# Heh, my cat figured out how to work the (electric) can opener. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 16, 2014, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heh-my-cat-figured-out-how-to-work-the-electric-can-opener/690895 "2014-06-16T11:42:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heh-my-cat-figured-out-how-to-work-the-electric-can-opener/690895/1 "2014-06-16T11:42:50Z")
In my house, I have a bar that separates the kitchen from the living room. The bar comes right flush with the top of my can opener. Anyway, I’m in the kitchen doing dishes. The cat is anxiously pacing back and forth across the bar because he saw me cleaning his food dish. To him, this means he’s about to get fed a can of the wet mushy food. He was not. As he was pacing, he accidentally stepped on the can opener, causing it to operate very briefly. Taken aback, the cat stops dead in his tracks and very timidly puts his paw back on the leaver. It worked again! Now the cat is completely enthralled by this stupid can opener. I finished the dishes and retreat to the living room to watch TV. For the next 20 damn minutes all I hear emanating from the kitchen every five seconds is: “rwrwrwrwr”…“rwrwrwrw”…“rwrwrwrwr”… I finally got so fed up with it I had to go in the kitchen and unplug the damn thing! 😃 Damn, I wish the camera on my phone worked!! ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heh-my-cat-figured-out-how-to-work-the-electric-can-opener/690895/2 "2014-06-16T12:23:23Z")
That’s so funny! Mine knows how to open the screen door. Luckily, she has no interest in actually going outside as she would probably not last long out there. But she loves to let the bugs in to play with. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heh-my-cat-figured-out-how-to-work-the-electric-can-opener/690895/3 "2014-06-16T12:52:09Z")
Just be glad he hasn’t yet learned how to [flush the toilet](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WofFb_eOxxA). (the link is funny and worth watching…It’s a 2 minute video of a cat pressing the flush handle and watching the water swirl down,–over and over again.) ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heh-my-cat-figured-out-how-to-work-the-electric-can-opener/690895/4 "2014-06-16T14:33:24Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > In my house, I have a bar that separates the kitchen from the living room. The bar comes right flush with the top of my can opener. > > Anyway, I’m in the kitchen doing dishes. The cat is anxiously pacing back and forth across the bar because he saw me cleaning his food dish. To him, this means he’s about to get fed a can of the wet mushy food. He was not. > > As he was pacing, he accidentally stepped on the can opener, causing it to operate very briefly. Taken aback, the cat stops dead in his tracks and very timidly puts his paw back on the leaver. It worked again! > > Now the cat is completely enthralled by this stupid can opener. I finished the dishes and retreat to the living room to watch TV. For the next 20 damn minutes all I hear emanating from the kitchen every five seconds is: “rwrwrwrwr”…“rwrwrwrw”…“rwrwrwrwr”… > > I finally got so fed up with it I had to go in the kitchen and unplug the damn thing! 😃 > Damn, I wish the camera on my phone worked!! Reminds me of when one of my cats found the spring door stop in the bathroom. We finally had to remove it and put it in a drawer because for hours at a time he would mess with it so in the living room we’d hear “boyyynnggg”, “boyyynnggg”, “boyyynnggg”. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heh-my-cat-figured-out-how-to-work-the-electric-can-opener/690895/5 "2014-06-16T16:13:21Z")
☹ The cats don’t need us any more. We are doomed now. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heh-my-cat-figured-out-how-to-work-the-electric-can-opener/690895/6 "2014-06-16T19:21:13Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Just be glad he hasn’t yet learned how to [flush the toilet](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WofFb_eOxxA). > > (the link is funny and worth watching…It’s a 2 minute video of a cat pressing the flush handle and watching the water swirl down,–over and over again.) Ha ha, my cat does this too. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heh-my-cat-figured-out-how-to-work-the-electric-can-opener/690895/7 "2014-06-16T21:30:30Z")
If he figures out how to get the can into the opener, watch out!! ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heh-my-cat-figured-out-how-to-work-the-electric-can-opener/690895/8 "2014-06-16T21:55:45Z")
leave a can of cat food there, maybe you can get yourself out of that duty. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heh-my-cat-figured-out-how-to-work-the-electric-can-opener/690895/9 "2014-06-17T03:59:40Z")
One of my cats will do anything that creates a sound, especially if he knows it’s annoying to me. If he ever figures out how to feed himself, I expect him to learn how to pay for his food as well. The cans I get have pull-tab lids, so it’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heh-my-cat-figured-out-how-to-work-the-electric-can-opener/690895/10 "2014-06-17T04:37:35Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Just be glad he hasn’t yet learned how to [flush the toilet](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WofFb_eOxxA). > > (the link is funny and worth watching…It’s a 2 minute video of a cat pressing the flush handle and watching the water swirl down,–over and over again.) One of my previous cats we taught to use the toilet, but since we have a well and small septic tank we didn’t try to do anything about flushing. We didn’t want to burn out the pump and fill up the septic tank. We would get the funniest sounds coming out of the bathroom when a guest would walk in to use it and the cat was already there taking a crap 😃