# Cats may be the smartest pets in the entire world



## belthagor (Oct 6, 2014)

So nearly every morning my cat is purring and walking around on my bed after I wake up. I was laying in bed once, and was too tired to get up. My cat, while still purring, bit me, he also pulled my hair. I finally got up, and I walked to the kitchen, during which time my cat was walking next to me, similarly as a dog on a leash would. I then put cat food in his bowl and poured water. He ate while completely ignoring me. I walked to another room. After 10 minutes I decided I wanted to pet my cat. When you want something you grab it, so I attempted to grab my cat. He was not purring, nor meowing, and walked underneath the bed. I tried petting him, he scratched me and bit me when my hand got close. This happens often.

Fin.

............

What should I do?


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## Deleted member 56686 (Oct 6, 2014)

I'd take the advice of Talky Tina (twilight zone) when dealing with your cat


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## dale (Oct 6, 2014)

YOU don't get to decide when you wanna pet your cat. HE decides when you're SUPPOSED to pet him.


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## dale (Oct 6, 2014)

a cat is like a woman that's pissed at you for some reason only she knows.


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## Bishop (Oct 6, 2014)

Accept that your cat is a cat and will use you for its own ends, and give nothing back. Understand that you are--to it--a prison warden.


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## Deleted member 56686 (Oct 6, 2014)

Actually I learned that when a cat rubs against you, he is claiming ownership of you. You are his human, but it doesn't help to fetch.:dog:


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## MzSnowleopard (Oct 6, 2014)

I don't know about cats being the smartest animals- take my cat Nieca. While she has a good memory, she doesn't watch where she goes.

I've been exchanging cat stories with a number of friends- and this is Nieca's most embarrassing moment.

I had just filled the tub for a bath when the phone rang, I took the call. As I'm talking Sunshine and Nieca come racing out of the bedroom. Nieca does a once-around the living and back through the entry to the bedroom. This also goes to the bathroom. You see, I tend to forget that she likes to play in the bath tub- which is not foremost on my mind when I want a bath. I assumed she went back to the bedroom- a few seconds later, SPLASH!!! A few seconds after that Nieca emerges, into the living room- soaking wet. She was mad at me the rest of the night.


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## BobtailCon (Oct 6, 2014)

MzSnowleopard said:


> SPLASH!!! A few seconds after that Nieca emerges, into the living room- soaking wet. She was mad at me the rest of the night.



You'd be surprised how many cats do this. Perhaps they aren't the smartest animals.


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## Seedy M. (Oct 6, 2014)

Cats have a memory span of no more than ten days. This is intelligent? They have few instincts in survival modes. The male has to be _taught_ to breed.
Yeah. They're intelligent.
They can be appealing and cute.They fake emotional response as well as the average sociopath. Later reactions prove it is faked.


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## Guy Faukes (Oct 6, 2014)

Bishop said:


> Accept that your cat is a cat and will use you for its own ends, and give nothing back. Understand that you are--to it--a prison warden.



[video=youtube;PKffm2uI4dk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKffm2uI4dk[/video]




mrmustard615 said:


> Actually I learned that when a cat rubs against you, he is claiming ownership of you. You are his human, but it doesn't help to fetch.





mrmustard615 said:


> :dog:




There was a cat at the facility I skydived at. It brushed up against me rather furiously and I thought he was just a friendly pet of the owners. Turned out, it was a stray that was trying to get indoors because there were local packs of coyotes. Skydiving instruction was a two day thing, so the next day, I found that the bugger survived the night, probably because the pack was fighting over him.


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## dale (Oct 6, 2014)

Seedy M. said:


> Cats have a memory span of no more than ten days.



 i don't care what kind of science blog you put up, i'll disagree. i gave my cat away 3 years ago because it was my divorce. i still see him every few months and he remembers me. he acts out around me like he does no one else.


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## Seedy M. (Oct 6, 2014)

I would never argue with a cat lover, anymore than I would with a dog lover or chicken lover or rat lover. This, next to religion, is the proof that "truth" is situational.


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## dale (Oct 6, 2014)

Seedy M. said:


> I would never argue with a cat lover, anymore than I would with a dog lover or chicken lover or rat lover. This, next to religion, is the proof that "truth" is situational.


 i'm not a catlover. my wife tricked me into the bastard, then he became attached to me. i just know he knows me when i go over to the chick's house he went to after the divorce. the cat hides when i'm not there, but then comes out and is all over me when i show up, like he's trying to tell me something. he has a memory longer than 10 days. he never does that unless i'm there.


