INTRODUCTION
How smart are animals? Do they show intelligent behavior or just rote learning? Dingfelder (2008) reported that people may often read into the behavior of animals, attributing intelligence to them that the animal does not have. The following three examples of intelligent behavior in two domestic, long hair housecats, Thimble and Maxwell, would seem to show their intelligent behavior, well beyond mere rote learning. They were observed by the two authors, a Dad (first author) and his Daughter (second author) over a time period of 9 months, when Susan Eisenman moved from California and lived with Russell Eisenman.

Follow up:

DESCRIPTION OF THE CATS (by the Daughter)
Maxwell was a large black, male cat with white feet and was obtained from the Hayward, California Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). He sure did not look like a stray, he was huge and healthy and with his sister. I felt bad taking him from his sister, but I already had Thimble (black and white in color) and wanted another cat. Thimble, a female, was a stray, obtained from the Alameda, California SPCA. She was tiny, and could fit in the palm of my hand. I always imagined Maxwell was some sort of reject show cat, like they felt his markings were not good enough so they gave him up. I do not know if that is true though. I might be biased about his beauty.

I used to go to a Mexican restaurant in Alameda and sometimes you would see stray cats walking around the rocks by the beach (when you sat in the outside area near the water). It was unusual to see cats and kittens near the ocean, to me it was anyway. I always thought I could imagine that Thimble was one of those types of cats. She was extremely adventurous. She climbed out onto the scaffolding of my Oakland, California apartment building when they were going to paint it. She hung from it like a monkey by one paw then made it back up, then she fell to the ground at one point. My neighbors found her in the garage with oil on her fur. She was always super curious.

Max was always very nervous. He always slept with me next to my pillow on one of my hands, but once in a while I would be sound asleep and wake to him hissing at me like a crazy cat, right in my face. I would use my pillow and covers to shove him off the bed. He would stare at me like I was evil. It was very weird. Not a fun way to wake up. I do not know if he had a bad dream or felt sick? I have no idea.

Thimble went totally nuts on the plane back to California when I was 6 months pregnant. She almost broke out of the box I was holding. She was like some person on PCP. It was awful. I think she got scared of the plane: did not like being confined and also may have had a bad reaction to the medication the veterinarian gave me to calm her. It was weird how no one near me seemed concerned that my cat was trying to break out of the box and totally nuts. I felt like I was in the twighlight zone.

Max had white fur around his mouth like a goatee. He reminded me of some fancy dressed man in a tuxedo, so I wanted a name that fit that, so came up with Maxwell. I thought it sounded fancy. Thimble by the way, her name was after that ball of fluff I used to hold when I sucked my thumb as a kid. I always said I would name my first kitty of my own that name, and I did.

INTELLIGENT BEHAVIORS
1. Maxwell, the male cat, showed attempt at getting out of the house. He even learned how the doorknob worked and tried to operate it, although its construction prevented his paws from operating it. But, he developed a cognitive understanding, as shown by his standing on a chair to get to the doorknob, trying to turn the doorknob with his paws and trying to turn the lock level, in the middle, with his teeth. Neither his teeth nor his paws moved the doorknob, but he obviously had come to understand how they worked.

2. Maxwell and Thimble manipulated the first author to rub their head whenever they wanted it rubbed. The second author petted them but did not typically rub their head. When she moved to her Dad’s house in Louisiana, the dad (the first author) rubbed their head frequently, while saying in a funny tone of voice “It’s good, it’s good, it’s good.” They repeatedly came to him to get their head rubbed, mostly while he was sitting in the living room chair facing the television set, where he first rubbed their head. Usually, he would give in and rub their heads (and repeat the words).

But, on occasion he did not want to be interrupted in his t.v. watching or book reading and he would not want to rub their heads. However each developed their own way to manipulate him, which was successful. Perhaps this speaks to sex differences. Maxwell would climb up on him and rub his head against Dad’s hand. It was as if he was saying “Rub my damn head.”

Thimble, the female cat, on the other hand, would not climb up on dad. Instead, she would wait expectantly, not moving, on the floor in front of him. If he still did not rub her head after several seconds, she would emit a plaintive, high-pitched cry, that Dad never heard before: “Eeeeeeee.” In both cases, the cats got compliance, as Dad would rub their heads saying “It’s good, it’s good, it’s good.”

3. Dad suggested that the cats should have collars with nametags, in case they got out and got lost. Daughter bought such and we put them on the cats one evening. Their movements suggested they did not like having collars on. The next morning, they had gotten the collars off and arranged them, symmetrically, next to each other, a few feet from the door to the carport. It was as if they were saying “Take these collars and get them out of here.” We never again tried to put the collars/nametags on them.

DISCUSSION
The observations would seem to show intelligent behavior in the two cats. Both seem to have cognitive skills that help them get what they want, whether it is understanding how to open a door, manipulate a human to rub their heads, or rid themselves of the collars and show Daughter and Dad that the collars needed to be removed from the house. Thus, we conclude that the cats showed cognitive skills beyond mere rote learning.

REFERENCE
Dingfelder, S. F. (2008, July/August). Fido’s inner life. Monitor on Psychology, 39 (7). Available at http://www.apa.org/monitor/2008/07-08/dogs.html