Wait, what? Cat sports? Agility? Isn’t that a dog thing? Cats continue to surprise people with what they can do. Feline agility is indeed similar to canine agility adjusted for a cat’s smaller size. Feline agility can be a great way to keep your kitty physically and mentally active while also providing hours of fun for both you and your feline friend!
Agility is a fun and challenging activity for cats of all ages and abilities. Involvement can run the gamut from a putting out a few obstacles in the basement to traveling around the country competing for national titles. With proper training and practice, almost any cat can learn to participate. It’s also a fantastic way to build a strong bond with your cat.
Our cats participate in the Cat Fanciers Association Feline Agility program and my daughter is a certified Ringmaster. The training and benefits are the same whether you compete in the CFA program or the ICATS program or just build your own set for use in your yard or basement. The actual official rules, obstacles, and ring set-up section of this blog post series are CFA Feline Agility focused.
Photo Credit: CFA Ringmaster Niki Feniak
Contents
What is Feline Agility?
Agility is defined as the ability to move your body quickly and easily. 1https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/agility Basically, feline agility is an obstacle course for cats to do that as they navigate through obstacles such as tunnels, jumps, and weave poles. The goal is to complete the course as quickly as possible while completing all the obstacles in order.
You can put together a course in your basement with simple household items. Training is a fun and exciting way to bond with your cat while also providing them with an outlet for their natural instincts.
Officially though, feline agility is a competitive sport that tests a cat’s ability to navigate through a standard course of obstacles at speed. So if your Kitty loves running the course you built in your basement and has the confidence to perform in public, consider taking him to an official feline agility competition at a cat show.
Benefits of Feline Agility
Feline agility is not only a fun activity for cats that has numerous benefits for their physical and mental health, but it improves our bond with our cats, and helps the public realize what cats can do.
Agility is always popular stop for visitors at a cat show that offers it. People are surprised to see what cats are capable of doing. It benefits all cats when the public realizes that cats are not couch potatoes but are intelligent, trainable, and companionable pets, just like dogs.
Agility is an enrichment activity that you share with Kitty. You learn to communicate on a deeper level while you train together. Visitors to the ability ring often say their cats would never do that. While they might not want to run competitively, most cats would love the opportunity to train at home. 2https://www.aarp.org/home-family/friends-family/info-2021/cat-and-agility-training.html It taps into natural abilities an indoor cat doesn’t get to exercise regularly.
Physical Benefits
- Exercise: Feline agility provides cats with the exercise they need to prevent obesity and related health issues. The running, jumping, and climbing involved help cats burn calories and stay in shape.
- Improved Flexibility and Balance: Navigating the obstacles helps improve Kitty’s flexibility and balance. This is especially beneficial for senior cats who may lose their agility due to the stiffness and arthritis of old age.
- Stronger Muscles: Feline agility builds stronger muscles in cats. Training and practicing agility keeps indoor kitties in shape giving her opportunities to exercise her natural instincts to run, jump and climb.
- Improved Reflexes and Accuracy: Agility improves cats reflexes and accuracy by requiring Kitty to react quickly and accurately to navigate through obstacles. Improving cats’ reflexes and accuracy can be helpful in playing, stalking, or hunting.
- Acute Senses: Feline agility requires cats to use their senses to navigate through obstacles. This improves Kitty’s sensory awareness which can be helpful in other areas of his life.
Mental Benefits
Feline agility requires cats to use their brains to navigate through obstacles and complete the course. This mental stimulation is important for cats’ overall well-being and helps prevent boredom and destructive behavior. 3 https://ontariospca.ca/blog/cat-agility/
- Learning: Feline agility training keeps Kitty mentally sharp. Mental stimulation keeps your cat happier and less likely to get into trouble in other areas.
- Concentration and Focus: Watch her focus on the lure improve as you practice.
- Trust and Confidence: Agility training helps cats build confidence and social skills, especially in shy or fearful felines. Training, for agility or conformation, or tricks, builds Kitty’s trust in her guardian.
