What’s in it for the cats?: cat shows as serious leisure from a multispecies perspective

The breeding and showing of pedigree cats provides a novel lens through which to explore more-than-human intersections within leisure. Based on multispecies ethnographic fieldwork at multiple cat shows across the United Kingdom and on interviews with those who breed and exhibit cats, this article explores the relevance of the concept of ‘serious leisure’ to the ‘hobby’ of cat showing and asks ‘what’s in it for the cats?’ For the human participants, it provides opportunities for social interaction, knowledge and skill progression, as well as contributing to individual and collective identities. There are also substantial costs to this form of engagement for the human, but particularly, I argue, for the feline competitors. This article asserts that human leisure needs are given precedence over the well-being of feline individuals. Exhibition spaces and show requirements present substantial challenges for many of the cats involved and can limit, or even deny altogether, the expression of feline agency. This is not to state that there are not relations based on intersubjectivity between cats and humans in cat showing, but the focus of the activity and its power dynamics result in human interests being prioritised.