What's the Smartest Thing Your Pet Ever Did?

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

I once had a cat named Libby. This cat was smart. I mean scary smart.

Once, when my folks and I were out for the day, Libby got locked in one of the bedrooms. The bedroom had no litter box. Okay, so that wasn’t so smart. But read on.

When we came home, I let Libby out of the bedroom. By the smell, I could tell he had taken a crap. With a sigh, I searched the room, fully expecting to find cat droppings on the floor.

What I found was that he had dropped a shoebox with some junk in it off the dresser, dumped the junk out, and taken a crap in it.

“Oh, so what?” I hear you say. “The cat probably knocked the shoebox off the dresser as cats tend to do, and the junk fell out, but the box landed right side up.
Then he took a crap in it. Big deal. That’s not smart.”

That’s what I would’ve said too. Except that after he took the crap, he stuffed the box neatly full of kleenex from across the room! He effectively built his own litter box. “Holy shit!” was my response. Literally!

There were other things that convinced me this cat was a frickin’ genius of a cat.
A real Thomas Edison of Catdom. Sadly, he’s gone now. And we had him neutered so no cat inherited his incredible genes. But man! Scary smart!

Just as sadly, I have no picture scanner on my machine. I’m sorry I’m breaking the post pictures in pet threads rule.

Anyone else have or had an animal that made you wonder if man would someday have a rival species for brainiest creature on the planet?

#2

I had a cat of unremarkable intelligence and an unusual lack of curiosity except for one alleged incident. I had to leave him at the vet overnight once, and when I came to get him there was a 40-lb. bag of litter against his cage door. The vet’s assistant explained that when they opened up in the morning, Teaser was roaming around free, having somehow figured out how to undo the latch on the outside of the cage and let himself out. I said “that must happen pretty often” and they said, no, this was the first time. Hmmm.

#3

Granny Cat - Queen of Cats - opened the kitchen window which had quite a heavy ancient hook thing. Not much fun in the dead of winter to come down to the icy blast of english winter, so we installed a cat flap. She compromised by using the flap during the night, but during the day she continued to utilise the window. She was the only one able to open the interior doors - little round brass knobs, and the other cats would file in after her. When she worked them loose we would tighten them, but not too much since she needed a bit of play to get them open. Three jumps at it was about the maximum. The house was really old and guests would freak to hear the rattling and the door slowly swing open, not noticing the furry feline slinking in.

#4

My beagle Quincy went to the bed in the middle of the night. He wagged his tail and growled showing he had to go outside. My wife got up to open the door. When she got to the door he broke for the bed, jumped up and got under the covers and put his head on the pillow. When she got back he growled, telling her to go away. He wanted something, formulated a plan and carried it out.
He was downstairs licking out a Alpo can. It was rolling around the slanted floor. He jammed the can into the dry food bowl and cleaned it out. He solved problems.

#5

We had a Chihuahua named Peanut who hurt one of her front paws. She had to get a couple stitches, if I remember correctly, and she certainly had a big bandage on it. However, she walked just fine on it… until my grandmother came in the door! Then she limped over on three legs, holding the injured one up to show off. Little fuzzball knew she’d get sympathy that way :stuck_out_tongue:

Our rats used to nudge stray human limbs that were in their way with their noses, to ask them to move. They didn’t do this with inanimate objects. So in other words they knew what was alive and might move when requested, and what was not alive and had to be walked around. Not bad for tiny little guys, eh?

#6

Have you ever had an experience when you thought you saw something, but then decided “Nah. Couldn’t a been!” And then put it out of your mind?

Okay, what I’m about to tell you was that kind of situation.

I once had a Himalayan-Persian kitty named Suzi, and one Summer afternoon she was lying beside me on the bed as I read.

Suddenly I felt her stir and sit up and start batting the air with her paws.

“Shit”, I said. 'We got a fly, Suze!"

I didn’t feel like getting up right then to start fencing with the fly swatter, so I just let Suzi track it for a while.

Right.

Right about then was when the little bastard started buzzin me!

Knowing I wasn’t gonna be able to concentrate on my book now anyway, I went to the kitchen for my weapon: the Evriholder SS-ASST. Code-name Super Swat, heretofore sold only to law enforcement. Definetely not a toy.

I hefted the SS a time or two, found her sweet spot, grabbed a beer and prepared to engage the enemy.

I walked into the bedroom just in time to see Suzi bring her paw down on the nighstand right on top of that little bastard and make him part of our nightstand! Yesssss! OOOO-RAH

Ya ever been so drunk that you’re just about to pass out, but you’re thinking “My alcohol threshold’s not like everybody else’s. I can do this, Bozz!”

So, okay I guess I went ahead and passed out, woke up the next morning rolled over to the nightstand (almost rolled off the damn bed over the other side), and there… on the nighstand… now a permanent part of the nighstand, lay my nemesis: right underneath the Evriholder SS-ASST “Super Swat!”

So ever since that night, there are times when I think, “Can a cat react that fast??? A little kitty?”

Nah!

But then I think, “Well how come it’s so damn vivid a memory for ya’, MoFo?”

“Because that’s the way I roll, mah Brotha!”

That is a true story, y’all!

