Are Cats Smart?

It was observed here not too long ago that someone's cat will
attack a napkin and tear it to shreds for apparently no reason at all.
Supposedly cats are weird, and not too bright, to do such a thing.

Well, consider this.

My sister purchased a cat toy for me for Christmas, and it is a feather
attached to a weight, attached to a string, attached to a stick that I play
with, with my adolescent cat.

Now this amazing creature can calculate the trajectory of that toy,
including predict what I am going to do with it, at lightning speed,
and have it before I can even start having fun myself. A million
calculations sizzle in her mind at once, far more than any processor
of any of our fastest computers!

On 9/01/2010 15:06, Mark Earnest wrote:
It was observed here not too long ago that someone's cat will
attack a napkin and tear it to shreds for apparently no reason at all.
Supposedly cats are weird, and not too bright, to do such a thing.

Well, consider this.

My sister purchased a cat toy for me for Christmas, and it is a feather
attached to a weight, attached to a string, attached to a stick that I play
with, with my adolescent cat.

Now this amazing creature can calculate the trajectory of that toy,
including predict what I am going to do with it, at lightning speed,
and have it before I can even start having fun myself. A million
calculations sizzle in her mind at once, far more than any processor
of any of our fastest computers!


It was just coincedance but a very gullible but sincere friend of mine
was playing with my 8 month old Burmese - unfortunately he is a bit of a
biter unlike all my previous Burmese - he started to do some friendly
nips and I said "DON"T BITE - LICK" Meko immediately started licking my
friends hand... my friend was duly amazed an is dining out on the story
- he is in the media..

"Netmask" wrote in message
...
On 9/01/2010 15:06, Mark Earnest wrote:
It was observed here not too long ago that someone's cat will
attack a napkin and tear it to shreds for apparently no reason at all.
Supposedly cats are weird, and not too bright, to do such a thing.

Well, consider this.

My sister purchased a cat toy for me for Christmas, and it is a feather
attached to a weight, attached to a string, attached to a stick that I
play
with, with my adolescent cat.

Now this amazing creature can calculate the trajectory of that toy,
including predict what I am going to do with it, at lightning speed,
and have it before I can even start having fun myself. A million
calculations sizzle in her mind at once, far more than any processor
of any of our fastest computers!


It was just coincedance but a very gullible but sincere friend of mine was
playing with my 8 month old Burmese - unfortunately he is a bit of a biter
unlike all my previous Burmese - he started to do some friendly nips and I
said "DON"T BITE - LICK" Meko immediately started licking my friends
hand... my friend was duly amazed an is dining out on the story - he is in
the media..

Anything can happen to those that believe...you believed the animal
would understand, and he did. Yes, I think it does prove his intelligence.
Maybe animals can talk but are usually just determined to do things
their own way.

In article
dZWdnYv4CYNandXWnZ2dnUVZ_uadnZ2d@posted
..internetamerica,
"Mark Earnest"
wrote:

It was observed here not too long ago that someone's cat will
attack a napkin and tear it to shreds for apparently no reason at all.
Supposedly cats are weird, and not too bright, to do such a thing.

Well, consider this.

My sister purchased a cat toy for me for Christmas, and it is a feather
attached to a weight, attached to a string, attached to a stick that I play
with, with my adolescent cat.

Now this amazing creature can calculate the trajectory of that toy,
including predict what I am going to do with it, at lightning speed,
and have it before I can even start having fun myself. A million
calculations sizzle in her mind at once, far more than any processor
of any of our fastest computers!

I'm not saying cats aren't smart, but my
computer is capable of billions of
calculations per second...and I can
pretty much tell where the toy on the
end of the string on the end of the
stick is going and do it pretty damn fast

"Malcom "Mal" Reynolds" wrote in message
...
In article
dZWdnYv4CYNandXWnZ2dnUVZ_uadnZ2d@posted
.internetamerica,
"Mark Earnest"
wrote:

It was observed here not too long ago that someone's cat will
attack a napkin and tear it to shreds for apparently no reason at all.
Supposedly cats are weird, and not too bright, to do such a thing.

Well, consider this.

My sister purchased a cat toy for me for Christmas, and it is a feather
attached to a weight, attached to a string, attached to a stick that I
play
with, with my adolescent cat.

Now this amazing creature can calculate the trajectory of that toy,
including predict what I am going to do with it, at lightning speed,
and have it before I can even start having fun myself. A million
calculations sizzle in her mind at once, far more than any processor
of any of our fastest computers!

I'm not saying cats aren't smart, but my
computer is capable of billions of
calculations per second...and I can
pretty much tell where the toy on the
end of the string on the end of the
stick is going and do it pretty damn fast

Well, I'm sure that people are smarter than cats
in very many ways...I wasn't challenging that.

Play with a cat, though, and watch it calculate whether it can
leap from your computer desk to your foot crossed by your leg,
and then watch it calculate whether you will feed it by meowing at you,
and then let it chase a suspended toy...you will see the millions of tiny
wheels in action if you use a little imagination.