Why Cats are Good at Agility
Cats are built for agility. Cats are naturally agile creatures, with the ability to jump, climb, and run with ease. They are intelligent animals and learn quickly. Their natural problem solving skills let them attack an agility course with ease.4 https://www.catagility.com/why-cats-are-great-at-agility
Cats are Great Athletes
They are built for speed and agility. The average house cat can sprint at 30 mph and jump 6 times her own height. They are excellent at lateral movement. Test your furbaby. Take a wand toy and let her chase you as you wave and weave it across the room.
Cats are Smart
Cats have a very long short-term memory of up to 16 hours and can retain positive memories for up to 10 years. Usually once a cat has gone through the course, they remember it. Treeno learned how to do it from watching Sunny and Sam run. When we put him in the ring he just started wandering around the course in the proper direction. It took a little more effort to get him to actually jump through the obstacles.
Related Post: Unlocking the secret of Cat Memories
Cats Learn Quickly
They rank near the top of the animal world in terms of the variety of learning techniques they use including: 5https://www.catagility.com/why-cats-are-great-at-agility
- Habituation is the simplest form of learning. Kitty gets used to something after being exposed to it repeatedly and isn’t distracted. It’s why Kitty gets a chance to explore the ring before starting the run so they can learn to ignore who or whatever is in the background whether it is a shelf full of yoga balls, a bunch of little kids, a videographer, or another competitor in a carrier awaiting their turn. You never know what is going to be in the room you compete in.
- Observational learning is learning by watching and copying. It is helpful if your cat can watch another cat in the agility ring, to get the idea of the course and the obstacles.
- Conditioning is a way of learning that involves a reward. It can be a food reward, praise, or pets or whatever inspires your cat. This is the foundation of clicker training.
- Insight is learning from past experiences and reasoning, and usually involves coming up with new ways to solve problems.
- Play is a way to learn and practice skills. The one best thing you can teach your cat to increase your likelihood of success in feline agility is to love lure toys and to want to play with you or a handler.
Cats are Problem Solvers
They think for themselves. Our job as the handler isn’t to train them to obey commands and do exactly what we want them to do like a dog, but to give them the best chance to get around the ring as fast as possible while hitting every obstacle.
Is Your Cat Ready for Feline Agility?
Any Cat Can Play
Regardless of breed. It’s not just all Ocicats and Turkish Angoras and Japanese Bobtails. I’ve seen Persians place, although my Plush wanted nothing to do with it. I’ve seen Devon Rex, Maine Coons, Somalis, Siberians, Tonkinese, Bengals and more. And our random-bred companion cats can participate head-to-head alongside their pedigreed friends.
Regardless of age. We started a baby Ocicat on his way to stardom at just 4 months old when he still had to climb the 4 bar hurdle like a ladder. Now he runs 8 second times. And my 17 year old is the oldest participant CFA has ever had run the course. In his case “run” is generous, more like strolled, but he had fun. And he does have a qualifying time to his name now.
Any Cat Can Play But That Doesn’t Mean Any Cat Should Play
Is Kitty healthy enough? Can he run, jump, climb, and weave? Will he follow a toy lure? Will she focus and pay attention to you or the ring staff?
Does she have the confidence to take on the course? Are new things fun and interesting? Do new people freak her out or does she want to interact? A big, noisy show hall with people watching and cheering them on isn’t for every cat.
Of course, not every cat has to come to a show to do agility. You can build a course at home. A shy cat might love the challenge on a random Thursday afternoon, but not find the experience of a show fun at all. That’s okay. You and Kitty still get the real benefits of agility even if your course is in your basement or obstacles are spread around your house. The ribbons and titles of the formal program are fun for us but are the least important benefit of all.
The Feline Agility Course
Feline agility is a fun and exciting way to challenge your cat’s physical and mental abilities by completing an obstacle course consisting of a variety of challenges that test a cat’s speed, agility, and coordination within a prescribed time.
Course Structure
The agility course consists of a series of obstacles that cats must navigate through as quickly as possible using their natural grace and speed. The course is designed to test a cat’s ability to run, jump, climb, and maneuver through tight spaces.
