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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

How the hell do they know?

36 replies

OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 07/02/2017 18:26

Ok, so cat food has been in cans with ring pulls for years-way before my cats were even born. But yet if I do have to use a can opener they always come running-why? I just have to get it out of the drawer and there they are. It's beans ffs you daft creature.

OP posts:
Fluffycloudland77 · 07/02/2017 18:34

Their quite clever, cans equal food no matter how you open it.

Plus you might feel guilty enough to give them ham.

TheLongRider · 07/02/2017 19:46

Ha! I feed mine on dry food and they still come running at the sound of a can opening. From talking to one of the neighbours they turn up at feeding time at her house, the cheeky brats.

One of them is partial to passata if the carton is left unattended before it is washed out. The sound of a yogurt pot being scraped out also triggers whining and expectant faces.

PencilsInSpace · 07/02/2017 19:52

It's an innate genetic memory, like pigeons' fear of snakes Grin

Toddlerteaplease · 07/02/2017 20:01

Yes, I get the same. Teabag pack rustling = dreemies packet. Four huge green eyes staring at me. I usually give in!

GalenJustGalen · 07/02/2017 20:43

My cat does the same thing, even though I've had her over eleven years and in that time no one has ever fed her anything from a can. I adopted her from a local shelter when she was about six months old, and my theory is that before I got her, someone fed her canned food, and the memory is just indelibly imprinted on her little walnut-sized brain.

AmberNectarine · 07/02/2017 20:45

Mine just runs if I go into the kitchen or even near it.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 08/02/2017 12:37

A can opener means tuna to Harry! We've got an electric can opener now but he soon adapted!

NotAPuffin · 08/02/2017 12:54

One of ours gets out of her box and comes downstairs if she hears the kettle being turned on, because she knows that means DH is making coffee so he'll have to open the fridge and that's where the ham lives.

She's brain damaged and was endearingly dim even before the damage happened, but she can still reason when it comes to ham. not about anything else, mind you

Cats are complicated beings.

cozietoesie · 08/02/2017 13:08

They watch us. Grin

Allergictoironing · 08/02/2017 16:20

Mine recognise the sound of my alarm going off in the morning, and within a minute there's 2 sets of pleading eyes fixed on me until I go down to get their breakfast (they tend to sleep downstairs at the mo). They can also recognise the bedroom TV being turned on in the morning if I wake before the alarm, and again appear within moments.

Wolfiefan · 08/02/2017 16:22

Cats are our evil overlords.
One of mine helped herself to Dreamies again the other night. They were in the packet, in a plastic tub with the lid fastened on and inside my bloody handbag.
I need a safe!

Toddlerteaplease · 08/02/2017 17:28

Wolfe, may I ask why you carry dreemies in your handbag?

Getnakedorgohome · 08/02/2017 17:32

Every time I open the utility room door (where the fridge is) mine comes running. Even if I've not seen her for an hour and she was outside... she must have a 6th sense attached to the door!

SherlockPotter · 08/02/2017 17:37

My cats know where their dishes and food is kept... I swear cats are ninjas

ProfYaffle · 08/02/2017 17:46

"Mine just runs if I go into the kitchen or even near it."

Mine assumes that whenever/wherever I move, I'm on the verge of feeding her. She's at my heels the whole time.

Fluffycloudland77 · 08/02/2017 18:32

Every so often I change where his foods kept & see how long it takes for him to cotton on.

I don't actually need to it's just entertaining.

cozietoesie · 08/02/2017 19:05

How long does it usually take? Wink

Fluffycloudland77 · 08/02/2017 19:18

Longer than you'd think. Usually a week.

SuperFlyHigh · 08/02/2017 20:50

They know... Plus their hearing is acute... Plus maybe if you've opened tuna with a can opener (and given them some or not!) they remember that...

Cats are amazingly sly when it comes to food and second guessing what they'd like even if it IS beans! Grin

AmberNectarine · 08/02/2017 22:10

Prof yes, that's basically it.

Dreamies are the devils work. Mine will get into a cupboard, retrieve an unopened packet and get into it.

Should have started him on a gateway drug, like crystal meth.

Original poster
OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 08/02/2017 22:28

Ah but I buy huge boxes of pouches, dickhead cat sits on box. Yells at me. Is always surprised when I turf him off the box to get a pouch. It's like " Fuck me, that was a good trick." So not that bright.

OP posts:
RubbishMantra · 08/02/2017 23:01

Toddler, you don't yet carry cat crack in your handbag? Shock

I have bags of the stuff hidden all around the house. Tonight Little M was gallumping about the place and hit his mouth. Dreamies were the only medicine that convinced me he was having a flounce, not actually in pain. He's now speeding about the house at the speed of light, so all good, after a careful inspection of his mouth.

sashh · 09/02/2017 16:37

OK how about, this.

How do they know they like fish?

No cat has ever caught a tuna, but open a ca or even a tuna steak and they are there.

Wolfiefan · 09/02/2017 16:39

Toddlertea
They were hidden there to stop the little buggers stealing them! Need a better hiding place!

MycatsaPirate · 09/02/2017 16:49

In the summer especially, boy cat will be out and we always have the back door open. If we are cooking a chicken and the electric carving knife gets switched on he can hear it from seemingly miles away. He appears under the gate and hares down the garden at break neck speed, loses his back legs on hitting the tiled conservatory floor and is in the kitchen on his back legs waving a front paw around before I've even managed to cut the first slice. It's unbelievable.

Also, alarm - Bella licks my eyelids and the sits and stares at me.

Put kettle on and turn around to find four cats all just sitting there. Staring.

Have a bath - Bella sat peering through the gap in the door. Staring.

Open Dreamies tin - fucking chaos.

:o

Today I put catnip all over the scratch boards. Jesus. Four stoned cats all rolling about and licking it, bits stuck on their heads. Hilarious!