My cat has outsmarted me

[ZenLefty]

(I'm sure you're all surprised and shocked.)

Some of you know that every day I get up and hide the mice. I consider myself a pretty good mouse hider, and come up with some really good spots for them. Under the couch, hanging by their tail from the bottom of a table, etc. And every day Elwood goes out and finds them. He will bat one around for a while, then pick it up with his teeth and howl his head off while he brings it to the kitchen. Once on the kitchen floor, he knows I'll come in and give him a kitty treat for being such a good mouser.

Generally, after I give him his treat, I'll put the mouse away. If I don't do this, he carries it back to the living room and then back to the kitchen and expects more treats. It is my cat's goal in life to gorge himself on treats.

His current scheme: he will take the mouse and howl his way into another room. Any room but the kitchen. Bedroom, bathroom, dining room, etc. He will try to hide it so I can't find it, because if I do I put it away, and then he goes into the kitchen and expects a treat for his work. He will, I repeat: WILL pout if he doesn't get his treat. Once that's gobbled down, he'll go and find the same mouse again and try to get more treats.

A pouty cat is not easy to deal with. Well, this one isn't, anyway.

[Systematic Chaos]

1. What a cutie!

My wife and I have three of them, two hers and one mine. They love to play mostly by chasing each other around the apartment. They will play with some toys though. But, I'm sad to say none of them are as smart as yours seems to be.

[GOPisEvil]

2. I'm surprised Elwood hasn't found the tool shed yet.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if he:
1) developed opposable thumbs
2) used your woodworking stuff to fashion tools to assist him in getting his favorite treats
3) enlisted the other cat in his schemes

I'd keep my eye on this one - his fatness is a ruse; he's actually quite cunning and has the quickness of, um, a cat.

[Richardo]

5. GMTA, GOPisEvil - the "thumbs" thing

:D :thumbsup:

[GOPisEvil]

7. Hehehe!

Elwood is the leader of the cat army that will one day rise up to depose us. I'm convinced. :-)

[ZenLefty]

11. The only way to satiate them is to give them treats

When the treats stop, it'll be the end of the human race! :o

[GOPisEvil]

14. For God's sake man, don't run out!

Even if it means shopping at an evil warehouse store - always maintain a supply!

[ZenLefty]

17. I cringe to think...

...what parts of me he'll use for treats. :scared:

[Richardo]

3. What an eeeeeeevil genius....

Cats (and dogs) that display cognitive thought crack me up. (and scare me a little - keep the opposable thumbs away from them!)

[Sophree]

19. My cat steals seats

Seriously, she does. And it's not just because she likes the warm spot, she does it just to mess with people.

I had a friend over and soon after he sat down in a chair, he got up to go to the bathroom. My cat heard him coming out ot the bathroom, ran to his chair, jumped up onto it, and sat there looking up at him. He didn't see her do this because he had his back to the chair and was facing the TV. He nearly sat on her, (she would not move and just kept looking up at him as he started to sit down, little brat) but I alerted him just in time.

She does this all the time. Goofy cat.

And she outsmarts me all the time, too.

[ZenLefty]

21. Elwood does that too

Only to me, not to anyone else. He'll jump up on the couch while I'm sitting on it, and sit himself down behind me if I lean forward. Pretty soon, I'm sitting on the edge of the couch about to fall off.

Elwood's a big cat. He touches all three cushions on the couch when he sits on it. No point trying to sit to either side, just gotta find another chair.

[Zuni]

4. a live mouse?

My cat has a toy mouse that she always carries into my bed, along with several pairs of socks, while i am trying to sleep. She makes the biggest racket, crying and crying when she has them, eager to alert me.
I always get up and pet her, and sometimes give her a treat for being so funny.(even if she wakes me up)
BTW-is that your kitty? If so, she is very pretty.

[ZenLefty]

13. Nah, a fake mouse

Live mice hide themselves, and are a kitty treat in and of themselves. :9

Yeah, that's a pic of Elwood. He doesn't look so pretty when he's gouging my wood furniture with his claws, but he has his moments of cuteness.

[Coffee Coyote]

6. my cat is very similar

He is smarter than you too. :D

Just kidding, but he is similar in that corks, instead of mice, are his prey of choice, and he whines if I don't send him on a chase every 2 minutes while I write my deep, thoughtful, flame-free posts on DU.

:think:

[ZenLefty]

15. Most cats are smarter than me

They get to sleep 22 hours a day and I tend to their every need. Me, I bust my bum for a living so I can buy kitty treats.

Whines for a wine cork? Heh - good reason to open another bottle. :D

[ScreamingMeemie]

8. If you give a cat a mouse...

He'll probably ask for a treat. And if he asks for a treat... he'll probably want another to go with it.

Hey that's a great start for another Give a mouse a cookie book. The mouse is so darned annoying anyway.

