How To Test Your Cat’s Intelligence
Have you ever wondered how to test your cat’s intelligence?
There are no specific scientific tests to measure feline IQ. However, you can get a pretty good idea of how smart your cat is just by observing him/her.
Here are a few tips to gauge your cat’s intelligence:
A Cat’s Perception:
- Play a nature show with birds on TV. How does your cat react?
- Hide one of your cat’s toys with them watching. Does your cat grab the toy from its hiding place?
- Place an unopened container of food by your cat’s food bowl. Does your cat look at you and wait for you to open it, or do they just ignore it?
“Dogs come when they’re called. Cats take a message and get back to you later.” – Professor Mary Bly
Cats & Newly Laundered Beds:
Is there a cat on the planet that will not jump in the middle of the bed just after you’ve laundered the linens?
You get everything just so, and out of the corner of your eye you see your cat jump on the bed as you’re walking away.
Is this a worldwide phenomenon, do you suppose? Why are cats so attracted to freshly laundered linens?
There’s no use scolding them. I read that cats don’t respond well to negative training because they’re not pack animals.
Last night Ivy did just that. And though I had a moment of irritation, then I thought how funny it was.
There she lay, looking like a sphinx posing for photos, undeterred by me.
If a cat thinks you’re irritated at them, their ears go back as if to say: “Don’t think you don’t irritate me too.”
“Cats, as you know, are quite impervious to threats.” – Connie Willis
How Does Your Cat Respond?
Place an unopened container of food near your cat’s food bowl. How your cat responds to this action tests her ability to reason and provides insight on her intelligence.
If your cat has a high level of intelligence, she will likely look back and forth between you and the container, waiting for you to open it.
The Laid Back Cat:
Ivy is a laid back cat. She likes to lay on her back and contemplate the ceiling.
I always wonder what she’s thinking when she does this. Do you think that cats have thoughts like we do?
Maybe Ivy poses like this because she’s doing some sort of cat yoga, if there is such a thing.
It could be that she’s in her zen zone, staring at the ceiling and allowing her body to just relax.
Tips To Tell If Your Cat Is Smart:
- Social ability
- Survival skills
- Memory
Does your cat“remember” what time he/she gets dinner or a treat?
Try putting a bite of cat food under a small pillow or piece of paper on the floor while your cat watches you. See if he/she remembers you putting it there and reaches for the food.
Try to teach kitty a “trick,” such as “sit” or “give your paw,” using small food treats as motivators. If he/she accomplishes the tasks, you have a smart cat. If he/she can’t be bothered, you have a typical cat.
Survival Skills In Action:
If there is a squirrel on the other side of the patio door staring at Ivy, she will adopt her predator stance.
She has never been outside, so she has never caught a squirrel or any other animal.
But obviously her brain remembers the predator skill that’s stored in her memory.
How to Test Cat Intelligence (cat.com)
It seems that cats are hard for scientists to study. They are notoriously non-receptive to participating in research studies. Are you surprised by this?
Below are questions you can answer in order to assess your cat’s intelligence.
- Is your cat reluctant to go into their cat carrier? If so, this suggests that your cat has the long-term memory to recall previous negative experiences associated with the carrier (such as veterinary visits or long car rides).
- Does your cat ever scratch at a particular exterior door, wanting to go outside, even though you have never let he/her out through that door in the past? If so, this suggests that your cat has learned the purpose of that door through observing you and your family members.
- Has your cat ever opened a cabinet to access cat food or some other desirable object? If so, this behavior demonstrates your cat’s problem-solving skills.
- Has your cat trained you to feed him/her at a particular time, using meows or some other attention-getting behavior? If so, this indicates an understanding of cause and effect (meowing or another behavior causes you to put food in the bowl) and a grasp of the concept of time.
Are Cats More Intelligent Than Dogs?
It seems that answer is up for debate, depending on which scientist you listen to.
Cats have a more independent nature and an ability to solve problems on their own.
But dogs are known as more trainable. Dogs are able to learn a wide variety of tricks, and even perform jobs like search and rescue.
According to various studies, some researchers have decided that cats are smarter. And other scientists think dogs are smarter.
However, it’s fun to assess how “intelligent” our cats are. What does your cat do that makes you think he/she is smart?
My cat was the reason I figured out I have sleep apnea in 2020. She woke me up several times and when I woke up I wasn’t breathing right. I use a cpap machine now, but if the power goes out in the middle of the night and the cpap turns off she still wakes me up if I stop breathing.
She also loves “cat tv” on YouTube. They have tons of videos of birds, mice, etc. She will sit and watch them and follows them back and forth across the screen. She even knows the sound YouTube makes when I turn it on and comes running. Animals don’t get enough credit.
We don’t have cats but our 3 pups are pretty intelligent. I love reading the comments about all of the pets!
Have a great night.
My 2 house/outdoor cats have trained me well! They used to meow or scratch at the door to go outside, but now they just sit and stare at the doorknob.. and I get up and let them out! My male likes his dish of milk at night, so he’ll sit there by his food mat after he’s eaten, and just look at me as if to tell me, I want my milk now! I comply of course! he also loves to play, and so I put his toy on the string in a little basket, and when he wants to play, he goes and sits there right by it, and looks at me (or meows a tiny meow) to let me know he’s ready to play! And both my cats love to jump up and “play” under the sheets as I change my bed! They LOVE laying on clean sheets (but unfortunately, my female, who is very strange in ways,) likes to pee on my newly laundered and made up bed! I have to watch her like a hawk and get her off right away if I see she is preparing to do it! her sense of smell must be super duper, as anything new in my house, gets pee’d on if I don’t catch her in time. I had my carpets shampooed and she won’t even COME INTO the house at all! it’s all new smells and that really bothers her!
Marilyn
I loved this!
I had a Maine coon cat that would ring the bells hanging on the door when he wanted to go out. Another cat would climb up the railing on the steps and let himself in (we had a door with a handle not a knob). We had to turn the handle sideways because unfortunately he never learned how to close the door behind him.
I had a part Maine coon cat in Texas. Boy, was he smart!
Our cat gets us up every day at the same time…heads right in to the sheba packet waiting for her…she leads my husband to her treats every morning…and let’s us know when she wants to play with her laser toy…she slaps the dogs if they bark…it is so funny…she is a joy even when she is naughty…💕
Slaps the dogs when they bark! Now that is a story I’ve NEVER heard and probably won’t again.
I trained my dog to ring a bell on the door when she had to go potty. She trained me to open the door and let her out! She even gave me more specialized nighttime training to wake up from a deep sleep and let her out! Thankfully, she did use the puppy pad almost all the time. I miss her.💔
Oh, I know you do. Just like I miss my pupsters and Gracie. Ivy taught me how to play fetch the way she wanted to play it. My funny bunny.