So, I have two cats.
Cat1 was rescued at a few weeks old. An acquaintance of mine found her wandering with no mother cat in sight. She bottle fed her for about two weeks, until her own cat had kittens, and then asked if I would take her as the resident cat was getting a bit sniffy about her interacting with the babies. She's now 4.
Cat2 is a cat my mum got while I was at uni. I adopted her last year after my dad claimed to have suddenly developed an allergy (he never liked her), and we already had a good relationship as I lived at home for a few years between graduating from uni and getting married. She's 9.
Cat1 has always seemed like a bit of a dumdum, to be honest. She still does things like hiss at her own tail, for example. Cat2, on the other hand, has always been on the more intelligent end of the kitty spectrum. She worked out how to open the food cupboard when she was living at mum's, and she nudges your hand when pouring food so more goes into the bowl (she's a heckin' chonker, tbh).
The thing is, I'm now questioning everything I thought I knew about my cats, due to a recent development.
We have an enclosed rear yard for the cats to play in. Cat1 can't get out. Cat2 can, but isn't keen to as it's difficult to get back in. We don't have a cat flap on the back door, so in the summer we prop the door open for them to come and go. At this time of year, I close them out, but keep an eye on them in case they want to come back in.
Except I haven't had to let them in for a few days. One of them has somehow worked out how to open the door.
Now, Cat2 would seem like the obvious culprit, but the only way I can see for them to be doing this is jumping onto the door handle from the adjacent window sill. Cat2 doesn't climb or jump much anymore - I think she's got a touch of arthritis in her back legs. Add to this, the first time I heard the door open by itself, Cat2 was hunting something in the garden and had no interest in coming in.
Is it possible that Cat1 has been pulling the strings this whole time? That she is really an evil genius who is manipulating us to do her will?
You'd think she'd stop bolting her food, if so, but maybe making her humans clean up kitty vomit is part of the master plan.