Is the Domestic Cat Really Intelligent ?

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1046, 9 August 1930, Page 18

Is the Domestic Cat Really Intelligent ?

'HE question is constantly ‘ being ; asked (says a contributor to "This and That”). as to whether the \ cat is really an intelligent animal, and while all cat-

lovers maintain that It is, the majority of people who - also keep dogß declare, that it is not to be mentioned in the same breath with the dog for intelligence. The . evidence of those who have kept and studied cats, however, is not to be ignored, and there is no doubt that the cat often shows signs of high 'intelligence, and even careful thought. Here, for instance, is an example of sagacity recorded by a Trench writer. He made it a rule every morning at breakfast to throw a piece of bread into the adjoining room, so as to induce his cat to run after the morsel. This practice he kept up for several months, and then »ne day, instead of hurling the bread into the room, he swung his arm about for a considerable time, while the cat eyed the bread In his fingers, and then threw the piece behind a picture which was hanging slantwise from the wall of the room in which he sat. A Mystery

The cat appeared amazed and very uneasy. Then after considering tie matter for a time it went into the next room, apparently thinking that the bread must have gone into that apartment after all. Not finding it there, the animal returned. The owner threw a second piece of bread In the same way, and this time the cat jumped upon a settee and went straight to the picture. After Inspecting the frame and looking on both sides, it used its paw dexterously to shift the lower edge of tlie picture away from the wall, and thus got at the two pieces of bread. Another instance of sagacity in a cat is told by Baron von Gleichen. “I noticed,” he says, “that she was constantly loking at herself in the glass, retreating from her own. image and running back to it again, and especially scratching at the frame. This suggested to me the idea of placing a mirror in the middle of the room so that my cat might examine It all round. “She passed behind it several

Evidence Favours Those Who Take Affirmative View.

times, more quickly each time; but seeing that she could not get at the cat which she saw in the glass, she placed herself at the edge of the mirror and looking alternately on one side and the other, she made quite sure that the cat which she had just seen neither was nor had been behind the mirror. “Then she arrived at the conclusion that the cat was inside. Keeping her place at the edge of the mirror, she rose on her hind feet and stretched out her forepaws to feel the thickness of the glass. Then, aware that it did not afford sufficient space to contain a cat, she withdrew dejectedly, and never again looked in any glass.” How interesting it would be if we could read the cat’s mind, for, as the Baron says: “She was evidently convinced that the matter in question was a phenomenon impossible for her to solve, and quite outside her circle of Ideas.” Here Is another story of a cat’s

, wisdom, told by a country women, who declared that the animal was “as sensible as a Christian.” One night the woman felt ill, and left the candle burning by her bedside so that she might have a light by which to find her medicine if she woke up. Suddenly she noticed that her cat. which slept in her bedrom. began to fidget and approach the candle as though It thought that something must be wrong for this to be left alight. At last, using Its paw as an exlinguisher, it dabbed the flame and put it out, and then quietly took up its usual position by the side of its mistress. Ther are, of course, many stories told by trustworthy persons of cat. 3 using door-knockers in order to have the door opened for admission. A well-known author tells of a cat which used to sir. on a window-sill near the door of its home, where it watched various people come to the door and knock for admission. After about a nfonth the cat evidently arrived at the conclusion that if she could make the knocker sound she would be admitted. A Knock at the Door

The maids inside the house heard a knock and went to the door, but there was nobody in sight except the cat, which took the opportunity of en tering. The next day the same thing happened, and at last it dawned on the maids that the cat must harx knocked on the door.

They watched, and after a timu saw her climb up on the window-sill rear herseluf on her hind feet in a slanting position with her body fully stretched, and then, steadying herself with one paw, raise the knocker with the other. Who can say that this cat did not reason the matter out? That the cat is capable of close attachment to a human friend is also proved conclusively. Dr. Johann Zimmerman, for instance, who attended Frederick the Great in his last illness, had a cat which was the constant com panion of one of his sons from infancy. When the child became sick, the c»t kept close to his bed, day and night, and after lie died the affectionate animal would not quit his remains till they were buried. Then it crept away into a retired corner of tlie house and, refusing all food, pined to death. Could any dog have shown greater fidelity''