Does your cat close or open a door? I am sure cats are better at opening rather than closing doors! They wanna get out…Here is a smart cat closing the bathroom door. Well the the last bit of the door closing process.. But his actions do seem to be very deliberate and purposeful: Do not Disturb – Go Away and Leave Me Alone, Please.
Cats must learn how to pull on handles and turn door handles from us. In a recent post I wrote that cats learn by observing their mother – I mean their true mother! This happens during the first 12 weeks of life. Then…
We take over and do the finishing school..There is no question that in subtle ways cats learn to do certain things from observing us. Door opening and closing is one example. If a cat is physically unable to open a door they ask us to do it for them. But they have learnt what a door does. It is a way to get out of the house or to get food in the fridge. They learn that from us. Does your cat look up at you and then glance at the fridge. There couldn’t be a better way of saying, ‘please open the fridge door and fetch out those slices of chicken’. Sometimes cats don’t ask, they just open the door themselves.
I have seen a video of a cat, a pointed Devon Rex swinging from the fridge door handle and the cat’s weight has forced the door open. The door then swings open and the cat, using all his athletic ability, enters the fridge, the freezer part of the fridge actually, for his favorite fish sticks. This is a similar example: http://youtu.be/Kv6L1z2ZwRo. There is a lot of motivation for a cat to learn to open the fridge door.
I have also seen a video of a cat watching a televised boxing match. The cat was boxing the air copying the boxers boxing each other! This is a clear example of a cat mimicking a person and copying us through observation.
My cats have never had to open a door for themselves. I have been trained by them to do it for them.
