Winston, a grey-and-white tabby cat, prefers to use the Ring Doorbell than his catflap! But let’s be clear, this is not the first time that a cat has used a doorbell. You only have to go to YouTube to see quite a number of self-trained, educated domestic cats who like to use doorbells to get in.
The beauty of the Ring Doorbell is that, as you might know, it videos users which makes it a great security device. And it also lets us see Winston pressing the bell just like a human. He lives in Sitka, Alaska so no doubt he wants to get in because it’s too damned cold. The event happened on December 7 this year.
He is able to reach the bell because there is a wooden porch railing outside the front door. Winston waits patiently for his human companion, Jamie Dunn, to open the door. As Jamie comes to the door the light comes on which startles Winston. You can hear Jamie saying, “Winston, I’m coming to get you”.
My cat has learned to ring the doorbell when he wants in the house 😂
Posted by Jamie Dunn on Monday, December 7, 2020
Jamie (a woman by the way and this name can be a female name) said that she was surprised that her cat had learnt to ring the doorbell. She added that she wasn’t sure how long he’s been doing it. The video is posted to Facebook. Remember that sometimes videos stop working because they are removed from the source, in this case the Facebook website. If that has happened I apologise.
In a variation on a domestic cat pushing a doorbell button, Michael Boccelli, in a comment, says that he has three cats who learnt that when the spotlight comes on he will open the door and let them in. Ring Doorbells switch a light on when somebody approaches it so in this instance the cats don’t have to push the button because Michael presumably can tell when the light has come on.
In the video below a couple of cats wait outside a man’s home. There is a manual doorbell as you can see which the clever cat rings twice. He then lets the cats in but immediately afterwards puts them out again followed by their food. Amusingly, he’s been criticised for putting the cats back out again. And for not responding quickly enough! I just think it’s a nice variation on the Ring Doorbell theme.
The moral of these stories is that domestic cats are very good learners by observation. They see their owners using the bells and simply copy them. This innate ability comes from their wild ancestor who trains her kittens to hunt in her den. Don’t be dismissive of a domestic cat’s intelligence and observational powers!
P.S. If the Facebook video stops working try this one from the Daily Mail – it’s a backup!
