Intelligent Cat

[Geoffrey]

Sukie is fed in the kitchen and she usually eats a small amount and comes back later to finish her meal.

It is winter now in Australia so we keep the internal kitchen door shut and the heater on while we have lunch, we do not have an external kitchen door. Today Sukie came back to finish her meal but the internal kitchen door was shut, and she cannot meow loudly, in fact she can only produce a faint squeak and we could not hear this when the door was shut.

Our kitchen has a window looking on to the veranda so Sukie went through her cat door, on to the veranda and jumped on the windowsill from the veranda to inform us that she wanted to come in.

When we saw a large Blue X Alleycat standing sideways on the windowsill and making silent meows we realised what she wanted and opened the internal kitchen door. Sukie went straight to her cat door, through this to the house, through the now-open kitchen door to her food saucer and started to eat.

This strikes me as an unusual example of feline intelligence and worth reporting.
With kind regards,
Geoffrey

 

[Anne]

Thank you for sharing that! It certainly shows that she understands "cause and effect" and can plan ahead to get what she wants!

 

[margd]

What an interesting story! I suspect that when it comes to getting fed, many cats can draw on hidden cognitive abilities but I've also had the other kind. The kind that need to be walked to the food bowl before they'll eat. Your Sukie sounds like a very smart girl, indeed!

 

[losna]

The kind that need to be walked to the food bowl before they'll eat.

My little Belit is like this. If she doesn't actually see the food being put into her bowl, she has to be picked up and put in front of it.

 

[bluebirdy]

My one kitten is more 'academically' inclined than her brother. When we do clicker trainer she gets something almost instantaneously while her brother needs tons of repetition. You can almost see her roll her eyes at him sometimes.

 

[susanm9006]

Some are definitely smarter than others and some are just downright brilliant. As a former owner of one of these cats, they can sure give you a run for your money. My smart cat story involved a bathroom gut remodel. Because of the open walls and mess it was off limits to my Siamese cat, Murphy who absolutely hated a shut door and when I went in there to work she would howl, scratch the door and generally pitch a fit until I came out. One particular day, however, her howling abruptly stopped. I was surprised because she would normally keep up the noise for as many hours as I kept the door shut. Then I heard some slight movement in the room, turned around and there she was, looking particularly pleased with herself. She had figured out that if she went to the basement she could jump up to the ceiling and enter the bathroom through the plumbing holes under the bathtub.

 

[ameezers]

What a smart kitty!

Our Ted taught himself how to open doors. He usually only opens our bedroom door but the odd time he will open the bathroom door and let himself in if you forget to lock it (and are taking longer than he thinks you should).

 

[losna]

That is something Sinbad would do! I have to put heavy things in front of cabinets that I want to keep closed, because he has figured out how to open even childlocks. My favorite is the bathroom where I keep q-tips. He LOVES q-tips. He's figured out that he can open that drawer by opening the cabinet next to it, climbing under the sink, and pushing the drawer open from beneath it. THen he climbs onto the sink and fishes around in the drawer for the q-tip treasures.

 

[Linda Dwyer]

my bengal is super smart, one night I went out to start the pool and the two dogs came with me. I came in and was getting ready for bed when the bengal started screaming and jumping on me then jumping at the door. This went on for several minutes and I figured something was wrong and he was upset about something, I looked outside and one of the dog's was sitting on the front step, just sitting there waiting to come in. Duh, stupid attack, I forgot one of the dog's outside. Brought the dog in and he settled right down. He knew she wasn't supposed to be out by herself and he was telling me to bring her in

 

[Geoffrey]

What a smart kitty!

Our Ted taught himself how to open doors. He usually only opens our bedroom door but the odd time he will open the bathroom door and let himself in if you forget to lock it (and are taking longer than he thinks you should).

Our little Burmese queen, Susan, used to try to come into our bedroom to sleep with us. (This is before we gave in and allowed all four cats to sleep with us.) The doorknob was a lever type and one evening the bedroom door swung open and there was Susan hanging on the lever, letting go and landing on our bed. She had jumped up, caught the lever, put all her weight on it to open the door and swung in.

With regards,
Geoffrey

 

[losna]

My sister had a cat once that opened fridges that way. He would take a running start, expertly stick his front legs through the gap in the handle, then curve his body around to use his body weight to open the door as his momentum continued forward. Then he happily ate his fill.

He actually did look like Garfield.

 

[basscat]

Black cat lives in the garage and can go out any time the doors are open. ALWAYS to the back of the house. Never the front.
She got left outside one evening.
We were watching TV and heard a loud thud at the front door. Like somebody threw a rock at it. I turn on the front porch light and there she is, about head high, plastered to the windows, meowing "GO OPEN THE GARAGE DOOR!"

If Gibs is chasing Tabby in the house and tabby runs behind the couch? Gibs doesn't. He knows Tabby is coming out the other side and will be there waiting on him when he does.
Same with a toy. Put it behind your back and give him a glimpse of it on the left side? He will approach the left side, but, keep looking back and forth at both sides.
He works on door knobs all the time. He knows they open doors, but, hasn't figured out the combination yet.
And the best one yet? We've been training working with him with a "Clicker Stick". Cat touches it's nose to the end of the stick and gets a treat.
He found his clicker stick on the kitchen cabinet a few nights ago. Came bounding into the living room with it. Set it down and walked to the end of it and touched his nose to it, then looked at me.
Yep, I had to reward him for whatever behavior that was.

 

[susanm9006]

Murphy, my tiny Siamese, loved to join me in the bathroom and keep me company while I got ready. Her preferred place was to sit on the toilet lid but the problem was that sometimes the lid was up. She was only a five pound cat with tiny paws and didn't have enough strength to push the lid down but she figured out that from the top of the toilet tank she could use her head to wedge against the toilet lid and push it down. Problem solved Murphy style.

 

[Linda Dwyer]

I had a touch lamp that I gave away because he kept stepping on it and turning it off and on constantly