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## MzSnowleopard (Oct 7, 2014)

Oh yes, he remembers- and is probably saying "please take me home"


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## dale (Oct 7, 2014)

MzSnowleopard said:


> Oh yes, he remembers- and is probably saying "please take me home"



  that's the feeling i always have. we got him when he was a little tike kitten. i tell my ex about it and tell her i'm gonna kidnap him back to take him to her (i'm living in a "no pets" rental) but she tells me no, because there's kids at that house that like him, even though they rarely ever see him. but that's the feeling i get when i go over there. it's like he's saying..."hey dumb ass..i'm YOUR cat. get me out of here." and i feel bad about it. i'm actually physically allergic to cats. but once we got him?  i tolerated the swollen red eyes and sneezing because i liked him. maybe i should kidnap him and tell the ex to take him. i don't know.


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## Morkonan (Oct 7, 2014)

belthagor said:


> ...This happens often.
> 
> What should I do?



Cat's purr not only when they are content, but when they are stressed, excited or agitated as well. Don't take the sign of your cat purring as always one of contentment. It may be that your cat was just in a bad mood that day. 

However, if your cat continues to act aggressively, take it to the veterinarian - It might need treatment. 

Also, is your cat "fixed?" Has it been neutered?

Note: I am a "dog person." I love all animals, but I prefer dogs over cats as dogs are more like... people, than cats.


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## Deleted member 56686 (Oct 7, 2014)

I'm actually a dog person too but my parents (I live with them) didn't want another dog after the last one died so we now have two cats. It turned out to become as easy to become attached to them as well.


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## Laughing Duck 137z (Feb 2, 2015)

I wish I could add my two cents but the cat at my job is like a dog. She follows you at work and is ultra playful. You can pick her up by the tail and not worry about getting scratched. 
BTW  She's 13


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## Ariel (Feb 2, 2015)

My cat, Bones, remembers being hurt by my stepdaughter nearly 3 years ago.  She hasn't forgiven her yet.  She swipes and attacks Miss every chance she gets.  Miss, for her part, can't remember hurting Bones.  Before the accidental injury Bones actively tolerated Miss.  Ever since Bones won't tolerate Miss and goes out of her way to injure Miss.  That, to me, shows memory past 10 days.

I think, that like humans, the memory and attitude depends on each individual animal.  A cat might not remember a stupid toy's location because that's not important to the cat.  But where the food and the food dish is kept is important so they'll remember that.  A lot of studies involving animals is flawed because they don't take into consideration these factors.


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## JustRob (Feb 2, 2015)

belthagor said:


> He was not purring, nor meowing, and walked underneath the bed.



When a cat takes refuge like that it is wise to let it be. Watch out for big black eyes. Just like a human's pupils open wide when they focus on something significant, so cats' eyes open till they're almost completely black, even in a well lit area, if they're wound up in any way and identifying a target. The next step from being wound up is lashing out.

Here are some of our home observations on cat intelligence.

When you point at something a dog will look where you're pointing but a cat will look at your finger. This is probably because dogs are naturally pack animals and may instinctively understand pointing. Pointers do after all. For a cat the thing that is moving is always the thing of interest.

When you throw a ball a dog will chase after it, but a cat will assume that you want to play with the ball, so it will wait until you have finished and then go and play with the ball by itself afterwards. It's just applying its own logic to the situation.

If we open the door to the garden for the cat to go out and it is raining then the cat will go to another door and ask to try going out of that one. The cat knows that they both lead to the same outside world, but maybe the rainstorm is very small or the rain is driving in a different direction there, so it's worth a try.

If I open the door for the cat to go out it will walk away and not go, but if my wife does it it will go out, as apparently her version of the outside world is better than mine. This is, according to her, because she also reassures it by telling it that the weather is fine and there are no predators around. I tried telling the cat that the weather was appalling, that it would freeze to death or be killed by a predator, so it went out. Maybe it just wanted to be prepared for what it would find out there, whatever it was, and needed the information.

To understand cats you must think like a cat. It takes a very long time even to start to understand their reasoning, about twice as long as they live I would say.


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## Kamek (Feb 2, 2015)

My cat is very good; we have three of them but this one never ever would bite or scratch anyone, and if you pretend to cry, she gets all concerned and tries to help (by pushing herself in my face no matter how difficult I make it for her). It's hilarious. She's black; very small and turning 18 soon. My friend said she sounds like a raptor. Best cat in the world- I love her very much.


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## fallenangel09 (Jul 6, 2015)

I love  cats. We live in the  country  and  ours keep  getting  eaten by some  thing so we haven't had any  in a while


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## musichal (Jul 6, 2015)

My cat Jumper understands these words:

Time to go to bed.
Go get mommy.
Play.
Bug.
Outside.
No!
Everything's alright.
Jumper.
Jumper-crazy!
Lie down.
Door.
Daddy.
Norma.
Snack.
Treat.
Trouble.
Good.
Bad.
Birdie.

