Juli:
Himi's are a bit like Smokes in that you can't bleach or use lightening agents in their coats to get rid of stains. If you do, you will only make the stain more yellow. That is why prevention is KEY! Get your show cat on a water bottle. Since I don't cage, I use bottle babies. They are basically a water bottle on a stand. Most cats will take to it on their own out of curiosity, others take more time/coaxing. The stain that you have now will need to be covered with powder at the show. Use a clown powder or one that's designed to stick to the coat, otherwise you could be embarrassed when the judge puts the cat down on the podium and sees a cloud of powder. Some judges won't use a cat that has been overly powdered, so do be careful! You can try removing some of the stained fur a little at a time with striping shears. This will have to be done gradually as the new coat replaces the old stained one. I would not advise using anything stronger than what you have already tried however. You will get a terrible shock if you do! There are more covered stains than you can imagine, so I know you won't be asked to leave!

I'm in Texas Region 3 and don't get to Region 5 very often. Palm Springs is a great show though. I was there a couple of years ago when I was showing my Blue Cream Smoke girl Symphony.

Now that I know about it, I'll be going to the show but only as a spectator.

Linda

My cream smoke cat had a stain on his chest when I got him. I put him on water bottle (Tracy was my mentor and she is a GREAT one ), used bibs when he had his meals and bathed him twice a week. It took a while but the stain went away and Santana has never had any stains after that.

My personal advice to you would be to bathe... not the whole cat but this exact spot every day. I've read on the internet that every time you bathe a cat a layer of stained coat comes off, and from my experience I learned this statement is true.

And no doubt I'm with Tracy and you shouldn't use any stain removers on your kitty if his coat is like smokes - I spent a fortune on stain removers and they didn't work.

I showed my cats in regions 2 and 5 last show season, and it was so much fun. Unfortunately Palm Springs is a bit too far from me, otherwise I'll come as a spectator. Good luck to you!