Cat Compatibility by Intelligence

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Do smart cats get along better with other smart cats? It seems that they do.

Part of the reason can be that cat smartness has a lot to do with their communication skills. When they are good at making their intentions known, whether to other cats, or to their humans, this fosters trust and acceptance.

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As always with cats, shared outlooks come into play. I have a dramatic example in my own home, because I have James Bond, one of the world’s smartest cats. When Dear Husband stepped on a hairball with his bare foot, Mr. Bond was distressed that he had upset Dear Husband. So he started fishing dirty socks out of the hamper to lay over the offending object. The first time, he still got Dear Husband… what I heard was, “What’s this sock doing… augh augh!”

But now we know what it means, and Mr. Bond continues to amaze us with his insight and understanding.

However, Mr. Bond was never exactly thrilled by sharing his home with Puffy, who was undeniably the World’s Dimmest Cat. We adored Puffy, we his little ways, so funny to us, simply annoyed Mr. Bond

We might as well ask the Queen of England to room with Curly Howard of the Three Stooges.

So Mr. Bond and Puffy, while getting along, were never the buddies Mr. Bond has become with RJ. Even though RJ has some logic deficits from his early deprivation, he is an intelligent cat. He and Mr. Bond can share an “outlook,” even though his outward grasp of the world is sometimes logic-challenged.

Sharing an Outlook is an important factor in how closely cats bond. Mr. Bond and RJ both work their routines with openness about how easily they can change them for better results. Early on, Mr. Bond would send RJ into the bedroom to ask for breakfast, sensibly concluding that we would find it harder to say no to the little kitten face. And RJ readily agreed to take direction from Mr. Bond, from favorite games to sharing responsibilities.

Puffy couldn’t do that. This made him far less manipulatable. This made him far less interesting; to other cats.

Intelligent cats, of any type, are constantly working on their “cause and effect.” It can be an index of cat intelligence to see how quickly a cat will grasp how trying to catch a bug hovering around a light bulb will lead to a spectacular crash.

This is a large element of why smart cats scorn less-smart cats. If a smart cat is going to get into trouble, it will at least be on purpose. And they try not to get into trouble at all. They have better ways of engineering their desires.

When the bumbling cat creates a bad outcome that any fool could have seen coming, the smart cat is annoyed not only by the subsequent inquiry which might put them under suspicion, but also because such a cat tosses wrenches into the smoothly running operation the smart cat is trying to build here.

The smart cat is calculating the minutes until dinnertime, scoping out our proximity to the treat area, mentally working on their dissertation; and the dumb cat knocks the treat box over, gets scolded, and ruins the mood for the whole plan the smart cat was hatching.

Remember, in school, when we had to work on a group project? We come up with crafted models, flow charts, impeccable research; while there’s always at least one slacker who shows up with a careless mess that has to be grafted awkwardly onto our presentation. That will reflect on our grade!

That’s the smart cat living with the dumb cat. Every day.

We might not realize how much our smart cats have invested in our daily routines. They work at them; they study the physics of physical objects and mental motivations, they craft plans that are considered for proper effect, they build new theories to test.

Alphas love the physical, Betas love the mental, Gammas love the structure; they use all these elements in varying ways that suit their personality. To suit their personality.

When they live with cats who are surprised by what happens next, and then have trouble learning from those results, the smart cat’s reaction is the woe of any scientist who invites Jerry Lewis into the lab. It’s a wild card that strains their coping skills.

They get along, usually, because they love their humans, who have their own inexplicable reasons for the dumber cat’s presence. They may even show some friendliness; everyone is useful for group pressure or even getting that annoying back of the neck groomed.

But they aren’t going to become buddies as readily as they would with a cat who understands them. Another smart cat will admire and appreciate and collaborate in the all-important work of Smooth Running Routines.

It’s an art form. Other smart cats know that.

We can help our smart cats by knowing it, too. So take a little of the sting out of the smart cat’s hurt pride by letting them know they aren’t the ones who get into trouble, or knock things over, or create chaos. Not accidentally, anyway.

Let the smart cat know we are in on the joke.

Because the less-smart cats never will.

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There’s more about multiple cats in The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See more posts on the MULTIPLE CAT ADVANTAGE.