What is the breed of your cat and how smart is it?

[optimistikcolouristik]

Along time ago my parents had a cat (probably tabby) and we could play Hide and Seek. We are thinking of getting a cat in the future, may be in a year time or later. So please tell me about your cats. The reason why I am asking is because tabby breed is not amongst the 10 smartest cats in the world purrfectcatbreeds.com/top-10-cats/top-10-smartest-cat-breeds/ but for us he was quite smart. So I wonder whether the cats in the link are really that smart. I guess they are also very pricey.

Over the years the twelve Siamese that either my parents or I have owned have all been great family cats. Never had or even experience one with a temper.

They allow children to manhandle them (in the way that some on this thread have described), carrying them in strange, uncomfortable ways, letting them stroke them the "wrong" way etc, in ways that they wouldn't tolerate in an adult.

They are really people orientated cats, positively craving company they're really dogs in disguise - which is partly why they are better in pairs.

They're talkative, yes and will miauw their displeasure loudly especially if you are shutting them out of a room they want to be in - but that is not the same as having a temper.

Stupid Cat brought another mouse in to the house in the early hours. I was woken to the sounds of scrambling around downstairs. Mouse very alive but hiding behind a furniture leg. Woke DH up.

When Stupid Cat saw me he lost interest in the mouse so I had to have cross words with him. I told him if he brought the mouse in he was going to have to get it out. Didn't work. I opened the front door in readiness of Stupid Cat exiting with the mouse in his mouth. No joy. Cat ran out leaving DH trapped in the porch trying to get the mouse out from behind a pile of shoes aided by a broom.

#tiredoutbystupidcat

In my own experience with Persians most of ours died, prematurely, of kidney related illness. Also their eyes need to be kept clean. I think lots of breeders offer pkd negative persians for sale nowadays. I also found them more susceptible to stomach upsets and diarrhoea.

First pair of cats were a mix of burmese, russian blue and british black shorthair. The tortie lived to the ripe old age of 20, and was agile right up to the end (not the usual old cat behaviour/look). She was the smartest cat ever. Sadly we lost her sister at 7yo.
We briefly had a rescue kitten, who appeared to have a bit of maine coon in him, as well as a mix of other things. He was really rather dim, but adorable. I think he believed he was a squirrel. Sadly he got run over after just a few months
Most recently we had a beautiful ginger tabby - he wasn't as smart as our first cats, but he had the best personality. He died last summer - I still miss him
I want another cat!!!

I grew up with an assortment of abyssinians. Some were very bright and others were several sandwiches short of a picnic. In fact they forgot to make the sandwiches altogether. As a breed they're quite interesting naughty and if you went on holiday leaving the neighbours to feed them, they'd take offence (cats not neighbours) and give you the cold shoulder for 48 hours after you returned.

I have two british shorthairs- one blue and one tortie.

The blue one is thick as mince bless her. She has a fantastic temperament and let's people so whatever they like with her. She is very quiet and she will eat absolutely anything. She just lounges around the house all day on her own, she is somewhat aloof.

The tortie is a clever cat. If she wants something boy will she carry on til she has figured out to get it. She is more vocal and much more of a lap cat although she doesn't really like to be picked up and handled by the children.

It's funny how they are the same breed yet totally different.

Pretty my male siamese had to be separated from his brother....they came as a paid but the brother would steal his food and then piss on the bed. We tried EVERYTHING before we were eventually advised to rehome the brother who stole food and pissed.

He settled in to his new home so well....he didn't like competing. Our boy at home is totally happy too.

I imagine Siamese (never having owned one, just a Si Rex Devon) to quite savvy and streetwise There seem to be a few around here who are outdoor cats, along with the moggies. Do other Siamese owners keep them solely as indoor cats, just out of interest?

All our Siamese have been outside cats, with a cat flap that lets them come and go as they please.

Claphands - that's a shame . We've never had that problem (male sibling pairs, male/female sibling pairs and singletons of both sexes added to an existing cat after its sibling died). The only time I had a problem was when I got my first Siamese and then wasn't around enough (due to work commitments). I did gave an issue with his peeing in various places attention seeking behaviour and ended up sending him (by train! ) up to Glasgow so he could have the company of my parents' cats) and he was then fine.

We're always surprise that our current male doesn't get lifted - he'll go and talk to anyone

Amelia my poor boy isn't....he goes outside once in a blue moon and sort of skulks about nervously....he's a big cat too so he's being very silly as I am sure he could rule the neighbourhood if he wanted to.

He will talk to anyone within the house but not outside.

I have a Bengal and an Egyptian Mau. Both far too clever for their own good. Both can open doors, windows, cupboards, the fridge, can get into the treat container & open the food pouches if they don't feel well nourished enough (!) both have amazing knacks of hiding in places we didn't even know existed. Oh, and my Mau can turn on taps because he likes water.

