New contest tests cats' agility

By Dru Sefton
Newhouse News Service

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WASHINGTON — On command, the agile animals run the obstacle course, quickly weaving around poles, traversing tunnels and hopping through hoops to the applause of the crowd.

These athletes are not dogs or horses. They are cats.

Yes, domestic cats. Felis catus. Those independent critters most owners assume are untrainable.

They are part of a new competition called cat agility. The International Cat Agility Tournaments (ICAT) group, organized in 2003, opens its first official championship season May 1. ICAT hopes to be on the popular cat-show circuit within a few years, and to offer permanent monthly course runs at pet shops.

More than 200 cat lovers are involved, training pets on ICAT-approved obstacle courses and scheduling events across North America, Europe and Australia.

ICAT President Vickie Shields, a cat-show judge for 15 years, always had trained her cats — and assumed other owners did, too.

"Each of our cats was whistle-trained, and each would respond to a different signal," Shields said from her Albuquerque, N.M., home. "I've always had well-trained cats because I've always thought animals should be well-behaved."

About 20 years ago, she got the idea for cat-agility competitions to complement pure-breed, judged cat shows. She met Shirley Piper, now ICAT vice president, on the cat circuit years ago, and they set about creating the sport.

Cats at least 8 months old may be registered for basic, intermediate or advanced contests. The portable obstacle course is made of PVC pipes atop rubber mats with ramps, platforms, tunnels, bar jumps, hoops, weave poles and tables for distance leaps. Participants are timed by stopwatch, with points deducted for obstacles avoided or knocked down.
 
ICAT has the support of the International Cat Association, a major cat-show organizer that allowed an agility "practice trial" at an Albuquerque show in October.

The concept of a house cat — a pet generally known for its independence and aloofness — being taught to run an obstacle course is difficult for some owners to fathom. But Suzanne Jeanmenne and Ziggy prove otherwise.

Ziggy, a 21-pound, 2-year-old Maine coon cat, loves to train on the course set up in Jeanmenne's home in Downers Grove, Ill. "He begs to play every morning," Jeanmenne said.

The two have practiced for 20 minutes each morning since September on a course through her living and dining rooms. Jeanmenne initially led Ziggy with a tidbit of food; he graduated to following a feather on the end of a lead.

"Now he's so fast I can't keep up with him with the toys," she said, and she usually uses a laser pointer to keep him focused.

Ziggy's enthusiasm doesn't surprise animal behaviorist Karen Sueda.

"My cat knows how to sit, lie down, shake, roll over and salute," said Sueda, a resident at the Clinical Animal Behavior Service of the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine.

Training is an excellent way to focus on a cat's natural athletic ability, she said. "Some people tend to overlook that. Their concept of a cat is a pet that lies around the house all day and gets petted."

Cats are intelligent animals that enjoy a challenge. But it's important to judge by their individual personalities if they will like training for agility courses, professional animal trainer Rose Ordile said.

Ordile has trained animals for work in movies and television since 1987. She probably is best known as the trainer of Morris, the famously finicky "spokescat" for 9Lives cat-food commercials. Morris lives with Ordile and several other pets at her home in Canyon Country, Calif.

For agility training, "you have to work within a cat's personality," Ordile said. "If it's a very relaxed cat, it's not going to want to do it. A high-energy cat, or a kitten, they absorb everything and everything is fun."

When it comes to learning, cats and dogs are as different as, well, cats and dogs. "When training dogs, you're like a cheerleader; with cats, it's like doing yoga," she said. "You learn a lesson in patience."

That's because dogs are pack animals that want to master tricks to please their leader, Ordile said, while cats want to learn in order to please themselves.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company