I just thought I'd share this with the forum as I'm really proud of my boy Spike.
I've always known that my moggie Spike has a high level of intelligence. I remember when he was only 10 weeks old (in 2008), he figured out how to let a hamster out of its cage. (Now there's a story in itself!!!)
He's got a Whiskas™ treat ball which he figured out how to empty the contents of in a matter of minutes, by opening the loading slot, and carefully positioning the opening at the bottom. However until a couple of days ago, I hadn't really considered trying to teach him any tricks.
So anyway, on Thursday, I thought I'd try teaching him a simple trick. I taught him how to "high five". He knows I have a treat in my left hand, but in order to get it, he has to raise a paw and touch my right hand. It took him no more than a few minutes to learn.
He can now do it every single time. He's such a quick learning clever boy and I'm so proud of him.
Now I need to think of something more complicated to teach him.

On the other hand, my Bengal cat is so full of his own self importance that I reckon he feels that doing tricks is beneath him. He just refuses to learn. I think its all down to personality and character. Spike is so eager to learn and to please me, whereas Spot knows he can manipulate the situation and get his treat without doing tricks, just by looking cute.

One of my other moggies has learned where I keep the laser pointer. He always paws at it to let me know when its "chase the dot" time.
I'd like to hear anyone else's experience of their (non Bengal) cats intelligence.

Wow that's fab!!! You should video record spikes high five for us to see!!

My moggy girl Ruby is very clever but not that clever lol. She understands my instructions such as Ruby Down (if i need her to get off the side for example) and she always makes this funny noise at me as she gets down, same noise every time. She also makes this noise if anyone sneezes which i believe she is blessing us, hehe! Whereas my other two (bengal and bengal x mau) just look blankly at me if i tell them down. Although they are clever in other ways.

What a nice thread :-)

That's a coincidence Jamie. My old bengal girl, even when she seems asleep, will immediately, when I sneeze, rush over to me chittering away and give me lots of lovings.

David you are not alone. My Bengal would never do tricks. I always assumed it was because he was stupid but maybe he just thinks its all beneath him.....!

Have we seen pictures?

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Lollo

That's right Sue like a chittering noise that is a good way to explain it!!

I agree maybe they do think it is beneath them lol although simba loves to open the draw in the front room and empty it all over the floor gggrrrrr the first time he did it i only noticed because when i opened the front room door i trod on a yankie candle - ouch!! I think the high five is fab!!

Over the weekend, I've been trying a few other simple* commands for Spike to learn.
With a little patience, I can now get him to go to a particular spot, sit, and lie down. Then get him to stand and give me the high five, before he gets his little treat.
I always just considered my cats to be loving affectionate pets. It never crossed my mind that one would have a natural ability for training. I can't believe I've went for all this time without doing this. He seems very keen to learn, and its been a joy for me. I've tried doing the same with the other boys, but they're totally disinterested.
I'm so proud of my boy!
I need to think of something more challenging. Its been too easy for him so far.



* When I say simple commands, they look simple when he does it now. I'm a total novice at cat training, so getting him to go to a particular spot was the most difficult part for me. It took a couple of hours of patience. I'm sure an experienced trainer would have got him there much sooner.

Bless him, he sounds like a very intelligent cat, have you any pictures of him? I would love to see some.

Maybe you should make up a routine and audition for BGT lol.

Our moggy, Lexie, is very clever when it comes to Dreamies. I wish I had realised how like feline-drugs these were before I permitted them in my house!

To begin with, we kept the packet of treats on an awkward to reach shelf, but it meant she frequently put herself in difficult situations trying to reach them (once managing, with perfect aim, to drop a hardback book on my head when she decided she needed to get down ).

So, I started shutting them in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet. The cabinet doesn't lock, so as soon as she realised this is where they were hiding, and watching me get them out a few times, she worked out how to get her claws in the edge of the drawer and open it enough to get a paw in.

Now the Dreamies live in our safe. It's the electronic kind and the buttons beep when you enter the code. Again, it took her no time at all to figure out their new hiding place and to see what we did to retrieve them. She knows that the sounds of the buttons means someone is opening the safe and comes charging from wherever she is, shouting at the top of her voice. She has also been caught sitting on the back of my husband's chair, as close to the safe as she can get, patting the keypad with her paws. I'm just thankful that she doesn't know the code!

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My old moggie baby, Cleopatra, used to sit, catch and fetch.

I would go the bottom of the stairs and throw a ball of foil up there, and she would fetch on command - Belting up like a lunatic and bringing the foil back down in her mouth, then dropping it into my hand!
Also, I could tell her to sit at one end of the hall, and if I threw the ball of foil over her head from the other end and shouted catch, she would stand up on her back legs and actually catch it in her two front paws. She very rarely missed, even when I threw it hard! Then it would be a big game of chase round the house to get the ball back..... for the next catch.

Merlin can't be bothered with anything like that - He just kills catnip fish or cigars / bananas on a regular basis! He does sit on command for his bowl of treats with breakfast every day, though.

I've had some clever muggles too, but lest anyone get the idea that Bengals are dumb, my two have done some pretty clever things.

They of course immediately learned to fish food-leftovers out of the traditional kitchen garbage can in the kitchen, so I quickly replace that with a big, heavy, top-loading, lidded metal can that is too heavy for them to push over and ransack. But that doesn't 100% stop them. They've worked out a way (somehow, I've yet to catch them in the act) to extract items from it by some combination of reaching up, pulling at the tiny bit of liner that extends over the rim, and prying the lid open, and extracting their bounty before the lid snaps shut again.

They also worked out how to pull a similar trick with a heavy ceramic breadbox where I keep (or should I say kept) baked goods. Again, I'm not sure how they manage it exactly, but last week they ended up pulling off the top entirely, and shattering it on the floor Time to buy a new breadbox!

Also they are pretty talented about analyzing spacial relationships of things. If you put a toy high up in some very difficult to reach place, they will inevitably work out a way to get up there. Which often includes a combination of jumping and climbing various surfaces and ultimately making a daring leap at the end.

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The little monsters 3

One of mine plays fetch with only yellow and green foam balls...I throw a blue one and he looks at me with mad ears like "what's wrong with you, you know I am not going to get that!?". Another will open cabinet doors and take naps in the cabinets. On occasion he will push something out of the cabinet to make more room. Thankfully he's too tubby (18 lbs.!) and uncoordinated to get into any of the high cabinets with the breakable stuff!! The are both pound kitties.