by Stacy Holt

Created on: March 30, 2009

Intelligence is not simply the ability to do many tricks on command. Sure, the ability to be taught many tricks can be used to prove that an animal is intelligent, but the things cats can do without being taught truly makes them intelligent animals. Some breeds have unique qualities that make them appear more intelligent than other breeds. However, even alley cats can prove to be just as intelligent; their lineage can easily lead back to many different intelligent breeds.

Cats can play fetch with or without being taught the trick. My oldest cat, Munchkin, and my youngest cat, Belle, have an innate ability to play fetch. These two alley cats play fetch better than most dogs I've known. Some cat breeds, such as the Ocicat, will play fetch with little to no prompting. Overall, the Ocicat is a very intelligent breed.

Another sign of intelligence in a cat is its ability to open doors, cabinets, drawers, or windows. One of my cats, Darlin, opens doors and cabinets, while another, Spook, focuses only on cabinets and drawers. Darlin was not taught this trick, and Spook learned through watching Darlin. Darlin can open kitchen or bathroom cabinets, French doors, and accordion style doors latched with a magnet. Her method is to open the doors using the bottom corners. Spook can open cabinets and drawers from the top, much like a person. One purebred cat that may do this trick without training is an Oriental Shorthair. Although a cute trick at first, you might want to avoid teaching your cat this trick. Once learned, this behavior is hard to stop.

While it may not be a sign of intelligence when a cat plays by itself, it may be a sign of intelligence when a cat plays by itself doing both the human and cat parts of play time. Once our cat Darlin wanted to play, but we were too busy. The solution? We placed an interactive cat toy (a stick with a mouse on a string) between the sofa cushions. The stick was positioned so the mouse would dangle for the cat. A few minutes later we witnessed Darlin on the sofa cushion batting the stick in order to make the mouse move. After a short time of watching the mouse move, she jumped to the floor to play with the now-moving mouse.

Every cat owner has stories of intelligent cats. Many breeds will do tricks or appear intelligent in some way or another. But as all cat-lovers know, cats to not have to do tricks to be intelligent. Granted, not all cats are as intelligent as others, but the ones that are will constantly keep their owners on their toes.

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