:wink:

Quasi

#7

One time I was sitting on the couch doing a crossword puzzle with my lab next to me. I was out of beans so I went to the store to get some beans. When I came back, the crossword puzzle had been completed.

#8

I had a young African Grey (Still do, only now not so young). I got him out of the cage and gave him a popsicle stick saying ‘Hey, wanna Popsicle stick?’

I said it once, and he wasn’t yet really talking.

Next day I go over to the cage and he lifts one foot and says

“Pop sik L?”

I let him out…and he’s never said it again. The effort for him to say it was obvious.

#9

When I was a kid we had a crotchey old bitty as a neighbor. I remember once she accused our dog of opening OUR gate, walking over to HER house and then opening HER gate and letting her dog out.

She often made wild claims so my mother was laughing and dismissing it. One day I happened to be in the garage, the dog didn’t notice me and sure enough…

Mr Dog walked right up to the gate, took his nose (or snout or whatever you call it) and lifted the gate handle. He proceded to walk right over to the neighbors house and he took is nose and lifted the gate handle and let the other dog out.

That’s when I realized Mr Dog had a lot more going on in his mind than we gave him credit for.

#10

Cayanne - half MinPin, Half Jack Russel -

When running with one of those large size priority mail envelopes - was tripping over it (it had folded under so that it would run under her front feet) - stopped, folded it in half and picked it up at the fold to prance off with it.

Heard her chewing on something crunchy - as is my usual routine I tell her to stay and I go check it out - she appeared to be chewing on her bone - ok, says I, and I walk away - then I hear the crunching again - looked back at her - she had hidden the candy she stole under her paw and presented me with the bone.

One of her favorite things to do is shredding cardboard boxes - which is fine, I pick up after her before she gets to the “swallowing” stage - this one time, when I went to pick up the cardboard from her, she grabs it to run away - nice little game - we play the back and forth chase, and finally she comes around to one side of the couch without the cardboard as if to say “what you doing?” - she had ditched it on the other side.

This is the same dog that once took 45 minutes to kill a leaf blowing in the backyard - the first leaf she had ever seen - every time the wind would move it, she’d jump back 10-15 feet and restart the attack.

#11

In pencil or in ink?

#12

Our little dog repaired my bedroom TV.

The TV just flat stopped working; the button on the top wouldn’t make it start, nor would the button on the remote. The TV was plugged in and the circuit was live. The TV just would not turn on. And it remained in the off mode for a couple of days----nothing would bring it back to life. And then I heard a noise and went into my bedroom; our little dog was napping on my bed and the TV was working perfectly and is still working today.

The dog fixed it; there is no other explanation.

#13

My old mate Bo, a lab/alsatian cross, used to be very pleased with himself whenever he found a hedgehog and carried it about by its spikes.

As impressive as it looked, I think his pain threshold was just very high.

#14

Well, this wasn’t my dog, instead my uncle’s (who’s also a Doper).

He normally watches TV at night with Silky, his dog. Silky sitting next to him, sometimes feels too hyper and wants to play, my uncles simply tells him “go to be!”, Silky lowers her ears, and tails and does just that, she walks slowly until she reaches her bed, which is located on another room, just in front of my uncles bed.

So one day, Silky starts her whole hyper routine and my uncle again tells her “Silky, go to bed!”

Silky leaves. My uncles goes to the bathroom for a quick pee. When he finishes and starts walking to the tv area, he is shocked, silky’s bed was right next to my uncles sofa, looking at the tv.

Pretty cleaver, huh?

#15

This Dog is quite amazing, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAo0MJbsC_g

#16

My greyhound Apollo repeatedly did this exact thing to my dad with the couch. If Apollo scratched at the back door, there was about a 50% chance that couch-stealing would follow, but my dad had to get up every time just in case!

Apollo also figured out how to get to the trash, which was inside a kitchen cabinet on rollers. To get to the trash, Apollo had to open the cabinet door and paw at the rollers until the trashcan rolled out on the track. My dad always complained that my mom was leaving the trash out for the dogs to get until one day we caught Apollo in the act.

#17

I had a cat pee in a frying pan on the stove once.

#18

I forgot to keep track of the kitteh kibble in its dispenser, and our two cats polished it off one night. The next morning, I came into the kitchen to see the pantry door open, the large plastic container holding cat kibble was knocked to the floor, open, with the contents spilled across the floor. Taz, our Bengal, who has opened the pantry many times before, climbed to the critter food shelf, knocked the container to the floor, opened it, and had a midnight snack.

If he had thumbs, we’d have to hide the car keys at night… :smiley:

#19

She’s got nothing on Skidboot.

#20

Cats have small particles of brain lodged in their skulls; just enough to be successful predators. But they do have their own personalities.

Every evening, when my girlfriend and I were in her bedroom, my cat Caligula would show up at some point, dragging some small item that he’d drop on the floor like a fresh kill. He’d get three or four items and either make a pile, or lay them down side by side. It was almost always a sock or a particular old hat.

One night he came in with a sock, and my girlfriend (for whatever reason) said to him, “Go get the BVDs.” Caligula left and shortly returned, this time dragging a pair of my briefs.

Cognition? No, but a great coincidence.