Cute kitty!

[savior93]

9. my cat

my cat brought me a snake yesterday. how thoughtful of him.

[trof]

10. Ace hunts squirrels.

So far it's Ace - 4,
Squirrels - 0.

[ZenLefty]

16. Go Ace!

Our neighborhood squirrels are pretty tough. They're all big and fat, and mean looking, like Hells Angels squirrels. But Elwood's got about 23 pounds on most squirrels, so he'd take them if he had the chance.

I wonder if I can find some toy squirrels for him to play with? He does seem fascinated when he watches them eat our ripe tomatoes or leave half eaten pears all over the patio.

[trof]

23. One squirrel story

Nasha, our German Shepherd chases squirrels constantly. She's never fast or nimble enough to get one.
I've never actually seen how Ace gets them, but he does. Sometimes they're still breathing, so I know it's not roadkill he's just confiscated.
So one day he comes strolling up the back walk with a squirrel in his mouth. Has it by the throat, tail dragging behind, it's still (barely) alive. I make a half-hearted try to get it away from him, but he gets all pissy about it and besides, that's what cats do. They're hunters and carnivores and there's no way you're gonna change that.

He drags it under a bench in the garden and waits for it to expire, which it shortly does. He gets up and walks away. I poke the squirrel. Dead as a doornail.
Nasha, here's your big chance. Your very own squirrel.

I let her out and show her the squirrel. She sniffs it, pokes it with her nose a couple of times, and walks off. If they ain't moving she has NO interest.

[ET Awful]

24. Growing up in Arizona

We lived in a small farm-like town in the mountains. Our neighbor 3 houses down had chickens, and we had several cats.

Our biggest cat, Smokey (a HUGE grey cat), was fond of wandering around. One day, he comes climbing through the bathroom window with the neighbors rooster hanging out of his mouth. . . still very much alive and putting up one hell of a fight.

It took about an hour before anyone was brave enough to separate the two. . . and our neighbor was highly pissed off at the damage to her rooster :)

[rock]

12. KEEP THE COPIER HID!

If he ever figures out what it does you'll be inundated with his 'catches'.

[calm_blue_ocean]

18. This guy (Cousin Oliver) was sick last night . . .

growling and acting sad.



He seems all better this morning.

[patdem]

20. When the aliens arrive they will ask Elwood (not ZenLefty) "take me

to your leader" It is my belief that the aliens will all believe that domesticated animals are the rulers of the earth. We work to make money to house and feed said animals...and our only benefit is that we get to live in the same house and need to be feed so we can go to work to house and feed them. 'Dumb' animals? I think not!

[ploppy]

22. Elwood

for PRESIDENT!!!! :thumbsup: What a smart cat! :D

[trof]

25. Is Elwood named after Elwood P. Dowd?

[sasquatch]

26. I have a tuxedo cat also

There names are Harlon and Maisy. They love there toy mouse but, they hide it themselves(sometimes in my shoe). Maisy will take the mouse downstairs and throw it as hard as she can then pounce on it. We used to live in an old barn that we turned into a house. We used to have mice living in the basement and our old cat Susie would catch mice all the time. Except when she caught them she would kill them in the most awful ways imangible, it was like she was trying to send the mice a message. She would take the mice and snap their neck so they were crippled and drown them in her water bowl. She would then meow at me to come and see what she did.

[janekat]

27. my kitty learned how to open door

I had a sliding glass door with a screen. She would stick her claws into the screen and slide it open to go outside.

[ZenLefty]

28. That's a dangerous skill for cats to know.

Once they get past the doors, there's no telling what they can accomplish! :o

[sasquatch]

29. My moms cat when she was little would open up regular doors

My Mom told me when she would be brushing her teeth in the morning when she was in High School. Her cat would walk in the bathroom and bite her on the ankle till she would feed him. My Mom then closed the door thinking he couldn't turn the doorknob, WRONG. He would jump up grab the doorknob and turn it open and bite her on the ankle again:evilgrin: That is a smart cat

[demnan]

30. Pad Thai likes toy mice

but his signature toy are little foil "sparkley balls". Every morning we play. He's a Siamese Retriever so when he retrieves the ball he puts it down at my feet and waits for me to throw it again. If (for some reason) I'm distracted and don't see the ball, he'll take his paw and hit it against my foot. Sometimes he throws the ball up in the air and he's even been known to throw it in my lap if I'm sitting on the sofa.

Now when I'm in bed he takes the teaser sticks and pokes me in the butt with them to wake me up and play. I usually wake up in the morning to find a couple of teaser sticks and a sparkley ball in bed with me along with the cats.

Now my Abby mix, Lily makes me go and get her cold glasses of water. Drinking water out of a bowl is undignified for the Princess.

On edit:

You may ask how she forces me to do this. I think it's hypnosis. She just stares at me with those glowing green eyes.