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Their noble demeanor and superior nature places average house cats on a pedestal.

But to become a champion show cat, as the kind on display at the annual Cat Fanciers’ Association Cat Show in Fort Myers on Saturday, it takes a feline with a special disposition.

After all, these are animals that normally dictate who can touch them and when. At a cat show, they must endure hours of poking, prodding, grooming and pruning from their masters and various strangers.

“My cat would put up with none of this,” said Marilyn Andrews, of Bonita Springs, who enjoys attending the annual cat show.

Andrews, the owner of a “terrified” female calico, left her pet at home and came only to gaze upon the beautifully well-behaved creatures.

Cats that get out of hand during judging don’t make it far in the cat-show circuit, said judge D.J. Williams, of Ocala. Williams has been breeding cats since 1954 and judging them since 1962.

Unlike as in dog show, where judges use movement to determine the soundness of a contestant by running it around a ring, cat-show judges must handle the animal.

In more than 40 years of handling strange cats, unruly contestants have only occasionally scratched or bitten Williams, he said.

“If a cat misbehaves, it’s disqualified,” he said.

Jeremy Lyverse / Daily News

Leslie Carr of Valdosta, Ga., grooms “Mango,” a 1-year-old smoke Persian cat, before she is taken to the judge’s stand to be judged during the Platinum Coast Cat Fanciers Association Championship and Household Pet Show held at the Lee Civic Center in Fort Myers on Saturday. Carr has attended the show before, considering it a local show. “Believe it or not, this is local, anything within an eight-hour drive,” Carr said.

Breeding helps ensure that friendly felines make it to the top, Williams said. Professional breeders breed first for health, second for disposition and third for looks, he said.

A good disposition made a big difference at Saturday’s show, which brought together hundreds of cats.

Breeds from American Bobtail to Siamese and various nationalities in-between were represented.

The cats sat inside the cramped hall upon rows of folding tables in small tent-like cages that had screen or plastic windows for viewing.

The cages held all the cats’ creature comforts, including pillow beds, food and water dishes, and little litter boxes.

When a cat’s number was called, its handler took it out of the cage and delivered it to another small cage in the judge’s circle, where most sat looking disinterested.

The judges pulled the cats from their individual cages, gave them a few pets and scratches, looked them up and down and stared into their eyes.

Sometimes the judge waved a feather toy in front of a cage to get a reaction from a cat.

The judges consider the cat’s coat, hair length, size, shape, color and eyes, Williams said.

“It’s a beauty contest basically,” he said. “Just like the Miss America contest.”

Judges give awards for best of breed, best of color and best of show.

Champion cat breeders can spend tens of thousands of dollars touring around the country and showing their cats, Williams said.

Liz Fraser, of West Palm Beach, has been showing American Bobtails since 1998.

She declined to tell how many cats she owns, but said it’s a lot.

She brought six kittens to sell at Saturday’s show because her “husband said it’s time” to start thinning the herd. Each cat can fetch between $200 and $275.

Fraser wore a personal air purifier around her neck and she takes a dose of anti-allergy medication every morning because she is allergic to cats.

Being around hundreds of shedding cats didn’t help, she said.