People often look at cat intelligence the wrong way. They think cats aren’t obedient, won’t do tricks, and won’t come when they are called. This is not necessarily true, but it’s true often enough for people to bring up as a drawback of cats.

Yet, does it show the cat is stupid? Or does it show the cat is smart?

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Science has studied cat intelligence, and concluded that it is not only there, it is comparable to that of a six year old human. Of all the mammals, a cat’s brain has memory and emotional mapping most comparable to our own. Cats use tools, figure out mazes and puzzle boxes, and display long term memories, especially those involving spatial configurations, their specialty.

Fortunately, we most encounter cats outside of the laboratory. In our own homes, cats display amazing intelligence. We just don’t notice it, locked in our ways of thinking of the cat as a passive creature who only chases toys on the floor because they seem like prey.

The obvious is right in front of us. Is the cat so stupid they don’t know the mouse made of fabric that just lies there isn’t really a mouse? Or are they regarding it as a mouse substitute, and perfectly good for pretend?

We smile when small children zoom toy cars around the room and tie a towel over their shoulders to become a superhero. What an imagination! Yet when cats use their imagination to transform balls of paper and bits of string into prey, we don’t make the same connection.

It is the same connection.

Imagination is a sign of higher processing in the brain; using a substitute thing to replace a real thing is how humans do so much of what makes our lives more comfortable and enjoyable. Our houses, our cars, our clothes; all started as an imaginary thing that someone used as a blueprint for reality. Cats don’t have the same drive we do to make things actually happen. They were smart enough, ten thousand years ago, to hitch a ride with us, who can.

Cats started out in the small niche of rodent control. Cats have many advantages over dogs in this job; terriers are diggers and barkers, while cats go about their task with silence and stealth. We should consider how well cats do that job. They can’t readily widen holes to get at their prey the way dogs do. To be the efficient predators they are, cats had to become, not the strongest, but the smartest. They had to outwit their prey to be able to catch it.

What cats do, with the inanimate mouse toy, is only completing the cycle, and that’s what we most often see. We see the cat bounding after their prey in the final act of what has been a much longer drama. When we offer the cat a more complete prey experience, such as with remote controlled mice or wand toys, we see more of what is going on in the cat’s mind. Given more intelligent prey, cats will study the object, find places to view the object, set themselves up to ambush the object, and then complete the action with their pouncing.

Cats who meddle with our stuff are asking for the complete drama, not the thirty second sound bite. They want to use their nimble minds as well as their nimble bodies. They are looking for objects which hide and dart and offer more of a challenge. This is not the behavior of a stupid creature. This is the behavior of a bright mind who is bored and looking for more stimulation.

People who love cats interact with their cats and discover that such cats wait at the door for their arrival, snuggle close when their people aren’t feeling well, and will do things just because they know it will make their people laugh. These are the responses of living beings who recognize other thinking and feeling creatures.

So why don’t cats obey, do tricks, or come when they are called? Well, they do. If they want to. If we love them enough to make them want to.

That is always the hidden element with cats. They do what they want. If they love us, because we have loved them enough to take care of their bodily needs, and their mind needs, they will be far more likely to cooperate with us.

People who treat their cat as an intelligent creature have discovered the cat is an intelligent creature.

If we don’t recognize that, just which one of us is the dumb one?

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There’s more ways to understand our cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my posts on WHY CATS DO THAT.