Border Collies, Jack Russell Terriers and Shelties aren’t the only pets with a knack for jumping through hoops, clearing steeples and weaving through poles in an agility course — cats can also do the sport, and they can do it faster. In fact, the speediest kitties can zip through a course in less than 10 seconds.
Like canine agility, feline agility is a sport where kitty competitors run through an obstacle course as fast as possible. Participants have five minutes to practice and get their cats accustomed to the course. After that, cats must run counterclockwise and clear all the obstacles in four minutes and 30 seconds or less. And they have to do all this without the help of any treats. It’s not easy.
To find out more about the challenging and exciting sport, we headed to the National Capital Cat Show outside of Washington D.C., to see agility in action. We caught up with CFA Feline Agility Coordinator Jill Archibald and Lisa-Maria Padilla, an agility trainer whose retired Abyssinian, Twyla Mooner, used to zoom through courses in seven seconds. The agility experts dished on the most challenging obstacles and shared what they love most about the competition.
