It is a sport that commends nimbleness, speed and poise. Unfortunately, many of the contestants don’t stay awake long enough to see the finishing line.
This is the unpredictable world of feline agility competitions, where cats compete to be the fastest at weaving around poles and pouncing through hoops.
This weekend, cats from all over the country will head to New York City and Indianapolis for the International Cat Association’s and the Cat Fanciers’ Association’s annual shows.
The cats perform in a ring, where their owners brandish a feather or sparkly wand to keep their attention.
Taking inspiration from dog agility competitions, cats must master around 10 obstacles, including stairs, hoops and tunnels, as quickly as possible.
Top cats win a ribbon or a small trophy – or occasionally prize money.
The sport began a decade ago when two couples met on the cat show circuit and started discussing the tricks their pets could do.
They modified some dog agility obstacles and showed them to their cats – before launching the International Cat Agility Tournaments.
‘When we first started it, everybody said, “Train a cat? Impossible!”’ Founding member Shirley Piper from Riverside, California told the New York Times.
Miss Piper now trains her 20 cats using toys and a system of taps, but some are so well trained that they now run an agility course on their own.
About 30 per cent of cats complete a course in the allotted three minutes, according to Russell E. Reimer, a ringmaster in Mesa, Arizona.
‘Most of them have a hard time with the weave poles,’ he told the New York Times. ‘The tunnels, the steps, the hurdles are no problem.’
Mr Reimer said success is often helped along by the cat’s breed. He once had an Abyssinian kitten called Twink that he believes was a natural.
‘All you had to do was wave a wand at her to get her started, and she would stop at the weave poles to wait for me to catch up,’ Reimer said. ‘The fastest time for Twink was seven seconds — she was that fast.’
‘You have to get the cat to focus on the toy,’ said Anthony Hutcherson from Port Tobacco, Maryland, whose oldest cat, Justin, has run the course in nine seconds.
‘Cats will pretty much chase a feather on a string anywhere.’
‘[But] there are people there shaking a feather for what seems like an eternity, and the cat just looks at the person and says, ‘I don’t think so’.”
Vickie Shields, one of the founders of ICAT, is hoping to invigorate the sport and experiments with new obstacles in her living room in Albuquerque.
‘We think of new things — ball pits, a tiny inflatable swimming pool,’ Shields told the New York Times.
‘We tried to get the cats to jump over [the pool], but they would run up to it and stop or take a drink.’
Cynthia M. Otto, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, encouraged the cats agility competitions.
She said: ‘I think we let cats’ brains rot, and I think it’s really sad.
‘If you start doing this, it really changes your relationship with your animal and enhances your bond.’
