As someone who has had cats as pets all my life, I can attest to the range of intelligence our feline friends possess. Some cats have pebbles for brains, while others can wow you with their abilities.
Then there are the spooky smart cats. The ones you can see calculating in real time. The ones who convince you they could plot your demise if you don’t bend to their whims and they’d probably leave no evidence.
Ones like the cat in a viral video (shared by @catshouldnt on X) who not only knew how to open a door but who figured out how to remove the door jam inserted at the top of the door first so it could successfully get out.
Even knowing the outcome, it’s impressive to watch:
This cat has very clear logic. I m shocked— place where cat shouldn’t be (@place where cat shouldn’t be)
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I’ve watched my cat calculate how to jump from the nightstand to the top cabinet of our closet, and that’s always fun. The understanding of geometry and physics cats seem to intuitively possess is wild to witness, and the fact that my cat almost always makes seemingly impossible jumps perfectly never fails to impress me.
But this cat? This cat is on a whole other level. When you think about the thought process here, how any steps it requires in a specific order to open the door, it’s pretty incredible that a cat could figure it out.
Commenters weighed in on Reddit with how their own cats handle doors:
“We had a cat like that when I was a kid. He would usually grab the knob and then swing his chonk ass back and forth to open it.”
“My cat either rams it open with her head, pulls it open from the bottom, or jumps for the handle. She WILL get in eventually.”
“Meanwhile one of my cats is completely defeated by a door that’s open a inch.”
“Meanwhile i have a cat door taped open because my cat is too dumb to push it.”
“I met a cat that tried to claw through the hinge side of a door that was half open, then meow for help.”
Seriously, cats’ brains range from boxes of rocks to Einstein. It’s incredible.
People like to compare cat and dog intelligence to human children and determine an age equivalent, but veterinarian Dr. Cathy Barnette shared on Cats.com that those comparisons aren’t really accurate. A 2016 study did show that cats have about twice as many neurons as dogs, which could indicate that cats are smarter than dogs at the very least, but studies are mixed and intelligence in animals is notoriously difficult to measure.
There’s no question about the smarts on this cat, though. If I were that owner, I think I’d be sleeping with one eye open.