What affects us affects cats
Why do cats hate tin foil? Well, we shouldn’t generalise because some domestic cats are not fazed by tin foil (or only slightly so) but typically they are. The reason is that tin foil is a strange surface and object. It is very reflective. It looks almost like water. And it is noisy. It …
I think that this video tells us a bit about the domestic cat’s mentality. It gives us a clue as to what they are thinking. But I’d like to know what people make of this video. It’s a simple, innocent video of a cat behind a window and his owner sprays water at him …
She made a toy out of a flip top bin lid and in doing so learned how they work. There has to be a certain amount of intelligence involved to constantly flip that flipping lid. She gets a lot of fun out of it. I expect that she initial learned how the flip bin …
Sometimes cats just don’t understand the potential dangers they place themselves in. I suppose that this cat sees the children skateboarding around him and instinctively presumes that they will always avoid him. He does not consciously have these thoughts but that is the end result of his behavior. He can’t rationalise the possibility that …
This cat looks very smart in the way he opens a door. He positions himself well and uses his weight to lever the door handle down. Observers are generally impressed and even amazed by the way domestic cats do this. But I am not. It’s almost to be expected that some cats will do …
Do cats know when they are doing something wrong? I am referring to domestic cats. This is a philosophical question and as I am not a philosopher I’ll employ common sense as I see it. The first point to make is that the question refers to “doing something wrong”. This in fact means that …
There are many videos of domestic cats drinking running water from faucets (‘taps’ in the UK) but there aren’t many videos of cats turning on the faucet to get the water running. Allan is one of those cats. It’s a bit hard to see because of the angle, but here is Allan Armadale demonstrating …
The proof is in the pudding: cats learn by observation. This clever, athletic cat has learned to operate a typical wall-mounted light switch about five feet off the floor. It does not surprise me but it does look interesting. Cats normally learn by observation in the wild by watching their mother. It is pretty …
