The Smartest Thing Your Cat Has Ever Done?

[marmoset]

Sneaker- when I found him he had difficulty breathing. He was rasping so loud we heard him 25 feet away. He was just a colony cat I fed, I'd never touched him so when I went out with a carrier I had no idea how he was getting in. I was racing the clock because the vets office was only going to wait for fifteen minutes after close because they knew it took me time to drive there.

The smartest thing he did was walk directly into the carrier. His life was saved because he decided at that moment to stop sneaking around (that's how he got his name) and be bold enough to get in, go for that car ride and let doctors handle him. He saved his life just by walking in.

 

[Tuckamukk3]

If no one has said this already... someone should start a thread about the dumbest thing your cat has ever done.

They excel at Both extremes of the intelligence curve!

 

[Lari]

Another thing that Lelia does that impresses me is that she'll plan her play/hunts. Like, she'll take her mousie and walk around and take it to the perfect spot and nudge ut exactly where she wants it before finding her hiding position to pounce on it.

If only real prey were so cooperative.

 

[Wonderfulcat]

Another thing that Lelia does that impresses me is that she'll plan her play/hunts. Like, she'll take her mousie and walk around and take it to the perfect spot and nudge ut exactly where she wants it before finding her hiding position to pounce on it.

If only real prey were so cooperative.

I think Nala's sister (died about 8 or 9 years ago) tried to strangle her teddybear. It had a small scarf around its neck and she would lay on top of the aqarium with a single claw holding the scarf and the teddybear just hanging there. I can't count how many times she did that.

 

[LittleShadow]

Molly understands that her claws catch, and dislikes when they get stuck in things. But she likes the feeling of a good claw stretch from scratching. When I tried claw caps on her, she didn't like having them applied....but I caught her a few days later doing something odd.

She'd go up to a crack between the patio style floorboards of her catio, carefully hook one capped claw on the edge of a board, then tug back with a look of bliss in her body language and face. Then she'd catch the next claw, repeat. I think she was deliberately hooking the caps to get in a really good stretch for her claw tendons, without the risk of getting her claw stuck and having to fight to get it free. As the caps started falling off, she'd only catch the claws that still had caps, and used her scratcher after, presumably to work the other claws.

 

[LuvDeezKittez]

When she was 7 months old, my little girl Sophie rescued her brother Gnocchi. He ran out the front door while I was changing the wreath and I didn't even see him! It was freezing outside and he had never been out on his own before. Sophie who wasn't a very vocal kitten at the time, raced into the bedroom where I was folding laundry and meowed up a storm dancing all around. I told her it wasn't lunch time yet, that I couldn't play with her right now, go play with your brother, etc etc.

She did not give up. She was adamant about getting my attention. She ran up to me, nipped at my legs, ran back into the hallway, ran back again to nip me. I thought my usually mild-mannered girl had lost her ever-loving kitten mind but followed her anyways. She led me to the front door and yowled like a banshee. I opened the door unsure and Gnocchi shot out of the front bushes like an orange streak and right through my legs into the house. If she hadn't alerted me I don't know what would've happened to him out there. Good girl Sophie!

 

[crashann]

Does it still count as 'my cat' if it's a rehomed bottle baby former feral from my colony? Oh well, still going to talk about her, because you can SEE her thinking, and it is amazing.

Kitten (always name your kittens promptly, before they recognize Kitten as their name and refuse to answer to any other) is either partially or fully blind in one eye, the vet still isn't sure, due to a horrible infection as a kitten that led to her abandonment as a tiny little thing. My friend, also a feral colony caretaker, ended up taking on most of the care for the kitten, as they had a few more resources at that time that allowed her to keep up with the every few hours feedings and medications and eye cleanings required to save the kitten. She ended up being kept as a pet by other colony caretaker as we doubted she'd do well if released. Kitten is one of the most trainable cats I've ever met.

Kitten recognizes that human sounds have meaning, and recognizes a scold sound, a praise sound, and the concept that additional sounds and/or hand motions may have meaning related to her. If you make a praise or scold sound while she is doing something that isn't tied to a previously praised/scolded/trained action, she stops and focuses on the person. Then she very deliberately, slooooooooooowly repeats what she just did when you made the praise/scold.

