Stealthy visiting cat learned to eat dry cat food silently (and more)

by Michael Broad · April 8, 2022

Like many cat owners, I have a visiting cat from a neighbour’s home. In some ways I like it because my cat likes to play with the visitor and they get on fairly well but not great. However, the visiting cat has sprayed urine around the kitchen sink to claim territory. Also, I think my cat has sprayed urine in the garden (backyard) in response to the presence of this uninvited visitor. In other words, certain stresses were being built up which were unhelpful. Further, the visiting cat likes to eat my cat’s dry cat food. Stresses were being built up in me as well ?.

Visiting cat has learned to enter house through noisy cat door, jump onto kitchen counter and eat large-pelleted dry cat food silently. Image: MikeB

I feed my cat good quality dry cat food. It is the dental care, large pellet, high quality cat food which is difficult to eat silently (impossible you would have thought).

I also have a very noisy cat flap (cat door) in the kitchen because it’s cheap. It needs replacing but that is another story. And I feed my cat on the kitchen counter top which will displease some readers.

I’m telling you that because the uninvited visiting cat has to pass through a noisy cat flap, jump up onto a kitchen counter and eat large pellet dry cat food all in complete silence. Otherwise, he wakes me up or he alerts me to his presence.

And he’s done this because I’ve made it known to him that he is unwanted. I have clapped my hands loudly and spoken to him in strong terms with an aggressive voice. I’ve not shouted at him because I don’t want to frighten him but I needed to send a clear message to him that he was unwanted.

In response, as mentioned, he has got around the problem through stealth. This is another example of how domestic cats are very quick learners.

Patriotic Russian Cat. Discussion About Feline Observational Learning

There is one final reason why, these days, I believe it is unwise to feed a visiting cat; you might get into a dispute with the cat’s owner. They want to let their cat roam but they don’t want to allow them to be fed by a neighbour. It’s rather peculiar because they should realise that if they allow their cat to roam, they might enter a neighbour’s house. They want their cake and eat it. But that is the way of the world.

Perhaps the reason why adult domestic cats are good learners by observing their human caretakers is because in the wild kittens learn from their mothers when they are developing into independent cats. The mother brings back prey animals to the den and shows them how to kill them.

Do cats learn from each other?

And we know that kittens learn faster when they are observing their relatives, particularly their close relatives like their mother. And as humans are surrogate mothers to their cats, they receive a constant stream of education from humans. The classic example is opening interior doors. That’s learned by observation. But there are countless other examples. And in my example this cat has learned to do three things completely silently which I think is very impressive.

Human: “How are you?” Maine Coon responds with “How are you?”