If you’ve ever been to a cat show, you’ve probably seen those cat agility circuits: a miniature obstacle course of hurdles and tunnels. Cats are enticed through the parcours by a human waving a sparkly wand or feather, and the cat’s time through the circuit is timed. Some cats complete the circuit in a few seconds, others may lay down in the middle of the course and decide that they’re done.
Ruby and I sort of “happened” upon an agility parcours in our kitty playroom the other day. I was playing with her and Allegra with the Da Bird Sparkly Attachment*, which has become a new favorite at our house. They both love chasing this toy throughout the house. It’s a great way for all of us to have some fun, and for the girls to get some exercise and burn off energy.
One day, I lured Ruby downstairs to the kitty playroom with the toy, and started to drag it through our assorted hollow scratchers and tunnels. She followed it through several scratchers and through a little cardboard house – and she had a blast. I decided to try to film her, and you can see the result below. It’s a bit challenging to film with one hand and play with the other, so the video won’t be winning any cinematography awards, but I think you’ll get a sense of how much fun Ruby had.
What do you think? Will Ruby become an agility champion? Have you tried agility with your cat?
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Great job Ruby..Maybe Allegra will start following you!
She really loved that tunnel!! She is definitely a champion in this video- what a darling!
Ruby, we are SO impressed!!!
Glogirly has been wanting to try this with both me and Waffles. As long as there are treats in it for me, I’m game!
: ) Katie
I think this would be great for Waffles, Katie. It would burn off energy, which would leave less of it for him to bother you! 😉
I think Waffles would be a great agility cat! You should give it a try.
Wow, we’re impressed with Ruby’s agility!
Thanks!
Go Ruby, go! Do we sense clicker training on the horizon?
You never know!
I think Ruby could do anything she wanted to do. I have played with cats going under the table and around things, but i don’t really have any thing they can go through. When i use the laser my Cisco will jump half way up the wall. He is mainly my only jumper. The other three seem to be more ground dwellers.
Ruby is so cute. She sure was having a good time.
That is so adorable! She looks like she’s having so much fun 🙂 Now I’m wondering if this is something I could get Truffles to do…
Let me know if Truffles decides to try it, Melissa.
You are NEVER going to believe this! I must have had a premonition! lol. First, Cody is SUPER good at “circus” moves, climbing, agility, when he moves he is super athletic (the key is getting him to move)….now, back to the premonition lol……right before I woke up I had a dream that a certain cat food company (who I’m not going to mention), called me and said “We are taking Cody for 2 weeks to train him in agility” I said, “No!! You can’t take him!!!” I was thrashing in my sleep….then they called (in the dream) and said “Ok, we took Cody but he will only be gone for a week, he is in an airplane” I was yelling in my sleep “No!!!! He has to take drops for his allergies and he can’t be separated from Dakota, they have never been separated!! Bring me Cody!!!”……….aren’t you glad you mentioned agility? It all had to do with that! lol
xoxoxo
That is too funny about the timing of your dream, Caren!
Ruby, you sure looked like you were having fun. I love how sometimes you stop and just look at the toy, deciding if you feels like continuing. Hope you got some extra treats for that!
She does get rather strategic about it at times, Lynda!
Ruby looked like she was having fun and that is the most important thing. Unfortunately the big obstacle to most cats is comfort in their environment. That was Mewdy Blue’s advantage over other cats when he competed. It didn’t matter where he was, he always felt at home. If you’d like to see some of his work you can check out my video of him here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyutUSThSHk
(You might also want to use a toy that is more controllable like a feather on a pole rather than the one you used here)
I’ve used feather toys since I filmed this, and she likes those, too. She doesn’t seem to care what she chases!