Science: cats might be slightly less stupid than is otherwise obvious

All I have to do is raise my voice a bit and say, “I would like a kitty, please!” and one will be by shortly.

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Exactly. We’re just big stupid kittens.

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I’d like to note that contrary to many posts, being waited on hand and foot is not evidence of intelligence. e.g., rich humans.

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That cat on the left in the clipart needs to be reinflated.

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I still suspect that some of those hieroglyphs were warnings about letting cats in the house and the inevitable takeover that follows. Who was really behind that Great Sphinx of Giza project? :thinking: :smirk_cat:

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Sorry, couldn’t resists. :flying_saucer: :cat2: :smiley:

Cat%20From%20Outer%20Space

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My cat does the same thing. He claimed one of my fleecy blankets. He self-soothes with it when feeling anxious.

He is also smart enough to work out how to open various types of doors, turn on light switches and the Xbox (pressing the eject button makes shiny, swirly lights turn on and things shoot out. It also sometimes makes the human yell).

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We have two cats who live with us.

One came to us as a younger adult cat. She seems to have been a wild born cat, and was in good health when she found us and told us she was moving in. While she is an affectionate and warm cat, she doesn’t like being held and reacts very strongly to protect herself (or us). I suspect that at some point a bird tried to pick her up and she escaped, because she has a bit of agoraphobia. She is a fairly large cat.

She is as smart as a tack. Not only does she recognize her own name, but she can understand some English and can answer some questions… in English. (She can Meow Yes and No.) She is just wickedly smart. She hates cameras, and recognizes several different types of them. She also can tell the difference between you using a cell phone to take a picture of her, and using a cell phone to surf the web. (This means that I can’t post video of her answering questions, which means everyone will assume I am full of it.)

We have another cat. He came to us as a starving, tiny kitten. He had worms, bad. He may have had a back injury; I suspect he got kicked or stepped on. He wasn’t wild born, but he seemed to be neglected and possibly abused and he was weaned and thrown away way, way too young. (I mean, not that there is an age where it is acceptable to throw a cat away.)

He can’t recognize his name, although he comes when you whistle sometimes. He doesn’t understand any English, as far as we can tell. (Perhaps he speaks a language we don’t.) He is just generally derpy, and even though he is about 2 years old now, he still acts like a kitten. He is a snugglebug, and has a lot of anxiety when we leave him alone. I wish we would have tried to leash train him, he’d probably like that a lot more than staying home. (His older “sister” appreciates her alone time, although she doesn’t like it when it goes past a day or so. He gets so anxious when we leave for like 20 minutes.)

So, yeah… cats vary a lot in intelligence. :slight_smile:

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from Jubilate Agno, Fragment B, by Christopher Smart (1722-1771):

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.

Read the rest here…

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I think our cats might be siblings.

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I love cats, but I’d put a vote in for fossas and quolls:

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As for charismatic marsupials, numbats are pretty darn cute.

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When I was a kid, we had one cat that found a mouse that had been squashed flat by a car on the road in front of our house. She put it on front doorstep for us. My mother would pick it up and hurl it into to field next to our house. The next morning, it would be on the doorstep again.

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That depends how many kitties you have. If the number’s in, say, three or more digits, then the correlation may not be all that strong.:thinking::grin:

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I’ll just leave this here… And this is supposed to be a particularly smart breed.

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“What? Oh, sure, yeah, protecting it. Riiiight. That’s what I was doing. I don’t know how you apes eat that stuff. It does make great mouse bait, though, amirite?”

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I’ve seen their Eurasian Eagle Owl in action. Pure badass.

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Think of rob as a cat who uses BB readers for his entertainment. The post is kind of meta in that sense.

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That applies to 50%of my human friends too. Although most of them are either too drunk or stupid.