Are cats really this stupid?

Not sure some of you read my thread in Health and Nutrition forum.


My cat Ozzy was away for 3 days for UT problems. I brought him home yesterday and all hell broke loose with my other cat Demon. They are brothers and I was shocked. I mean demon literally will not go in the same room as ozzy and if I touch ozzy or carry him, and then carry demon, demon wants to rip my head off and starts hissing and growling. I mean at that stage I'd have no problems throwing him in a dog fighting ring lol he'd kill em all.

I mean do these brothers look like they could hate each other:



I understand the whole sent thing. but this brings me to my main point. How can cats be so stupid they dont have a memory or visual remembrance of what the cat they've lived all their life with looks like.

I just don't get it.

Cats and animals in general dont go by looks. They recognize by scent. You cat who came back from the vet smelled different. Its not that Demon is stupid, he was scared. His brother smelled different, he didn't know why and didn't want to be around him. All will go back to normal soon. Try rubbing a towel or shirt on Ozzy to make him smell like you or Demon. That might help.

Their certainly not stupid, if anything cats have more intelligence than some of the people i work with!.

Do whats just been mentioned by rubbing their blanket or your shirt over them.

Rosie did the same with Sophie when she came back from a vet visit but after a couple of hours she was fine with her.

Good idea with the towel. Will try it during lunch.

I didnt really mean cats were stupid.

No, they aren't stupid.

You can also try dabbing a small amount of vanilla extract under their chins and at the base of their tail. Make sure it's just a small amount. They will smell the same and it will help with the agression.

I had to chuckle a little when I read the title of this post ... and I thought about my very sweet, but somewhat less than horribly intelligent little boy-kitty who will sit for hours and watch a faucet drip. *wink*

Originally Posted by Kicker

Good idea with the towel. Will try it during lunch.

I didnt really mean cats were stupid.

Click to expand...

Of course you didn't

Did you know, and this is very interesting, that from close up cats' eyesight is really not that good? The lenses in their eyes have looser muscles than in humans, and therefore focussing from close-up is difficult for them. Things closer than three foot, for example, are blurred and seen in a distorted way. Cats also do not really see in colour the way we do, they have a much more limited colour range than humans. That is why sometimes you can put a treat two foot away from a cat, and you'll have to virtually put the cat right on top of it, so they can smell it, because they certainly can't see it! It is also the reason cats can be sitting right on top of prey they are hunting, but until it moves, they won't be able to catch it. The movement is what they see, not the creature itself. Bizarre, huh?

So, their solution for this is scent. They smell everything. In colonies, cats do not even really verbally communicate at all. Everything is scent. There is no need for them to speak to each other, because everything is communicated by the way they smell. Different emotions have different smells. Cats only really vocalise when they are around humans, because they have learnt that we can't smell as well as they can.

So your kitty having come back from the vet smells completely different, alien and probably like chemicals and other cats. No wonder your other baby is so freaked out!!! It is, in equivalent cat terms, as though he has come back from the vet and is yelling `I AM STRANGE YOU DON'T KNOW ME I AM THREATENING TO YOU!!!' but all with the way he smells.

You can neutralise other scents by putting a dab of vanilla essence under their chins and at the base of their tails four times a day, and the towel/blanket thing is a winner.

Good luck!

I smelled different when i came back from sicily adn was upset when my kitties didnt recognise me, but teufel did as soon i started talking to him maybe my voice gives out a scent too?