I've seen her slooooooooowly lift and lower her paw several times in the same spot, just to make sure that it was her paw touching the surface that caused the reaction. Then move her paw over a few inches, repeat. Then move her paw to the nearest surface of a different material, and test. She's successfully learned in this way that kitchen linoleum is a no-touch surface, but that bathroom linoleum is okay, that sitting up for a treat is good, but that lifting her paws above her neck while sitting up for a treat is bad. She also knows that walking on certain tables like the one between the armchair and couch is fine, and certain areas of certain tables are fine, but that stepping on papers, even on previously approved paths, is bad. I could go on, but you probably get the idea. She's also got a variety of word and hand sign trained actions as well.

I've never seen another cat do this slow motion testing of actions, but it makes it gloriously easy to teach her, though like all cats, she sometimes will not care, or will disobey people who aren't consistent. I don't know if any of you have ever encountered a cat like this, but it seriously blows my mind every time I see it.

That is absolutely adorable, and so smart! I am curious, though: why is kitchen linoleum a no-touch surface, and why is lifting her paws above her neck while sitting up for treats bad?

 

[vince]

I guess the smartest thing my cats did was to realize they had a sucker on the line who would take them home with him!

 

[LittleShadow]

That is absolutely adorable, and so smart! I am curious, though: why is kitchen linoleum a no-touch surface, and why is lifting her paws above her neck while sitting up for treats bad?

They have a very small kitchen, and having Kitten underfoot is a good way for her to get stepped on. Also, lots of food in kitchen that she shouldn't have. So the kitchen as a whole is off limits to her, and it was easiest to make the change in flooring mark the edge of the "kitchen" area.

Paws above neck when she sits up for treats means she's probably reaching for the treat with her paws, and usually trying to grab the hand with the treat and drag it to her mouth. Possibly with claws out, if she's excited. So they trained that motion with no paw reaching, and chose neck level as the point where they'd train her paws not to go above. Also, it's adorable when she sits up with her paws tucked to her chest, which is totally reason enough if you're just training a cute trick action.

 

[Lari]

Okay, I don't know if it's the smartest, but yesterday, Lelia was playing with the turbo scratcher and my fiancé noted that she was hitting the ball, letting it go around twice, and then stopping it and hitting it the other way to go around twice, and then back the first way. And she repeated this pattern for several minutes. I <3 my smart girl.

 

[islander]

One of mine, long ago now, decided one cold night to try to sit atop the hot water tank in the bathroom.. ( My insides are clenching at the memory) She slipped down the side and got caught in the narrow , about 2 inch, gap between tank and wall. atop a wooden stay. I found her at 2am, hanging there totally stuck round her middle. shudders... I was alone atop a mountain... She was bleeding slightly from her back end. Face away from me.... no way could I move her either way up or down. Finally in sheer inspired desperation I poured a whole bottle of cooking oil over her and squelched her out, arguing that even if it kllled her she would die there anyway. Inched her to the top and out, one very oily cat..... she was fine: i called the vet at early hour and the thinking was that she was OK. peed blood once and took her days to de-oil her fur. And made sure NO ONE ever got near the tank again.

 

[aliceneko]

Fudge can open the door that leads into the dining room/kitchen, and also sensed that an alarm meant that something was in danger - the neighbour's burglar alarm went off one day and he immediately got up on his hind legs and looked out of the window, with a concerned expression on his face. (Luckily the neighbour's house was fine, and it was a false alarm.)
Toffee knows that when I pull the flush on the toilet/WC it means I'm going to wash my hands and go downstairs, as he automatically rushes out of the bathroom and waits outside until I come downstairs as soon as the flush has sounded.
When we give chicken bits to the cats after a roast dinner, if it's still too hot for him Fudge will curl up his paws to make the chicken more palatable for him.

 

[Cleo Savannah]

My cat steps on mt remote control to cut the TV off when she wants attention. At first I thought it was an accident but Ive come to learn that she knows exactly the button to step on to cut the TV off or on or to change the channel. That goes for my computer keyboard too.

