A Feline frenzy

Pediatric brain surgeon has a hobby he can't help but show off

By Brandy Willenberg

Matthew Pearson likes cats. Not how the frizzy-haired lady with a shedding calico tabby and a grocery bag full of Meow-Mix likes cats. Pearson likes cats. Enough to have 10 cats inhabiting, well, more like ruling, his Green Hills home, including two former national winner premier show cats.
Sitting behind his desk, blue eyes up toward the ceiling, Pearson, M.D., assistant professor of Neurosurgery, recalls his first show cat, the massively fluffy, white and black, 3-and-a-half-year-old, long-hair Persian named Budmar’s Art Deco of Koi Pond, that Pearson and his wife DeLinda found in July 2003.
“We fell in love with him,” Pearson says. “He’s a very large, but balanced, cat with amazing eyes and a wonderful personality.” When he says “very large,” he’s not kidding—this is 14 pounds of feline.
He holds up one of several professional photos of his first Persian show cat, laying it gently on the desk in front of him. But Budmar’s Art Deco of Koi Pond? Who names a cat something like that?
“Budmar is the name of the breeder. It is customary to put the name of the breeder first when naming a show cat,” explains Pearson, who has been at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt for 10 years. “We named him ‘Art Deco’ because of his flair. ‘Koi Pond’ is what we named our cattery. When you walk into our house, cats swirl around your feet like walking into a kitty koi pond.”
But Pearson, like a proud father of a “Nate” instead of a “Nathan,” affectionately calls him “Deco.”
Gently rubbing his black goatee with his thumb and index finger, Pearson begins to describe his second show cat.
He flips through a cat slide show on his computer, stopping upon a 3-and-a-half-year-old classic brown, long-hair Persian tabby with fiery orange eyes.
Its name? Beaubell’s Ty-Phoo of Koi Pond.
“By the way, ‘Ty-Phoo’ is a type of English tea,” Pearson adds. “His breeders were British.”
To Pearson, though, he’s simply “Phoo.”
“Phoo is passive and sweet,” he says.
A smile as wide as a Cheshire cat’s spreads across his face. He points out Phoo’s characteristic tabby markings on the computer screen, his nimble fingers slowly following the mahogany stripes.
Specializing in pediatric neurosurgery, Pearson is a real live brain surgeon. He specializes in intracranial surgery—operating to diagnose and remove brain tumors, cutting seizure pathways to help treat epilepsy and overseeing some trauma work.
Despite his demanding job, Pearson still makes time for what he casually refers to as his “hobby.” Showing cats.

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Matthew Pearson, M.D., poses with Ty-Phoo, one of his adored Persians.

Pearson and his wife, DeLinda, groom retired show cat Pepper

So what goes on at a cat show, anyway?
Pearson leans back in his chair and folds his hands.
“So, what goes on at a cat show?” he asks rhetorically.
Thank goodness.
A day at a cat show begins with owners bringing in their cats, known at that time as “opens,” or untitled cats of any breed. They are assigned a cage in which they wait for the judging to begin.
The word “cage” can be misleading.
Leopard-print satin curtains with a lot of what Pearson calls “frou-frou” surround Deco and Phoo. Toys stuff their enclosures to the brim.
“People make fun of us,” Pearson says. “We bring more toys than the vendors have there.” He laughs.
He says there are several rings at every cat show, each with a different judge.
“You basically have six or eight different shows in every show,” Pearson explains.
As the time for the judging looms near, a last-minute frenzy of grooming begins. Imagine a runway model, about to hit the catwalk, who realizes her false eyelash has just come off.
Preparing a cat for the judging stand is even more intense.
A full brushing, eye check for hair and other particles and a quick “reverse fluff brush” is performed at the grooming station before the cat is carried – as carefully as fine porcelain – to the judging cage.
“You want to carry a Persian length wise from below,” Pearson says, demonstrating with his upturned forearm, “allowing the legs to dangle from either side of your arm.”
“There’s cages put up behind the judges marked by numbers,” he continues.
You place your cat in the cage marked by your number, he says, and hope for the best.
Clicking through a slide show on his computer, he stops at a photo of Deco on the judging stand, looking regal as a king.
“The judge asks the question, ‘Does the cat meet the minimum standards of the breed?’” he explains.
For a Persian like Deco, they look for roundness. Massaging their fingers through the soft, silky fur, judges look for a round head, a short, round body, a thick tail, round eyes and broad shoulders.
“There’s a lot of tension,” he admits, regarding the wait for the results. “A little nervousness. Pride and elation. There’s a whole gamut of emotions.”
To their exhibitor’s delight, both Deco and Phoo cut the mustard. Each was awarded a winner’s brown ribbon for breed superiority in their respective competitions (there are no cash prizes at cat shows, only ribbons and cat toys) and earned the title of “Premier.”
But Pearson’s Persians didn’t stop there.
They advanced, competing against and beating other Persian Premiers to gain show points and become “Grand Premiers.”
Like rounds in boxing, cats generally must attend several shows to gain enough points to earn a title.
“It’s a show-by-show totaling to get a title,” Pearson says.
Phoo, however, was a knock out, becoming a Grand Premier after just one show. It’s an accomplishment Pearson, like a proud father, cannot help but brag about.
“Phoo got all of his points in one show,” he recalls. “He walked into one show as a Premier and walked out a Grand Premier. There are only a few of those a year.”
He rubs his hands together and leans forward slightly, trying to be humble but obviously as proud as a peacock.
By the end of their yearlong campaigns, Deco was named the “Fourth Best Cat in Premiership” for the 2004-2005 show season. Phoo was named the “Second Best Cat in Premiership” and a Grand Champion for the 2005-2006 show season.
By the way, that’s fourth and second best in the nation.
Now that’s something to meow about.
And Pearson, opening up a copy of Cat Fanciers’ Almanac to Deco’s profile, has loved every minute of it.
Enough to travel to 37 shows with Deco and to 34 shows with Phoo during almost every weekend of their show seasons.
“Everyone needs an escape,” Pearson, who started participating in cat shows almost three years ago, says matter-of-factly. “This is a second life totally outside the medical field. I meet people from all walks of life and get to participate in friendly competition with the animals I love.”

When Pearson is not showing cats he's also a brain surgeon.

A longtime love
That love began with Pearson’s childhood friend, a short-hair calico cat appropriately titled “Pepper.” Years later, in medical school at Baltimore, Pearson went to his first cat show.
Now, he and his wife DeLinda Pearson, M.D., a neonatologist at Centennial Medical Center, travel all around the country—from Madison Square Garden to Portland, Ore.—attending shows. All together, the couple has been in more than 100 show halls, both as observers and as participants.
As you can guess, that’s a lot of kitty litter.
And experience.
Which makes Pearson, an enthusiastic teacher, an excellent source of information for cat-showing “newbies.”
“Do your homework beforehand,” he advises. “Go to some shows. Learn about your breed. Talk to your breeders. The Cat Fanciers’ Association Web site has a lot of information. And always keep in mind that they are pets first, competition second. Our cats show for one year…they will be in our lives for hopefully 15.”
He stops, thinking about Phoo and Deco. Like winners of the Miss America pageant, they are now retired.
With eight other cats in the house, however, they are never lonely.
With an owner like Pearson, they are never short on love.
Just don’t show up at Matthew Pearson’s door with an unwanted cat in your arms.
Sure, he likes cats.
For now, though, he’s waded far enough into the kitty koi pond and is taking a year off from showing cats.
At least until next show season, when he’ll have a new pampered Persian…and hopefully another national winner.