Intelligence levels of cats in your household?

[9GreenBottles]

We have 4 cats, and this evening one of them has been ripping up the carpet trying to get out of our bedroom. I could hear him, and thought the bedroom door must have got shut by accident because the door opens outwards. No, he just seemed to have got confused that he didn't have to pull the door towards him with his paw (and he is useless at getting into the room from the hall too).

This follows on from each of the cats getting a microchip cat feeder over the last couple of years. The first cat took about 6 months to use it regularly of her own accord (there was a bit of active resistance as well as genuine confusion and fear of the noises it made). The second cat was up and running in about 48 hours. Cats three and four got theirs in the Black Friday sales this year. Cat three had the hang of it in about 12 hours. Cat four is the boy getting stuck in the open bedroom - still having to be guided to use it!

On another note, cat one is still confused by the cat flap - 4 years after being introduced to the concept. I hear her trying to claw the flap towards her rather than just pushing her head through - on both sides of the door :-D

Do your cats demonstrate different levels of intelligence?

Ernie is currently alternating between jumping in circles after his tail.....unwraping some presents (he loves shredding paper)

...and trying to eat the fairy light bulbs

I recall trying, fairly recently, to interest Seniorboy in a Flying Frenzy. His gaze travelled, languidly, from the feathers, up the string, along the rod, up my hand and arm and finally rested on my face. Then he put out a paw and dabbed it, once, before turning over and going to sleep again.

Blighter was indulging me!

I don't know whether that's brains or experience but I still felt about 1" tall.

I've had to google the Dreamies Mouse - this may mean a trip to buy one for Christmas although we have got something similar (somewhere, in a box after moving).

Oldraver: interest in the fairy light bulbs is not good. Clever Girl Cat likes to chew them and one year managed to chew through the wire on two sets - thankfully when switched off. Now the wire has got some of those comb bindings on it to protect it! :-D

DaintyCat is scared of the Dreamies mouse. She's not that fussed about food anyway though. She's very good at training stupidhoomans to do her bidding, including turning taps on every time she needs a drink.

FloofyCat used to be incredibly, endearingly dim. We once had a box on the landing for a few days waiting to go to the attic. She liked sitting on top of it. The first day it wasn't there, she tried to jump onto it and crashed into the wall.

Sadly these days she's braindamaged and even less able to cope with life, though it's not funny any more. She's a prolific drooler when she's purring. Being happy and breathing simultaneously is too much for her; yesterday she choked on the drool and couldn't get her breath for ages.

Poor Floofycat, you want her to be happy but not happy enough to purr and start drooling. Very sad xxx