 

[Deilla]

My cat is an escape artist. Before I leave my house, I put him in the bedroom and put a gate up. I'll say, "Come on. Go to the bedroom. I have to leave now." Or sometimes I'll have to bribe him, "Come get your catnip." He typically heads to the bedroom. It's pretty amazing.

 

[Caspers Human]

Casper has recently learned that, when my alarm clock rings at 7:00 a.m. that one of his humans is waking up.

When the alarm beeps, he'll jump up onto the bed wanting attention. Then, of course, that also means that his human will be going downstairs to make breakfast. Then, of course, that means that Casper will be getting HIS breakfast, too!

So... Casper knows "Alarm = Human Waking Up = Breakfast."

That's a two-step logical deduction. Pretty good for a cat! Eh?

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Well now ... most of my cats are crazy & somewhat clever. Most are abandoned / offspring of same. Likely the smartest thing they did was find this yard ! Food, clean water, shelter, no fleas and other cats ! And of course a crazy human to watch after them ...
( me! )

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Max was the smartest cat I ever had. He had that "tuxedo" cattitude. Some of you will understand what I am saying here. He got into things, opened drawers and doors, etc. I especially remember him watching me in the mornings when I walked on a manual tread machine. One day he climbed aboard in front of me. We walked together then from time to time. When he got ready, he just got off and went his way. He loved showers and would get in the shower with me sometimes. I miss him so. But I know if Rainbow Bridge was a boring place, it changed when Max got there.

 

[Jem]

The smartest thing one of my cats ever did was tell my husband that our other cat passed away. It was right out of a "Lassie" movie. He came running downstairs and did not stop pestering hubby until he got up and followed Chewy right to our poor baby. Chewy kept stopping and turning around making sure hubby was still at his heels and walked up to and sat right next to Fritz and nudged him a few times then just stared at my hubby and meowed on big "help meow" letting my hubby know that something was wrong.

**Fritz passed from cardiac arrest from an illness that we were under a vets care for, but unfortunately...he at least did not suffer and it was sudden.**

And because I don't want to leave this thread with a sad story, no matter how amazing...

One of our latest kitties is definitely keeping us on our toes. He has learned to open doors, so we now have to put extra latches on all closets and bi-fold doors to keep him out of where he should not be.
He also knows to do things I don't want him to, to get me to play with him. He will first bring me his toy, but if I don't respond right away after a few seconds of his.."Here you go mom, it's time to play" stare. Then he proceeds to the piano where I have things on display, and slowly starts to push things off, one by one, all while watching me, waiting for me to respond. And what makes it so much more "smart" on his part, is he picks thru the little knickknacks and only pushes at the less important things and non breakables. It's like he knows that I'll get really mad if he breaks something but still knows how to get my attention.

 

[ashekitty]

I keep my bedroom door open at night incase Curly wants to come sleep on my bed with me. Once I got up to go to the bathroom and closed my door to my room locking Curly inside with me. I am a VERY deep sleeper, no meows or scratches at the door will wake me up. Curly jumped on my dresser and started knocking things off of it and then made a crying sound like she was hurt. It's the middle of the nigh and pitch black, so not being able to see what's going on I freak out and assume she's hurt. I jump out of bed and turn on the light to find Curly on my dresser purring away with my meds and deodorant on the floor. I guess she wanted out.

 

[FflurCadwgawn]

We heat exclusively with wood. When I was about 7 or 8 we ran radiant floor heating through the whole house (I still live at home due to the poor economy in the region) and attached everything to a wood boiler. We have my great-grandma's woodstove as well. The wood boiler is in the back room between our utility room and the garage, and the dogs get free run of that area. The little wood stove is in our living room.

One night shortly after we got a new wood boiler stove, I was in the living room reading, and my cat Libby began acting like there was something VERY wrong in the utility room/dog area. Her actions were basically, "Um.....there is something weird going on out there........MOOOM! EMERGENCY IN THE BACK ROOM!" I couldn't hear or see what was going on out there.

Luckily I was paying attention when I noticed how weird Libby was acting, and went to investigate. The wood boiler hoses had come undone when the stove got too hot, and there was half an inch of boiling water all over the cement floor. Luckily Libby had noticed and saved the day! Thanks to her we caught it right when it happened and were able to fix it with no problems.