Puzzles for our cat
Mar. 3rd, 2014 12:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasAs You Know, Bob, we've got two cats, Nick and Nora. Nick has more human-style intelligence, and likes problem-solving engineerish-type puzzles. Nora has more cat-style intelligence, and is a fine hunter. When we last got one of those "Solve The Problem To Get The Treat" toys, Nicky solved it in no time at all and got the treats out, and Nora stole half the treats from him. So they both won, and it summarizes their intelligences.
Anyway, Nick solved that cat puzzle so quickly that, when I was at the pet store today, I looked around for more complicated toys. And they were having a sale on dog puzzle toys. Dog puzzle toys are more complicated, with more steps, than cat puzzle toys, because dogs have lived with us longer, and therefore have, on average, evolved more human-style intelligence. With some exceptions, of course -- golden retrievers and pugs have many lovely characteristics, but brains aren't among them. Still, the point is that dog brain toys are more challenging than cat brain toys.
I picked through the toys to find one that a cat could physically handle -- a lot of them involved grabbing and lifting objects that were fine for a medium-sized dog to get their mouth around, but a cat wouldn't be able to. And I found one which required several steps to unlock and open the chamber to get the treat.
I loaded it up, and put it on the floor. Nicky looked at it for a few moments, then spun this and flipped that, and had it open in under three minutes.
Boy's not dumb. Well, he IS dumb sometimes, but not about puzzles.
Anyway, Nick solved that cat puzzle so quickly that, when I was at the pet store today, I looked around for more complicated toys. And they were having a sale on dog puzzle toys. Dog puzzle toys are more complicated, with more steps, than cat puzzle toys, because dogs have lived with us longer, and therefore have, on average, evolved more human-style intelligence. With some exceptions, of course -- golden retrievers and pugs have many lovely characteristics, but brains aren't among them. Still, the point is that dog brain toys are more challenging than cat brain toys.
I picked through the toys to find one that a cat could physically handle -- a lot of them involved grabbing and lifting objects that were fine for a medium-sized dog to get their mouth around, but a cat wouldn't be able to. And I found one which required several steps to unlock and open the chamber to get the treat.
I loaded it up, and put it on the floor. Nicky looked at it for a few moments, then spun this and flipped that, and had it open in under three minutes.
Boy's not dumb. Well, he IS dumb sometimes, but not about puzzles.