Where did the tic-tac-toe phrase "a cat's game" originate from?

The saying of a tie game (a game with no winner) is called a cat's game when playing tic-tac-toe.

A cat trying to catch it's own tail never wins, but the cat continues to play game anyway and have fun.

You cannot win when playing tic-tac-toe against me (at best it is a tie game) and yet we might continue to play the game anyway and have fun.