A Michael Broad Blog
The full question from Reddit.com is: “Can someone explain to me why my cat will just sit and stare at me for minutes at a time? What does this mean in a cat’s world?” It accompanied the photograph below that they took from their bed. This is an extended version of the response that …
Domestic cat intelligence is a tricky topic. How do we measure it? In general humans are all at sea in assessing it. Dr Bruce Fogle DVM has a handle on it. I have created an infographic around his advice. You’ll find some news media websites such as The Scotsman confidently talking about the intelligence …
The smartest type of cat will be the wild cat species. You can take anyone of them. I believe that you will find that it is accepted that the wild cats are smarter than domestic cats. This is translated into another perhaps accepted fact that the wildcat hybrids such as the Savannah and Bengal …
Are cats sensitive to human emotions? Insofar as human emotions affect body language, “most cats are extraordinarily sensitive to human body language, much more so than they usually receive credit for”. The quote comes from Dr. John Bradshaw in his book Cat Sense. He believes that cats are sensitive to human emotions when emotions …
Yes, domestic cats do vary in intelligence. The same must apply to the wild cats. I can say with confidence, however, that domestic cats vary in intelligence based upon tests carried out on dogs. I know that is not what you want to hear but we are reliant on dog studies sometimes to extrapolate …
I have just run an informal experiment which proves to me that domestic cats can think rationally. What does thinking rationally mean? For me, rational thought means that the animal, either a non-human animal or the human animal, applies logic to a problem. For example, people don’t go out in the rain because they …
This is a deeply personal viewpoint which many will disagree with but the topic lends itself to this kind of approach. I don’t believe it is wise or practical to ask whether humans are smarter than cats. It is a very difficult and, I believe, unhelpful subject. It does not advance the sum total …
This is pure amusement. It is a sort of test about how a domestic cat navigates a narrow gap. I use the word ‘navigate’ advisedly as you will see at the end of the video. I have also said ‘sort of a test’ because the gap is made of cardboard which bends. There would …
