I've shown a few different species over the years and here is a few tips
to help make it a reasonably good experiance.
 
    Remember to bath your pet a couple days before the show or the day
before if it is a pet who is prone to oily skin or sudden needs to roll in
mud or food.  Its a good idea to keep those types housed in a clean place
till they are shown, even if it means staying in the cage/kennel.  There are
whitening shampoos for animals with white coats and they do make a
difference.  Conditioner can be used on those whos coats are on the dry
side.  Nails should be trimmed at least 3-7 days before the show just in
case you accidently hit blood..It gives it time to heal.  Bring q-tips to
the show for cleaning out ears before they go to the judging table..
 
    Use parvosol or disinfectant spray.  Spray it on your hands between
handling each animal and encourage judges to do the same.  This helps control
the spread of the greenies or other viruses.  The rat and mouse breeders have
had problems with viruses for a long time and the use of Parvosol has been a
great help.  Bird breeders who show also use Parvosol. Baby wipes do NOT kill
viruses and are little help. Make sure that anyone who handles your pets
sprays their hands first with the disinfectant spray.  Keep paper towels on
hand to wipe hands off on..
 
     Do not allow your pets to play or come into direct contact with strange
animals.  I know its cute to see two ferrets meet and play, but its not cute
to have to treat a sick ferret who happened to catch a bug one was carrying.
 
    Make sure your carriers/cages/kennels are secure and escape proof.  It
can be embarrassing to have to chase down a pet and they might come into
contact with a sick pet at the show and spread the illness.
 
    Encourage pet shows to have health checks.  Sick animals SHOULD NOT be
allowed into the show area or be allowed to be shown.  Weeding the sick ones
out through health checks keeps the judges from handling them just before
touching YOUR pet.  Again..Parvosol or an antiviral disinfectant should be
used on the hands between the handling of each animal to prevent spread of
germs/viruses.
[Posted in FML issue 1251]