Is there such a thing as an SEN cat?

[BritBratGrot]

Not educational obviously, but not sure what other phrase to use.

I mean a cat who is significantly below average performance mentally

We've got two kittens recently and they're both gorgeous. One of them was definitely the runt of the litter and he just doesn't play in the same normal way his sister does. He wanders around and then just sits and stares kinda vacantly. He's very placid and eg doesn't play fight back when she pounces on him. I don't think I've ever really seen him 'play'. Though having said that I think he was just this second playing with his sister's tail, but that's honestly the first time.

He doesn't bury his plops in the litter, she does. He wanders off regularly during dinner, she doesn't.

He is noticeably smaller (just 650g to her 1000) at nearly 12 weeks. They got a sniffle and had a temp last week which they're both just recovering from.

The charity which rehomed then to us assure us the vet gave him a clean bill of health, though the foster worker thinks he's got a different dad from the rest of the litter and might have been premature, he looks different from the rest of them.

Is this a thing in cats?

There’s a lovely Bengal cat on TikTok who is said to be ND; he is clumsy but very gentle and quirky and likes to pat stones with his paws. He’s adorable and definitely different! I think the account is “Oh Gavin”

My cat can't cope with noise eg when I get a saucepan out of the drawer he runs even if he's eating. The doorbell sends him into a spin, he's petrified of people and will only go to me, my partner and my niece and looks at my sister with suspicion.

We've had the same neighbours since I brought him home at 9 weeks old from foster care where we was with his mum and 2 brothers and he watches theneighbours from a distance and runs if they go within 20 steps of him. If only he knew how much they would love him to be their friend.

She is gorgeous looking

Yes I think so. There's a cat local to me who follows people home and gets lost a lot. I saw her once almost get ran over. She was strolling out in the road then flopped down to sleep right there. The cars stopped and my DH picked her up and put her on the side, but she followed us home. We took her the vet and she was microchipped so reunited with the owner but I still see her now following random people and walking past and entering shops if they have the door open.

Our elderly cat, used to be fine buy she has definitely experienced significant cognitive decline ,she is like Mog the forgetful cat these days, she always forgets how to use her cat flap. She stands near it it clicks to open but she doesn't come in and then eventually we need to open the back door for her.

@BritBratGrot I can't believe this thread has got to 2 pages and no one has reminded you to pay the cat tax and share pictures of your kittens!

I also have a brother and sister and she's a lot more 'cat'.... he's a soppy, lazy, needy cuddle monster and not the brightest of boys 😆

I have nothing to add on the cat front (mine seems normal although you never know) but I love your user name

Oh, definitely. Mine was born to a mother who had cat flu during pregnancy. He's absolutely lovely, gentle, affectionate, talkative - but basic cat skills frequently elude him, as does the concept of gravity.

Seeing as I've had an absolute criminal genius of a cat before - the type who'd wander in, check whose clothes were on the airer and if it was somebody who had annoyed her earlier that day, she'd check I wasn't watching before strolling over, hoik his socks and boxers off the bars leaving my things on there and then wander off with them to put them in the litter tray, the difference is stark.

She hasn’t forgotten, she’s just got you trained up!

The interesting thing about my senior though is that she can't figure out new puzzles or scenarios, she does have social intelligence. Since kittenhood she has lived with 3 different cats and has been good enough with all of them that I have photos of them cuddling. If the young one is being crazy or annoying she blanks her, which is exactly the right thing to do. Otherwise the little one would escalate the "game". Like yesterday she jumped up to come in her window (its a low jump) and the little one reached out to try and slap her leg, and she just completely ignores her. Doesn't even change the motion of the jump.

My ginger boy is not blessed with brainpower. Thankfully he has a brother who demonstrates proper cat skills to him, like how to jump. He is scared of the dark and tends to pull himself onto furniture by his front paws. Sometimes he gets spooked when poo is coming out of his bottom and runs round the house screaming in panic till it drops off, but he is just about functional as an indoor cat.

There is a cat on Tiktok called Puddles for Brains who definitely has learning disabilities. His owner documents his daily struggle to find his food bowl.

I'm new to the litter tray, forgive me.
Here the cuties are.

Can you guess which is which?

They are both gorgeous 😍 but I'm going to guess it's the tabby boy who's a bit spesh?? 😂

Some cats are certainly less intelligent than others, but the lack of playfulness & poor appetite would concern me in a kitten in case there was a congenital issue i.e. liver shunt (which may not have been detected in a general health check). Has he had any blood work done?

I don’t even own a cat but it’s becoming clear to me the male cats are a bit dim, and the female cats have to run around looking after them. 🤔

I could have written this about cats I had years ago.
My df used to say my ginger cat had a few scews missing, not even loose 😅

Such a lovely ginger boy though.

I have 7kg of handsome ginger floof.

Sometimes he jumps up on my desk, forgets he needs to get his back legs on the desk as well as the front one and simply falls back down again. He looks up at me, meows pitifully and then huffs off like it was my fault.

He once jumped for the top of a built in wardrobe and simply slid down the door as he discovered it was built in all the way to the ceiling.

I adore him but he’s not the smartest…. His brother likes to run at him and jump clean over his head for fun… so we can all enjoy the confused look on his face. The brother meanwhile, has worked out how to open my push to open kitchen cupboards and I wouldn’t say that’s always a good thing either!

One of mine was called Miracle by the vets who treated her after she was rescued. She was tiny compared to other kittens and while she's bulked up, she's not very bright. But she's loving and affectionate, which her super clever and athletic roommate definitely isn't.

Definitely. One of my loveliest cats was definitely thick as a plank. But he also loved cuddles, loved being carried round like a teddy by the children, and even went on holiday in the car with us, sitting on the shelf under the back window. Stupid, but adorable. I mean, so what? It's not as if he had to have a career.

I have 2 sisters
One is beyond clever. She talks to us, says ‘hello’, breaks into others houses and steals cat food, can open doors, cupboards, windows, boxes, cat food pouches, dreamies tins, and I wouldn’t put it past her to be working on how to use a tin opener.

The other is adorable but thick as shit. You can carry her like a baby. She gets confused by open doors and windows. Lies infront of cars on the road. The neighbours thankfully know and tolerate her, and will often stop their cars, get out and move her off the road to pass. If she was our only cat, I’d keep her indoors all the time, but she sees her sister go out and whines until she is put through the open door

The stupid ones are generally adorable and very loving though- nice to hear others have daft but loving too! I fall about laughing at mine but I also completely melt when he demands his mid afternoon cuddle and purrs like mad because all he wants from life is to sunbathe 70% of the time and have cuddles the other 30%. He would like to be 100% of the time though so the result is a fat, floofy ball of love.

I think all cats are "special" I think they are all clear about their view of their "needs" and some are really thick (not looking at you Breadcat honest)

OP SEN does not mean “significantly below average performance mentally”!! You honestly should delete that. There are ALL KINDS of education needs. What you have written is very discriminatory, and I don’t even have SEN in my family.

I have a very stupid boy. He gets stuck in trees, rolls off the shed roof regularly, rolls down the stairs etc. He's the most placid, loving cat I've ever met so as soon as he sees a human he flops and rolls for a tummy rub, regardless of how dangerous that might be for him!!

We have one who I honestly think is ND. He's intelligent, but gets spooked by the tiniest things for no reason and totally panics. Also has social difficulties with other cats and with most humans, even though you can tell he really wants to be friendly. No history of abuse (in fact he's had a very cushy life since birth), but he's clearly having some psychological difficulties.