On Sat, 9 Jan 2010 01:39:43 -0600, "Mark Earnest"
wrote:


Play with a cat, though, and watch it calculate whether it can
leap from your computer desk to your foot crossed by your leg,
and then watch it calculate whether you will feed it by meowing at you,
and then let it chase a suspended toy...you will see the millions of tiny
wheels in action if you use a little imagination.

Many years ago I had an orange tabby named Murphy. I was replacing a
deck and had stripped the decking, leaving only the stairs and the
joists. Undeterred by the lack of an actual floor, Murphy would come
up the stairs and walk one of the joists to get to the kitchen door.
One day I saw him lose his balance and fall about six feet to the
ground below. He picked himself up, regained his composure, then spent
several seconds staring up at the the joists as if analyzing the
reason for his fall. He then went back to the stairs, climbed up to a
nearby double joist, and easily walked that wider pathway to the door.

I swear I could see his mind working as he figured it out.

Fri, 8 Jan 2010 22:06:29 -0600 from Mark Earnest
:
Now this amazing creature can calculate the trajectory of that toy,
including predict what I am going to do with it, at lightning speed,
and have it before I can even start having fun myself. A million
calculations sizzle in her mind at once, far more than any processor
of any of our fastest computers!

Gee, it's sorta like a person running to where a thrown or batted
ball WILL BE. Do you think some athletes can see into the future?

Seriously, cats have excellent reflexes and agility. But no matter
how we love them, we can't claim that they're intelligent.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

Sat, 9 Jan 2010 01:39:43 -0600 from Mark Earnest
:
Play with a cat, though, and watch it calculate whether it can
leap from your computer desk to your foot crossed by your leg,

You're not counting the number of times they get such calculations
wrong. We've all seen these graceful animals take an easy jump and
miss it, on occasion. Admittedly, more often than not they do get
things right; and occasionally they do some amazing physical things.

and then watch it calculate whether you will feed it by meowing at you,

Again, you're not counting all the times they meow when not hungry.
Milo (who will probably get renamed Destructo the Visigoth, after he
shredded the flexible metal hose venting my clothes dryer to the
outdoors) meows all the time, when he's hungry and when he's not,
when he wants to get picked up and when he doesn't, when he's bored
and wants to play and when he wants to be left alone. It drove me
crazy until finally I realized he was just talking to himself because
he likes the sound of his own voice. (No, he's not Siamese -- plain
old tabby.)


--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

wrote in message
...
On Sat, 9 Jan 2010 01:39:43 -0600, "Mark Earnest"
wrote:


Play with a cat, though, and watch it calculate whether it can
leap from your computer desk to your foot crossed by your leg,
and then watch it calculate whether you will feed it by meowing at you,
and then let it chase a suspended toy...you will see the millions of tiny
wheels in action if you use a little imagination.

Many years ago I had an orange tabby named Murphy. I was replacing a
deck and had stripped the decking, leaving only the stairs and the
joists. Undeterred by the lack of an actual floor, Murphy would come
up the stairs and walk one of the joists to get to the kitchen door.
One day I saw him lose his balance and fall about six feet to the
ground below. He picked himself up, regained his composure, then spent
several seconds staring up at the the joists as if analyzing the
reason for his fall. He then went back to the stairs, climbed up to a
nearby double joist, and easily walked that wider pathway to the door.

I swear I could see his mind working as he figured it out.

I wish more people would see their intelligence. And maybe the blonde
orange tabbies do have a lot of fun.


Yes, that shows amazing intelligence in a feline. Every time I let a cat
in, it has to explore every surface of the house, no matter how high or low
or deep. They have to analyze every single situation, for some reason.

"Stan Brown" wrote in message
t...
Sat, 9 Jan 2010 01:39:43 -0600 from Mark Earnest
:
Play with a cat, though, and watch it calculate whether it can
leap from your computer desk to your foot crossed by your leg,

You're not counting the number of times they get such calculations
wrong. We've all seen these graceful animals take an easy jump and
miss it, on occasion. Admittedly, more often than not they do get
things right; and occasionally they do some amazing physical things.

When the felines miss a calculated jump, it just tells me that they are
courageous animals, not that they are dumb.



and then watch it calculate whether you will feed it by meowing at you,

Again, you're not counting all the times they meow when not hungry.
Milo (who will probably get renamed Destructo the Visigoth, after he
shredded the flexible metal hose venting my clothes dryer to the
outdoors) meows all the time, when he's hungry and when he's not,
when he wants to get picked up and when he doesn't, when he's bored
and wants to play and when he wants to be left alone. It drove me
crazy until finally I realized he was just talking to himself because
he likes the sound of his own voice. (No, he's not Siamese -- plain
old tabby.)

Maybe he doesn't understand why you don't comprehend his language.