How smart are Argentine cats?

[perry]

Animals are a reflection of the society and in general dogs and cats are treated like royalty in the well to do neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires. The owners give them a lot of affection and freedom of expression and this creates the liberty that they express themselves freely .

 

[DontMindMe]

Your cat sounds awesome and is super cute! Did you rescue it from the street? In my experience, animals that once lived the hard life have a lot of random skills and are pretty intelligent--they had to be, to survive. Shelter/rescue animals are great because they really appreciate a good home and tend to be very loving and loyal. Oh man, this thread makes me miss having a pet.

 

[Davidglen77]

[quote name='Don'tMindMe']Your cat sounds awesome and is super cute! Did you rescue it from the street? In my experience, animals that once lived the hard life have a lot of random skills and are pretty intelligent--they had to be, to survive. Shelter/rescue animals are great because they really appreciate a good home and tend to be very loving and loyal. Oh man, this thread makes me miss having a pet.[/quote]

My cat Billy came from the grounds of the Hospital Tornú, in Villa Ortúzar. He was just a few weeks old when we got him, he was part of a litter of kittens that were born to a mama kitty that has lived on the grounds of the hospital for years.......there is a woman at the hospital who cares for all the cats (and there are many) that live on the grounds. It's really cool when you go in the grounds, it's an old hospital with many low slung spookly looking buildings and large lawns and trees in between them, all full of grazing cats! I highly recommend adopting one from there, they are all smart it seems. Today when I saw my cat Billy shaking his paw with water over the plant to water it, I put a sponge on the floor next to the pot to absorb some of the sprinkled water, now when he steps out of his litter box, he wipes his paws on the damp sponge, one by one like he's cleaning them off! It's incredible. I love Billy!

 

[ghost]

I think animals are smarter here... why are the wild dogs in the street so calm and normal? How can my friends bring their dogs for a walk down crowded and busy Santa Fe WITHOUT a leash and the dog walks with us like he's just another human in the group. More than one of my friends from the USA have commented how the dogs are different here.

It's simple. The dumb ones get run over. Same reason you will see the street dogs watching the stop lights.

 

[irina]

I have thought that the animals here are smarter before too! At least our animals! Our pit bull opens the doors by himself. My fiance's parents have 5 cats and a few of them open the doors as well, they also had to change to round door knobs.

 

[cbphoto]

Wanted to upload a photo of my genius kitten...how do I do it? Maybe I should ask her?

 

[Ashley]

I have had three cats here...all with varying levels of intelligence. We adopted two of them from the street as kittens (one was a feral cat and the other was a rescue kitten at a vet). The ferral kitten (now a 6-year old cat) isn't particularly smart perse but she's great at defending herself against other animals and once took on (and totally freaked out) a Great Dane. Our latest cat we literally picked off the street a couple of months ago. He's around two and although survival-wise he wasn't doing too well on the street, he's turned out to have all of these random skills. He's master of the game of fetch and is now rapidly learning to catch paper balls thrown at him in his mouth! Genius!

 

[LorenzoQuiero]

Animals are a reflection of the society and in general dogs and cats are treated like royalty in the well to do neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires. The owners give them a lot of affection and freedom of expression and this creates the liberty that they express themselves freely .

I've seen somewhat the opposite, in the sense that spoiled dogs, either in Argentina or elsewhere, seem to have more behavioral issues than dogs who have guidelines they are expected to abide by. But even here, the rich spoiled dogs are generally better behaved than the average dog in the U.S.A.

I often marvel at the paseadores de perros and their large groups of dogs walking without fighting and pulling. It's something that I can't fathom with most N. American dogs who, having not been properly socialized and having been treated like little people their whole lives, often have aggression or other issues when on leash.

 

[irina]

Also, one of our cats figured out if she pushed an egg off the counter she would win a tasty little snack. She pushed 3 eggs off the counter over the course of a week before we finally moved them to a bowl. Then she kept trying with other round items that were on the counter, hoping for a snack. Apples, tomatos, etc. In the end, we've had to hide everything now!

 

[sam3g]

My cat is also intelligent, although perhaps not as much as yours. She is affectionate to a fault, actually driving us crazy in the middle of the night. Not the most graceful I've seen due to living her entire life in an apartment, but bright!