Agility competitions for cats gain popularity

Dog agility competitions make great TV, with pooches racing around an obstacle course, jumping through hoops and dashing through tunnels. If you've seen it, though, your reaction probably wasn't, "What about cats?"

But that's exactly the thought that Kim Everett-Hirsch of Portland, Ore., had before launching her first cat agility competition in 2005. "I thought there was no reason cats can't do it."

At that first competition, there were 30 cats, none of whom had ever seen the obstacle course before. And in the building next to the cat show, there was a motorcycle show.

"These people came on over," Everett-Hirsch said. "They said, you gotta be kidding. So they paid admission." And as the cats came out and got the hang of it, she says, "They were standing up cheering them, 'go girl go!'"

The jumps, tunnels, stairs and weave poles used for cat agility will look familiar to anyone who's seen the dog version of the sport, but the smaller size of the obstacles isn't the only difference. Dogs are expected to perform each obstacle on command, in an order that isn't obvious from the course layout. For cats, the obstacles are arranged in a circle, and the handler leads them around the course, making a game of it with a toy on a stick or a laser pointer.

"A cat's a little different," says Everett-Hirsch. "They're running the show. You have to make them want to do it."

Although the sport hasn't been going very long, there's already conventional wisdom about what breeds are best-suited.

That didn't stop Donna Hinton of Richmond, Texas, a serious competitor who has big Maine Coons instead of a lithe, short-haired Abyssinian. For her it's not about the breed, it's about the individual.

"You need a cat that has a good attention span, that's toy-driven," she says. "I've had some that decided 'I tried it, it's not my cup of tea.' You can't make them do it."

Success is also very much about the handler's skill and relationship with their animal. "You have to be in tune to your cat," says Hinton. "You have to be three feet ahead and anticipate their moves."

Since that first show in 2005, the sport has been gradually growing, with 10 competitions in the past year. It's also spreading to other countries: this year for the first time there will be a competition in Hong Kong and in mainland China. This season will also be the first in which the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) will start granting titles to the highest scoring competitors.