ICAT - International Cat Agility Tournaments

From: Vickie Shields
Date: Mon Nov 22, 2004 2:15 pm
Subject: Winners - White Plains, NY!

The White Plains show was wonderful, with a tremendous number of spectators, and the Westchester Feline Club highlighted ICAT by putting the arena up on the stage, visible to everyone! We always had a big audience. The interest from new people in trying agility with their cat at home was terrific. The club suggested, and I think it's a great idea, that next year there be some target training for people to learn and the show hall makes it possible for people to bring their own cats to try it, because there is a side entrance and side rooms, separate from the regular show.

On stage with ICAT was the Savannah-Rama fun ring, so we had more Savannahs who came over to try ICAT than there has been before all together. One of them made it into the top winners for the weekend. Notice below that all the winners had clean runs, as did several other cats who learned over the weekend how to do the course.

One thing we noticed is how useful the low drapes (about 2.5 feet high) are, like in Syracuse and Albuquerque. With the spectators sitting on the other side, the cats feel comfortable more quickly, and aren't so distracted by all the moving feet when they are running the course. Cats have very good peripheral vision, it's obvious. We're going to encourage that at all the future shows, because it makes such a big difference to the cats.

All in all, it was a terrific weekend, with 59 cats trying the ICAT agility ring!

And the winners are...

CATS

Basic Course

1st Place -- Packer, a Bengal owned and handled by Ree Hertzson, clean run 26:00 seconds.
This was Packer's second ICAT show, and the second time he has been the winner! Congratulations to Packer and Ree! If they are at a show near you, try and watch him in the agility ring. Packer even aced the Advanced course which we set up in Syracuse to see if he could do it, and this was after about twelve times around the Basic course, but he still had energy and enthusiasm! Packer had gotten a bit scared last week at the ABC TV studio filming with the bright lights at the end of the tunnel, so he was more hesitant at first but on Sunday the joy he showed in Syracuse was coming back again, you could see it.

2nd Place -- Dray, an Abyssinian owned and handled by Rene Knapp, clean run, 28:08 seconds.
Dray is one of the few cats I've seen who responds to food, dehydrated chicken bits in this case, as a training too, and he sure loved getting his treat when he did and obstacle correctly during the learning times. The treats also got him through the weave poles very smoothly.

3rd Place - Miki Moto, a Japanese Bobtail owned and handled by David Veeder, clean run, 26:00 seconds.
David had just finished the first time through the course with Miki, teaching him each obstacle carefully and slowly, and we timed him soon afterwards because Miki pawed the air to get back into the ring when David was taking him away after training!. While still going slowly, Miki was accurate and seemed very happy, with his little bob tail up in the happy cat position.


KITTENS

1st Place -- Phoenix Rising, a Bengal owned and handled by Meredith Bird, clean run, 29:21 seconds.
The was the second weekend on the course for Phoenix Rising, in Syracuse he was the 4th place kitten with a clean run and time of 35:74 seconds. He has increased his speed now, and looks like he'll be able to earn his Agility Cat title once he turns into an adult. Even at the end of Sunday after all the judging rings and running the agility course for time and fun and for the spectators to watch, he still had enough energy left to run a bit around the course with Massimo Picardello, the judge from Italy who was there and who knew about ICAT but hadn't tried it in person yet (ICAT has had two shows in Europe, one near Frankfurt, Germany last month, and the other was a practice event at a big show in Strasbourg, France a week ago). Thanks for volunteering, Phoenix!

2nd Place -- Timba, a Toyger owned and handled Patty Fairchild, clean run, 40:90 seconds
Timba learned what to do very quickly, like after the first hoop jump the one at the end was done without hesitation, so we knew Timba was ready for a timed run soon after the practice laps.

3rd Place -- Selah, a Savanna F5, owned and handled by Tina Robertson, clean run, 57:21 seconds
Selah was ready for running the course very quickly, without much orientation time, and she has great athletic ability. Notice she is the only female winner of the weekend, and one of the few females to make it into the top three at any event!

CONGRATULATIONS to all of the winners, and thank you to all the cats and owners who came to the agility ring, and to the Westchester Feline Club!

