claims and counter claims going on and
maybe in the end, who knows, the courts
will end up deciding who's wrong. really
it may go this that far
>> steady moment enter another character
here because whoever is right or wrong
between those two rival cat
organizations
there's another group that says they're
both wrong and that is the organization
called cats protection uh they
>> they're both wrong in what way? Well,
Cats Protection campaigns for feline
welfare and they say there shouldn't be
such a thing as cat shows at all. Dogs,
you can understand it. They're a a pack
animal. They don't mind hanging out with
other dogs. They've got a different kind
of temperament.
>> A lot of people, including cats
protection organization, feel that cat
shows
can create stress in the animals. say
can lead to them being in kind of open
cages where there's really nowhere to
hide and get away from prying eyes and
that can lead to discomfort. They also
say that these kind of cat shows can
help transmit diseases. They just think
they're wrong.
>> Okay,
>> at a fundamental level. Now, the people
that running the cat show say not not
every cat is suitable to go to a cat
show, but some of them have got the kind
of personalities
>> where they like meeting
>> strangers. cat owners at these shows say
to that idea?
>> They they feel that the ones I've spoken
to feel that they would never put their
own pets into a stressful position and
that they say they know their pets
better than anybody else. And yeah,
>> they feel that the pets are showing no
signs of stress and if they did they
wouldn't attend these kind of events.
But you can imagine if if these kind of
exhibitions grow in popularity then so
will the level of scrutiny and there's
bound to be
>> that opinion
>> which is that they shouldn't go ahead at
all.
>> So with their concerns
can you ever see this growing in the way
that cruffs or being becoming as popular
as the likes of crs? I mean I think
there are some stats in terms of cat
ownership in the UK is pretty similar to
dogs 10.6 6 million compared to 10.8
million dogs. I had no idea it was that
that similar. And that's according um to
PDSA charity. Um but you know, in terms
of the the shows, they're incomparable.
But do you reckon that'll change then if
there's much more concern about cats
welfare?
>> I think they found a market there. I
really do. And and as I was saying
earlier, there have been cat shows going
all the way back to the 1970s. We've
talked about two organizations here, but
there are others in the market now.
There's uh something called the Supreme
Cat Show. There's Cats Live. These
things are gathering momentum and and
you can see why. Now,
>> a good role model for all this is Japan,
believe it or not, where they have a
friend.
>> Why?
>> Well, they even have a National Cat Day
in Japan in February. Okay, you heard it
here first.
>> There we go. What you need to know, what
we're here for. There they have
something called neconomics. Neco being
the Japanese word for cat. Neconomics
being a nod to this growing cat economy
which includes not only live events like
this but using um cats to attract
customers and tourists. We see how big
cat cafes have been not just in the UK.
They're
>> an international phenomena. also using
cat merchandising, using cat imagery to
to coax people in to buy all kinds of
products. You know, the cat economy is
growing. Bloomberg predicts that the
global pet industry will expand by 45%.
>> In the next 5 years,
>> okay, there's a a cost of living crisis
and a lot of pet owners have been badly
squeezed by that. But it's often seen as
when you can't afford anything else,
there's something comforting about
getting home to a cat or a dog or
another cuddly pet in a in an
increasingly difficult world. And what I
think is really interesting and and so
significant about the potential
development of cat shows is that if you
look at the figures, the biggest growth
area for cat ownership is under 34s.
>> So it used to be seen as a bit of an old
person's thing. Maybe cur up with your
cat when you've retired. No, it's it's
now being seen as something that's quite
trendy and I think it is because of that
morphing between the pet and the social
media representation.
>> Really? That is interesting.
>> Yeah. And it's it's really going places
I think. And
>> so watch this space very much.
>> I think so. Cat shows I think are here
to stay. I think they're going to get
bigger. Will they ever rival Crofts? A
lot of people think they will. And in a
very peculiar way, this cat's bat that
we've been reporting on only serves to
highlight
>> what could be a growth
>> market. Yeah.
>> Now, I maybe should have asked you this
at the very beginning of the question,
but but you have gone a bit off piece
from your consumer brief a bit with
this. What what made you be so
interested in this story? Well, it's not
off brief from the consumer I suppose
>> department when consumers have lost
money and that is how we got into this
whole thing and incidentally if people
have lost money
>> whether it's products services abroad at
home we will always read emails we'll
investigate when we can and people can
contact us very simply here's the email
address consumerit.co.uk
UK, get in touch. We'll always read the
emails and where we can, we'll
investigate. And sometimes they open cat
flaps like this. A whole new world.
>> And we'll leave it there, Chris.
>> Thank you.
>> You got I get off lightly. I know. I
know. I thank my lucky stars for that.
Until our next quick briefing, thank you
very much for joining us.
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