Common Feline Agility Obstacles
Cats are timed as they complete the course, with the fastest time winning the competition. The course can be set up in a variety of configurations, with different obstacles and challenges depending on the level of competition and where you are competing. A CFA course and an ICAT course are composed of different obstacles and configurations. And, of course, if you are designing your own course you can include whatever challenges you and Kitty like.
Some of the Most Common Obstacles Include:
- Hoops: Cats must jump through a hoop.
- Tunnels: Cats must run through a long tunnel without stopping or turning around.
- Weave Poles: Cats must weave in and out of a series of poles without knocking them over.
- Hurdles: Cats must jump over a series of bars set at varying heights.
- Stairway: Cats climb up and down stairs.
- A-Frame: Similar to a stairway obstacle but with a beam instead of steps.
- Arch Jump: a combination of a hurdle and a hoop jump.
- Balance Beams: Cat walk across the beam. Usually it connects two parts of a stairway or A-Frame but you may also see it as a separate obstacle.
- Bubble Jump: Cat must jump a hurdle with both the take-off and landing points being a squishy balance trainer ball.
- Mirror Jump: This obstacle mimics a water jump on a horse jumping course. Kitty must jump a hurdle with a mirror under it. Tests her focus and distraction.
These obstacles can be set up in different configurations to create a challenging and exciting course for cats to navigate.
The Standard CFA Feline Agility Course:
- A staircase. 3 stairs up and 3 stairs down.
- A one-bar hurdle even kittens can just walk over.
- A two-bar hurdle.
- A tunnel.
- A hoop jump.
- A set of weaving poles Kitty must walk in and out.
- A three-bar hurdle.
- A challenging four-bar hurdle.
- Another tunnel.
- And finally another hoop jump.
The time begins when Kitty’s front paws hit the first step and stops when he lands after the final hoop jump. He must complete each obstacle in order for the run to count. But he can go back around as many times as he needs to get it within the 4 minute, 30 second maximum time. So if he skips the final weave on the weaving poles and goes on to the next two hurdles you can guide him back to the weave poles and have him do it again. If he gets it right and completes the rest of the course in order it counts.
He can do the first half, take a break and play around in the middle of the ring, and go back and finish. As long as it is under the 4 and a half minutes, it counts.
There’s a cat in our region that likes to run laps around the ring and do the course backwards before he settles and does it right. The part he does right in time counts.
With practice and training, cats can become skilled at navigating these obstacles and competing in feline agility competitions but on any given day cats can be cats. It is meant to be fun for Kitty so don’t get frustrated if he decides to do go off the plan.
There are many different ways to set up a feline agility course for your kitty to practice. You can use household items, such as chairs, tables, and boxes, or you can purchase agility equipment from a pet store. Some basic agility equipment includes tunnels, ramps, and platforms.
Training Your Cat for Feline Agility
Training a cat to run a feline agility course requires an understanding of how your cat approaches life. What motivates her? Unlike a dog she is not going to do because you tell her to do it. She’s going to do it because it is FUN! They do it to have fun with you, their friend. Keep that in mind while you train. Kitty will read your feelings. If it isn’t fun for both of you, she won’t want to do it.
The primary motivator for dogs is food, but for cats, it is play. The one single thing that indicates that Kitty will do well in agility is how much he responds to lure toys. The more toy aggressive the better.
There are several thoughts on training your Kitty to run a feline agility course. One uses clicker training practice to teach Kitty how to do the obstacles starting with the easy ones. You teach the obstacles not the course. Some people do use food rewards while training but the cat has to be able to run without a food reward in an official competition.
Click Here to Learn More About Clicker Training
Most people focus on teaching Kitty to follow a lure and practicing different obstacles at home but not practicing a course. The theory is that if you do too much training Kitty will get bored and lose motivation to play the game.
Be patient, have fun, keep it positive and stay consistent and your furbaby will be ready to join us in the agility ring.
Want to know more about training your cat for feline agility? Look for part two of this series on Friday.
