I had a cat that was oxygen-deprived at birth, and bless her cuddly little heart, she was a whole different level of dumb. She used to nurse on my earlobe and she forgot to clean her nose after she ate.
Anyway, I told the vet that she wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, and the kindly, animal-adoring woman looked at me like I was Satan himself. How COULD I say somethng so mean about my pet? I tried to explain that it was merely reality, that I loved her very much, but a mother knows her baby's flaws. Penelope was SOOOOO not a GT cat!
I had to leave Penelope overnight for some treatment, and when I came back the next day, the vet brought Penelope into the exam room with a very sheepish look on her (human) face. She told me that there's a thumbnail IQ test for cats. (No numbers though, Dottie. Sorry!
) You flip the cat's ear inside-out, so it cups backwards instead of forwards, convex instead of concave. The faster the cat flips it back, the smarter the animal is. The really smart cats won't even let you do it. The dumbest of cats take 30 seconds or so to notice.
My poor, dear Penelope sat there for THIRTY MINUTES with her ear inside out! "I couldn't take it any more," said the vet, "so I gave up and flipped it back for her."
I had to laugh! So yes, trust your mom gut about intelligence. We know! (Even when the "baby" is a cat!)
