Do Cats Think?

This is one of those books that feels difficult to appreciate outside its timeframe- the seventies. Contrary to prevailing notions of the time that animals merely act on instinct without thought or feeling, the author roundly claims that cats are intelligent and expressive. He also has points to make about them being just as smart as dogs, even though most people can’t teach them to do tricks or follow commands. The first chapter is a bit heavy-handed with these arguments (even though they’re for cats, it’s painful to read- feels very dated) and the last chapter gets weird, with the author encouraging the reader to compile observations of cat behavior with other dedicated cat-watchers into computer databases that will prove to the world once and for all how superior cats can be (and furthermore, claiming to have a kind of ESP connection with his cats- rather like this guy did with horses).

But! all the stuff in the middle is fairly good reading, if you like cats. The author most certainly did not like cats at first, especially since the first cat he lived with as an adult, was an unspayed female who spent weeks yowling and shrieking around the house when in heat (no suitors available). He also complains about tomcats making a stink, but at the same time seems to be proud of how far they roam and of evidence that they won battles (lots of fighting cat noises, but his comes home without a scratch). These first few chapters are likewise a bit difficult reading, since in his early years of keeping cats (after one unexpectedly won his heart) most people didn’t neutered their cats, or keep them from roaming, so excess kittens and short lives ending abruptly, abounded. Don’t read if you want to know all the unfortunate and awful things that can happen to cats. So they had quite a few cats that went through rough times, before they started getting their cats fixed. Even then they still roamed, so there’s a lot about their cats’ hunting, and what they brought home, and how they tried to teach the cats to only catch rodents, not birds. Some really remarkable incidents about cats apparently understanding what people were talking about, of learning the “house rules”, of passing the information on to other cats that joined them. There’s one female cat that seemed to prefer pale ginger toms for her mates, reminding me of a stallion I once read about, that would only gather brunette mares for his herd. There’s stories about cats who visit all the neighbors for extra meals, about cats with serious illness or injury (they don’t always survive), one about a cat who learned to pose for photographs and would sit still until the flash went off. There’s stories of cats recognizing the dangers of snakes, and dealing with incursions from civets into the house, and warding off rivals until they suddenly became friends, and so much more. It’s a good read, but again, you have to remember when it was written, and take a lot with a grain of salt, and likewise be able to stomach some suffering. Also, the guy and his wife thought nothing of smacking their cats to teach them to stay off the counters, leave human food alone, not crawl into the baby’s crib, etc.

The best part, though? On page 80 this book tells me why cats are frightened of cucumbers! You know the internet videos, I’m sure. WELL- the author goes on and on in one chapter about how cats recognize the difference between venemous and harmless snakes, and how absolutely terrified they are of the latter, being extremely cautious around them. He says that “a copperhead smells like cucumbers. Perhaps all poisonous snakes smell like cucumbers – ” indicating that this is a thing the cats instantly identify via the scent. So there’s that!