Wouldn't have them any other way!!

I have moggy sisters who are utterly unalike in every way - they must have had different dads.

One of them plays fetch (she will even knock her own toy down the stairs & fetch it back up repeatedly) & will swipe at you in passing if she needs a scritch. She's not particularly pleasant-natured though & destroys cardboard boxes with her teeth - often while sitting inside them.

The other is generally as thick as mince but worked out how to claw open a cat flap locked to in-only within a few minutes. She is very affectionate & an all-round sweetheart. She uses a step-ladder propped against the yard wall to get up & down; her sister has to use a tree elsewhere.

I also now have a younger tabby who looks to have a bit of Bengal in her - she was one of the ivy kittens who were abandoned (& raised by Cailleach) so nothing is known about their ancestry. She is basically bonkers, great fun but doesn't display any particular intelligence (& in fact often lurks under loose-covered chairs hoping to catch passers-by but never tucks her tail in so we all know she's there )

My Siamese goes out, she's pretty savvy at that actually, she won't talk to strangers outside at all...she'll be all over them inside, but not when she's out.

I live in a quiet street, but she does avoid traffic and I once had to go and rescue a dog from her lol, she was chasing it down the road.

I think my two Burmese are intelligent but not terribly smart.
One can turn door handles, not just your standard pull down lever ones but the round knobs we resorted to after. He's also afraid that the tree out the window is out to get him and obviously the pigeons are conspiring against him.
The other MUST make friends with everyone, she escaped from the previously secure garden and came back soon after stinking of a neighbours perfume! She likes to jump on top of the kitchen cupboards but then howls (in that newborn like cry that Burmese have) when she's stuck.
They're both deceptively heavy and don't seem to realise how big their backsides are.
Our other cat is a Burmilla, she's the clever one.

My thick cat has really heavy feet & has just not got the knack of sitting on laps.

The other 2 float up into your lap & settle there like a cloud; thick cat drops on you from the arm of the chair then stands there for 5 minutes with her heavy feet drilling dents into your thighs (& looks hurt when you turf her off)

Our original pair (in the chair) and the current pair.

TheOneWiththeNicestSmile, is she really always standing in your lap? I guess she is also galloping loudly at home .

Prettybird, are these the Siamese cats? In the picture with a lamp the cat on the left looks like an oriental cat and the one on the right, more like a Moggy. May be because the one on the right has a fuller face.

Thing is, they change so fast depending on circumstances.

I have just removed the-cat-formerly-known-as-touchmeandyoudiecat from DS's bed, where she has been happily snuggled with him for 3 hours. I only moved her because I don't trust her not to wake him up at 3am to explain her need for a snackerel. Before her brother got killed and we introduced thick-as-two-exceptionally-short-planks-pudding-cat, she would never have been so snugly

I am amased at how a cat would be able to turn the round knob handle!

Cats such amusing creatures. Do your neighbours get ever annoyed if the cat comes into their garden? I know that some cats would walk a few streets to poo in someone's garden. We had experienced that too a few years ago and I could never understand why was she not looking somewhere closer to her house? Also I thought she was mean to walk that far from her home just too poo in our garden (not our garden anymore). I remember I was shouting "shooo-shooo" from my window and she completely ignored me. That was totally mean! Also when there are children playing in there (digging) or vegetables growing I would hate it. However, I do know there are repellents.
I would not have liked my cat doing it. You would never know what could happen. Some people could attack it.

On one occasion I also heard a scratching sound and then bang and like that a may be five times. I looked out of my window and saw a cat trying to climb into our neighbours' garden. Once he got in there it looked for a soft soil, did the big job and left. Here I was amused. What a persistence. My neighbour was away so he had missed all the fun .

Grey and white moggy, she's gorgeous and a complete genius, 'though we only have our dog to compare her to :)

Here's my baby

Optimik - they are both Siamese - it's a combination of the angle and the fact that she does have a slightly rounder face I think. It was the only picture I could find quickly of the two of them. Her breeder prefers them with the more old-fashioned "apple pie" face but it is becoming less common. Hence her "brother" (same breeder but no blood links - she is however related to the brother/sister pair in the first picture, also from the same breeder she breeds very nice cats) having a more pointed face (in fact, his breeder thinks we could have shown him - she was very impressed with how he's turned out when she visited a few years later).

Here's a picture of her looking cute (and taking up the seat in the sun) - and one of his lordship sunning himself in the middle of the stairs.

Ooooh! Lovely cats!

Prettybird, your cats look very relaxed. Are Siamese popular? Is it safe for them to walk outside?

AifAif, your cat looks so different. Kind of bright or may be this is the light. She looks glamorous I would say. Ready for the opera!