Too Smart the Cat

Valkyrie is a very smart cat. I’ve described before how she and others use the ‘lazy Susan’ cupboards in the corners of my kitchen as secret rooms. They push in one side and it of course opens the other, allowing them to walk - or, in the case of Valkyrie, run - in.

But something the other day struck me about Valk’s interaction with the revolving cupboard. She pushed in one side as usual, but did not push it enough. There wasn’t sufficient room on the other side for her to slip in. Instead of forcing her way in, she pushed the first side again, causing the other to open more fully, allowing her greater access.

I thought about this afterward. There is a subtle difference between her latest action and others. It demonstrated something about Valk’s intelligence. It is one thing to know that an action causes a certain reaction. It is something more to understand the mechanics behind it. She realised that pushing one side of the cupboard would open the other, and that pushing one side more would open the other more. It is not simply the application of a greater - or second - force to achieve a result; it is the comprehension of how something works. Not every cat would do that; this I know from experience.

I think this is often the reason for mischievous cats. They are not more troublesome than others; they simply know how to apply their trouble to a more constructive - or destructive - end. Every day is a minor excursion into the curiosity that fuels them, and the intelligence that propels them. This is Valkyrie.