Vickie

P.S. Special mention goes to Cinder, and Abyssinian owned by Sheila Dentico, who was a star at the cable Channel 30 taping session in their TV studio. Cinder was the 2nd Place Kitten in Syracuse, and gleefully showed what she could do for the cameras. This taping was on the day after the ABC TV session with Packer, (and thanks go to Packer and Ree also, for volunteering and being in Manhattan at midnight) and many of the lessons learned the hard way (like no lights turned on at the end of tunnels because cats don't want to run into big floodlights, and more space than three feet, and a few less people on stage, etc.) were applied to the Channel 30 set up, and it proved more conducive to the cats being relaxed and erforming well.

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From: Kristine Alessio
Date: Mon Nov 22, 2004 2:29 pm
Subject: RE: [ICAT] Winners - White Plains, NY!

I was at the show with my Savannah girl, I watched some people run their cats through – it was great! I loved the Westchester set up, what a great show hall. A lot of the spectators coming through the entrance where we had the Savannahs really had positive reactions to ICAT! Good work ICAT folks.

Kristine C. Alessio, Esq.

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From: Sheila Dentico
Date: Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:14 pm
Subject: Re: [ICAT] Winners - White Plains, NY!

I am still tired from the show ... it seems like there was more work, confusion and exhaustion (for all the members) than usual.

I did 2 TV publicity spots, both to demonstrate the cat agility stuff. We had 3 borrowed obstacles from dog agility people, a tunnel, a hoop and a low hurdle. The tunnel was very long. At one setup (for ABC) we had it opened up full length and it just did not work ... none of the cats wanted to come out of the tunnel, even the 2 cats that had done the agility before (mine was one that had done it).
I had thought maybe they were busy smelling the dog smells, but I don't know. I do feel the lights and cameras and all the people did have something to do with the cats' distraction. I have no idea what the ABC spot got edited into (supposedly it was shown between 3 am and 5 am) and how it looked. Although the anchor crawling into the tunnel trying to coax out a cat was pretty funny so I sure hope they kept THAT in!

The Cable News12 spot worked out much better. Their studio is very small so instead of opening the tunnel out full length, we left 1 velcro strap in place and it fanned open to about 3/4 of a circle. Maybe because it was morning or who knows why, my cat was up for it ... right thru the hoop, thru the tunnel, looked around, ran thru the tunnel AGAIN, then right over the hurdle! :-) I heard it looked great!

I do agree that the low drapes around the ICAT fencing is VERY helpful in blocking out distractions for the cats and making them feel more secure. I think that made a big difference in Syracuse. Our setup being on the stage sure gave the cats a lot to look at and be distracted by ... they could look down at vendors and out across the showhall!

Thanks for posting the details about the winners, Vickie. Also a big thank you for Julia Jennings for being our official and to you, Vickie, for being there to be our "cheerleader" and support.

Sheila Dentico
Abyroad Abys & Somalis - http://www.abyroad.com
Westchester Feline Club - http://www.westchester-feline.org
associate of Eos Development - http://www.eosdev.com

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From: Julia Jennings <jewybean71@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon Nov 22, 2004 11:25 pm
Subject: Re: [ICAT] Winners - White Plains, NY!

Thanks Sheila!

I had a great time at the show........beautiful facility, beautiful cats and kittens! I met many interesting people and I love having ICAT at the cat shows!It's so much fun and well worth the effort it takes to get the equipment there.

Everyone that participated had a great time, I thought it was a very positive environment for the cats and the people. I would love to have the chance to be the agility official again at a future White Plains show.

Julia Jennings

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From: Sheila Dentico
Date: Tue Nov 23, 2004 9:33 am
Subject: Re: [ICAT] Winners - White Plains, NY!

I almost forgot to give a BIG, BIG thank you to Mary-Anne Gross and Marcy Rauch for loaning us their dog agility obstacles so that we could do our publicity spots. The tire hoop and hurdle were perfect and the tunnel, as I said earlier, worked well when we kept one strap in place and let it fan open into a partial circle.

Maybe my brain will actually be working in another day or two :-D

So, Mary-Anne, what did you think of the cat show and agility?

Sheila D