Since he was a tiny kitten, he has lived with us as an indoor pet.  He loves to play outside as long as one of us is out there watching him. He won't venture out of our fenced backyard though he could easily climb the wooden fence.  If children, unseen, are playing in an adjacent yard, he becomes too afraid and has to come in.  He won't go into the front yard because a passing vehicle scares him.  He is the lion of the living room, though.  He is especially attached to me because I'm a virtual shut-in and he grew up sleeping in my lap, on my shoulders, and a couple of times atop my head.

He sleeps in our bed with us, usually on my feet, which is a nice toasty thing to feel.  He thinks he is a person, is spoiled rotten and has quite a personality.  Once when I was in the hospital for five days, he was morose but would perk up when I talked to him over the speakerphone. He is Jumper, hear him roar!


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## KLJo (Jul 6, 2015)

My oldest cat believes she is a parrot. She perches on my shoulder and makes bird sounds. "Chirrrrup". We walk around the house like this.

I support her in any life she chooses, and love her no matter what, but I could do without flying shoulder assaults whenever I get within 5 feet of her.


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## walker (Jul 6, 2015)

My cats are affectionate. One of them has always been that way, but the other was a biter and scratcher when we first rescued him. He actually was the worst biting and scratching cat I've ever seen, but he was too small back then to do much harm. We got him from a runoff tube where he had been living. Our theory is that he was abandoned by his first family because they just couldn't handle him.

"Under the bed" sounds to me like a safe spot. I wouldn't disturb a cat in their safe spot. Only he or she knows why they are there. They will come out, eventually.

In addition to safe spots, cats need high stuff. I would look at how your cat moves around. All cats use the floor, and some are OK with using the floor almost exclusively, but many (most?) like to move around at waist to head level or higher. A cat that can cross a room by jumping from sofa to chair to dish cabinet, etc. is often less stressed than a cat that is required (by lack of furniture or by human rules) to scurry around on the floor. They like to rest high up, too, if possible.

Cats need affection, too. Lots of affection. Lots and lots. They respond to this. Picking them is not necessarily showing them affection, particularly if they don't like it. 

One of mine is a shoulder rider too. If she can't do that, perching on the back of my office chair while I'm working is the next best option. The previously aggressive male is now a leg rubber, and he likes to get up in my lap and sleep too. He will play a little rough if he gets really excited, but that's rare now, and if I stop immediately, he knows to stop too.


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## Ariel (Jul 6, 2015)

I have three cat-monsters.  Bones is a shoulder rider but won't initiate; she prefers if I pick her up and "invite" her to ride.  Semi likes to be pet but won't cuddle while Ellipses is recently a cuddler.  He likes to be held and he and Bones will snuggle.  They all have "their" spots.  Semi's is on top of the dresser in our bedroom.  Bones likes the window sill in the stairwell while Ellipses just tries to take theirs over and causes large fights.  Of the three Ellipses is the only one to use a scratching post and it hangs from the front door.


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## popsprocket (Jul 7, 2015)

My cat was a playful kitten, who turned into a mean grown up thanks to constant torment from my sister who thought she was playing happily, and then got more affectionate in her old age. Now she's looking pretty old and grumpy and doesn't really like to be petted.


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## musichal (Jul 7, 2015)

I ordered a tall cat tree from amazon when Jumper was a couple months old.  On the top platform he can reach the ceiling, and he loves it up there.  He knew it was his from the start, and is his favorite spot in our den.  It includes two 'apartments' multiple platforms and was a steal at less than a c-note delivered.  Went together in fifteen minutes with no tools required. As walker noted above cats love heights.  Usually one that hides under things will switch to something high if available - they like to look down on us to accentuate their superiority.


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## walker (Jul 7, 2015)

Musichal, you made me look on Amazon. That's a great price.

Here's Leo, after we flushed him out of the sewer tube. It took us 8 days to get him. The neighbors told us he had been in there for a couple of weeks before my wife and I heard him crying through a grate. He was about three months old when we found him, which means that somebody abandoned him when he was very young. We don't think he was born outside. In this photo he was eating and growling at us. He was hungry, so he wouldn't stop eating, but he managed to growl with his mouth full, which was pretty funny. He was completely untouchable at this time in his life. He ran from everything, and if we managed to catch him, did nothing but bite and scratch. We gradually taught him to get used to our hands and let us pet him. But if we had visitors, he would hide for two days, literally, in a sock drawer. If we pulled him out of the sock drawer before the two days were up, he would go right back in. He still will not allow anybody near him except my wife and I, but he only hides for about an hour now when he's frightened. Otherwise he's a normal cat, and very affectionate. He follows us around the house like a little dog.




Here's Leo today:



And Merry, who came as a stray, Christmas, 2002.


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