The types of intelligence: IQ & Berzerker

Minion is definitely the smartest cat I've owned been ruled by* in awhile, at least in terms of memory. If I spill a niblet under the dishwasher, she'll sit there for awhile trying to fish it out; and she'll be there a day or two later to retrieve it when I move the dishwasher.

Today she was crouched at the edge of the dishwasher in desperation, and when I moved it to hook it up to the sink she was still crouched by it. I moved it around some more and finally one of her toys popped out. I don't know when it got under there, but it wasn't in the last few hours.

A couple days ago I was pulling all the stray items out from under the couch that had gotten stuck there, and as soon as she saw me doing that she rushed to my side and crouched down, almost vibrating as she watched something under the couch. I realized she had her eye on one of her favorite toys and was waiting for me to fish it out for her. Who knows how long it's been there. Every time I hit one of the toys out she'd excitedly check which one it was, realize it wasn't the little gold sparkle ball, and go back to her intense watching.

When I finally retrieved the gold sparkle ball (which is very light) she was so excited she immediately batted it right back under the couch.

lol

I had to find a broom and get it out again.

Mind you, Haley has her own kind of intelligence--she has the intelligence of a survivor. She has the instincts of a lone wolf, a fighter, a killer, taking-care-of-#-1. She has Wolverine Intelligence. Ready to go into a Berzerker Rage whenever necessary. (I've mentioned before that she refuses to let me cut her toenails. She let me do it once, when we first met, to fool me into thinking she was a docile, sweet cat. But once she got into our home and realized what she was up against, that was it.) Snickety snick!

If Minion and Haley were on a super hero team together, they'd bicker endlessly, but be great together in a fight.

* Thanks to Nancy for reminding me that "owned" was the inappropriate mot de choix here. :-) I usually try to be more careful. After all, my kitties don't mean the same to me as the couch I'm sitting on, or this computer I'm writing on. My mother likes to instead say Being Their People.


I take the reminder seriously, because it's the ownership attitude towards animals that leads to treating them cruelly. Which is a great poopiness.


As the magnet on our fridge says: "Our cats aren't our whole lives, but they make our lives whole."