Speakers @ Theatre Square

Aaron Whitnall is a wildlife presenter on the TV shows ‘One Zoo Three’ and ‘OZT Goes Wild in Britain’, which are some of the most popular children’s shows on the BBC iPlayer. Aaron also works between his family’s wildlife parks, Hertfordshire Zoo and The Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent. He was a zookeeper for 10 years and now is a site coordinator, helping to oversee all of the parks future plans.

The Net Vet’s Dr Fabian Rivers, aka Dready Vet, was the  British Veterinary Association’s Young Vet of the Year in 2020.  He is a small animal, exotics and wildlife, veterinary surgeon and TV presenter.

Fabian has extensive experience in explaining all things veterinary to the wider public through his role as the exotics vet on BBC show The Pets Factor.  He has also presented the BBC Three program Britain’s Puppy Boom: Counting the Cost, which focused on issues including illicit breeding, illegal importation and ear cropping of dogs.

Sarah Whitehead is a highly qualified and experienced Animal Behaviourist, specialising in cats and dogs, and their relationships with their people.

Sarah has an MSc in Animal Behaviour and is a full member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (UK) and is also one of a small number of specialists to have achieved the status of Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist (CCAB) in the UK.

Sarah specialises in weird and wonderful problems in cats. Her absolute passion is teaching people how to understand the subtleties of feline body language through her online Programme: ‘Learn To Talk Cat’.

Sarah is the author of 26 books, booklets and DVDs. She is also a Master Practitioner in NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) – a branch of human cognitive psychology.

Sarah is widely known as the ‘trainer’s trainer’ – she has grown a successful professional network (www.swinnercircle.com) through her accredited educational programmes and Masterclasses, and her global lectures and seminars.

Sarah lives in the beautiful Chiltern Hills in the South of England, with three dogs, five tortoises, and adores Maine Coon cats!

I am inventor of the Dental Wand and director of Inventor Ltd. and I have a masters in business management and innovation. It was by falling in love with a cat that I rescued from a Peruvian sewer, that Inventor Cat was born. I hated the toxic position cat owners found themselves in when trying to brush their cat’s teeth. It meant we were forced to take a chance on our cat’s health to not jeopardize our bond. Thanks to my cat Lilo, I was driven to find a better way of doing things, thus, the Dental Wand was created and we began to see a world where cat’s enjoyed brushing their teeth.

Cats have been a part of Jacky’s life since childhood. Before becoming involved with Maine Coons, Jacky worked as a homing officer for Cats Protection, caring for and owning a motley crew of mogs. Jacky has been breeding lovable Maine Coon cats for the past 25 years. Although becoming a breeder was not initially the plan, owning two of these beautiful cats quickly revealed that this was destined to be Jacky’s path.

Jacky has enjoyed a long-standing membership with the Maine Coon Cat Club Committee, having previously served as Vice Chair and as a Show Manager since 2013. In addition, Jacky took over the running of a specialist Maine Coon rescue in 2005. The Cat Show Live is underpinned by the value of RECO, which stands for Responsible, Educated Cat Ownership (RECO). Jacky will share how everyone can play their part in the responsible ownership of feline friends, which applies to experienced, new, and prospective cat owners.

Unfortunately, one of Jacky’s beloved cats experienced dementia, providing Jacky with a great deal of expertise on the subject. Drawing on 25 years of experience, Jacky will be available to answer questions about this and many other areas of cat ownership and, of course, share insights into the world of the majestic Maine Coon.

Tania Murray has been involved with showing and breeding cats for over 30yrs. Outside of her day job as a leading Marketing Director, Tania is a highly regarded keynote speaker on the subject of Cat Grooming & Wellbeing.  Having been referred to as the Vidal Sassoon of the cat show world, she shares the insights she has spent years learning and perfecting through an engaging, educational and interactive presentation placing the cat as the hero at all times.  Demonstrating all the key tips and tricks she has learnt to enable you to have a more confident and fulfilling grooming experience for you and your cat.

Tania has presented at many of the UK’s leading pet expos, alongside celebrity vets and with many different breeds. She has also groomed some very famous cats, non other than Socks & Cookie The Blue Peter cats on live TV!

Celia Haddon has written many books about cats – some of them funny, some of them serious. Her latest book is Being Your Cat, a serious dive into how cats experience life so differently from humans. She became interested in cats when she was the pet agony aunt of the Daily Telegraph. After retirement she did a degree in applied animal behaviour, followed by a Masters degree in clinical animal behaviour at Lincoln University completed at the age of 73!

Owned by Maine Coons for over 15 years, I have shown all over the UK with TICA & FIFe, often with multiple cats of my own and agenting others.  Swapping my day job in Fashion and Luxury PR & Marketing for a very different kind of catwalk at the weekends.  Growing up with cats I couldn’t imagine life without one or at least four of these magnificent animals.  All of my cats have lived indoors and I am continually looking for interesting toys and activities to amuse them when I am not on hand to entertain and serve!