We have Edie, the scaredy cat and Nellie, the meanest cat alive. Ironically Nellie came home with me at four weeks old to be my 'cuddly kitten.' That lasted about 3 days before her true personality came out. The first time she went to the vet for shots he came in and said, "have you ever had a tortoiseshell cat before?"
"No." I innocently and ignorantly responded.
"You might find she can be slightly moody." he replied, with I'm sure no malice intended. Can anyone say: understatement of the year? I can!
This 'cuddly kitten' quickly ceased to be called Nellie and is most often referred to simply as, "Mean" or if we feel charitable, "The Mean." It's not intended to be malicious we just tend to call things as they are around here.
So now to the point, for all her quirks she is quite simply the smartest cat I've ever known. Not that I don't think cats are smart, sometimes I think their intelligence quota outranks some humans I've known. Really I think she spends so much time with the dogs that she thinks she is a dog, just a far superior one of course!
Why do I think that? Well, we have bells on the back door that the dogs ring when they need to go out. The dogs and 'The Mean' that is. I never knew cats could learn stuff like that. I'm not one of those cool people who has ever trained a cat before although I know a lot of cool people who clicker train cats I just never have. And I think I would be seriously taking my life in my hands if I tried to interact too much with her. We have developed a 'don't mess with me and I won't claw your eyes out while you sleep' pact. But evidently she doesn't need me to train her cause she's got that covered all on her own.
Thus the bell ringing trick, which admittedly I think is pretty cool even if she does still hate me.
And now: "The Mean"
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