Smarter than we think

[cactuswatcher]

I've described how I can say, "Show me what you want," to my cat, and he'll lead me where it is. Usually it's to his food bowl, where he wants me to pet him while he eats a little. Sometimes he wants me to open the big curtains in the kitchen so he can look out the glass door more comfortably. Sometimes he just wants to get me away from what I'm concentrating on. This morning I just got started doing some writing on my lap top, when he came up and meowed instead of getting in my lap, indicating he wanted something else. It was in fact a good moment for me to pause before I got too deeply into working. I stood up and told him, "Show me what you want." He went to the nearby front door. He doesn't get to go out, so I made no move toward the door knob, but asked him what he wanted again. This time he trotted to the guest bathroom, where he's never led me before. His litter box is in there, but he stays clear when I'm in there whether I'm cleaning his box or whatever. I looked in and the shower curtain had fallen covering his litter box. The cold weather had caused the rod to come loose and fall during the night. I went in to fix it, and as usual when I'm moving big 'scary' things he went and hid. I finished and went back to work. It wasn't long before I heard him digging in the litter box. He usually goes in the morning, so I hope he didn't have to hold it too long!

Comments

[atpo_onm]

There was a Nature episode on PBS a while back that was about bird intelligence, and it was quite remarkable how clever some species are, especially ravens and crows. Parrots come out rather well too, but there are others that manage to do some things we didn't think they were capable of.