We had the thread about smart dogs, and some of your dogs are amazing! I want to hear about your cats now.
Captain Morgan is no rocket scientist. Mostly he spends his day watching the clock so meals won't be missed. He is quite sure that if he does not loudly inform us it is time for his food then we will forget. He is the ONLY cat I have not been able to keep off of a table. He stays off the kitchen countertops, but doesn't feel the table is included. So we just wash it with bleach before meals or cooking or projects.
Freckles was amazing. She insisted on makeup for several years. I used food color markers for her makeup. It started because I had seen a book about painted cats. I wanted to see what she would do. She LOVED it. We lived iwth my folks and their two male cats. Her attitude was clearly "when you can make the humans do THIS then we will discuss who is boss. Until then - do what you are told, peasants.) When it was wearing off she would lead me to the drawer where I kept her markers. She purred through the entire process. I kept one set of food color markers for her and one for cake decorating. One time i didn't get to her makeup when she thought i should, and one of the ones used on food was accidentally left out. She chewed the cap off and rolled all over it to do her own makeup!
After Jess was born she was Freckles' baby. If Jess cried the cat was right there to help fix it. If I tried to let Jess cry it out, Freckles would have NONE of it - she pestered me until I got busy doing something about it. It wasn't the crying - if we were holding Jess and trying to do something to fix the problem, Freckles was fine. But if we just let her cry, nope. Not happening.
At one point she adopted a mouse. Now she was quite a good mouser. Something about this one mouse appealed to her - she would even sleep curled up with the mouse. Creeped me out and I made sure the mouse left. Freckles mourned her for about a week though. She also adored the cockatiel we had. They would sleep right next to each other with just the cage wire between them. When Freckles died the bird mourned for a long time. Finally I had to find a home with a cat who liked birds for her. I actually found one - a woman who's bird had just died and her cat was in mourning. Neither of them would eat much, but within a day or two of living with the lady I started getting pictures of them togehter - and they are both very attached.
A cat we had when I was a kid trained our dog to open the drawer where the dog and cat treats were. She somehow taught the dog to use her teeth to pull the drawer open, then the dog would get her bones and the cat would jump in and get her treats, then the cat came out and made the dog shut the drawer! My parents didn't believe me until they caught them doing it in the middle of the night!
Then there was O'Malley. As much trouble as his namesake in the Aristocats. He actually allowed 4yo Jess to color his belly green with a marker! WHen I was preg with thank you he would curl up on my belly bump and talk to thank you. Meows, little purrs, even some chirping sounds. After thank you was born he responded to O'Malley's meows just like my voice and husband's voice. O Malley also used the remote and the answering machine. When we were at work he would get lonely and push the button on the answering machine to hear our voices. Took a couple of months and three different answering machines to figure out why we NEVER got messages from anyone! We would also come home to find the tv on, or hear it come on late at night. Or leave the room to get a drink and find a different channel on when we came back. At first we thought it was the kids in the middle of the night, but they would be sound asleep.
What talents/smart things do your cats do?
Captain Morgan is no rocket scientist. Mostly he spends his day watching the clock so meals won't be missed. He is quite sure that if he does not loudly inform us it is time for his food then we will forget. He is the ONLY cat I have not been able to keep off of a table. He stays off the kitchen countertops, but doesn't feel the table is included. So we just wash it with bleach before meals or cooking or projects.
Freckles was amazing. She insisted on makeup for several years. I used food color markers for her makeup. It started because I had seen a book about painted cats. I wanted to see what she would do. She LOVED it. We lived iwth my folks and their two male cats. Her attitude was clearly "when you can make the humans do THIS then we will discuss who is boss. Until then - do what you are told, peasants.) When it was wearing off she would lead me to the drawer where I kept her markers. She purred through the entire process. I kept one set of food color markers for her and one for cake decorating. One time i didn't get to her makeup when she thought i should, and one of the ones used on food was accidentally left out. She chewed the cap off and rolled all over it to do her own makeup!
After Jess was born she was Freckles' baby. If Jess cried the cat was right there to help fix it. If I tried to let Jess cry it out, Freckles would have NONE of it - she pestered me until I got busy doing something about it. It wasn't the crying - if we were holding Jess and trying to do something to fix the problem, Freckles was fine. But if we just let her cry, nope. Not happening.
At one point she adopted a mouse. Now she was quite a good mouser. Something about this one mouse appealed to her - she would even sleep curled up with the mouse. Creeped me out and I made sure the mouse left. Freckles mourned her for about a week though. She also adored the cockatiel we had. They would sleep right next to each other with just the cage wire between them. When Freckles died the bird mourned for a long time. Finally I had to find a home with a cat who liked birds for her. I actually found one - a woman who's bird had just died and her cat was in mourning. Neither of them would eat much, but within a day or two of living with the lady I started getting pictures of them togehter - and they are both very attached.
A cat we had when I was a kid trained our dog to open the drawer where the dog and cat treats were. She somehow taught the dog to use her teeth to pull the drawer open, then the dog would get her bones and the cat would jump in and get her treats, then the cat came out and made the dog shut the drawer! My parents didn't believe me until they caught them doing it in the middle of the night!
Then there was O'Malley. As much trouble as his namesake in the Aristocats. He actually allowed 4yo Jess to color his belly green with a marker! WHen I was preg with thank you he would curl up on my belly bump and talk to thank you. Meows, little purrs, even some chirping sounds. After thank you was born he responded to O'Malley's meows just like my voice and husband's voice. O Malley also used the remote and the answering machine. When we were at work he would get lonely and push the button on the answering machine to hear our voices. Took a couple of months and three different answering machines to figure out why we NEVER got messages from anyone! We would also come home to find the tv on, or hear it come on late at night. Or leave the room to get a drink and find a different channel on when we came back. At first we thought it was the kids in the middle of the night, but they would be sound asleep.
What talents/smart things do your cats do?