In a move that is sure to rock the animal competition circuit to its core, the annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show this year will add cats to its lineup.
Yes, cats.
More than 2,800 dogs will compete in the two-day event, which has been around more than 140 years, and the winning pup is considered the top specimen of its breed—and all dogs— in the world.
But the Club, which has never featured the feline species in it prime-time pooch beauty pageant, says this year pedigreed cats will be judged at the annual event, alongside the dogs.
Until now, cats have been forced to compete at a secondary, non-televised event.
A spokesperson for Westminster says the decision came as a way to “modernize” the annual affair, and respond to a changing world’s changing priorities. “The club has maintained its traditions while expanding to accommodate an ever-changing, dog-loving public,” Gale Miller Bisher told the New York Times.
It’s no longer acceptable, it seems, to play preferences, even where different species are concerned. Discrimination is simply not tolerated.
Unfortunately for the cats, they will still have to live up to Westminster’s strict breed guidelines, and can only compete if they have a pristine family tree and a clean breeding history. So your humble reporter’s giant orange tabby was immediately disqualified.
It’s also not clear how they intend to keep the species separate, or whether there are protocols in place in case a cat gets loose in one of the world’s single largest gatherings of dogs. Westminster has not yet responded to Heat Street‘s request for comment.
