Times Pet Owners 'Severely Underestimated' Their Pets' Intelligence

I've lived with cats—because no one owns a feline—most of my life. Some have been very clever creatures while others were real dingbats.

Family members have owned dogs whose talents also ran the gamut.

I don't think we ever underestimated their intelligence. Possibly some overestimation at times.

Redditor SakutoJefa asked:

"Pet owners, what was that moment that made you think 'wow, I have severely underestimated the intelligence of my pets'?"

Rats

"I had a solid plastic pet cage that opened with a sliding horizontal metal grid on top. Over the years this cage had held various animals for various periods of time, including mice and guinea pigs, with no problems. When one of my new rats turned out to have been sold to me pregnant, it became a nursery cage."

"At about 5 weeks old, I separated the babies by sex, and put mum and the baby girls in the main cage with the other girls while the six baby boys stayed in the nursery cage until they went to their new homes."

"These tiny, fluffy baby rats, that had only had their eyes open for about three weeks, worked out that if all of them hung from the grid by their front paws, and swung back and forth in synchrony, they could eventually use their combined weight to nudge the sliding grid along, just far enough to stick a nose through at one end, and escape as a group."

"Best thing is, they were smart enough to escape, but also smart enough to know where their food and drink came from. So, rather than finding an empty cage and having to search for half a dozen tiny escaped rats, I instead discovered several baby rats just chilling out on top of the cage, greeting me and asking for treats. (They could easily get down from there whenever they wanted, either back into the cage or down into the rest of the room)."

"Later on, they demonstrated for me exactly how the escape had been achieved, otherwise I don't think I'd have ever worked it out myself. I am less intelligent than half a dozen baby rodents."

~ ratfancier

Mule

"There was a mule at a barn I worked at that figured out how to open gates and latches, and would break into the feed storage at night. He didn't like getting in trouble for it, so he started letting OTHER horses out."

"SOB would then eat his fill, then relock himself back in his own paddock by morning, leaving the other horses to take the fall. Also he stole and chugged long neck beers if you left them unattended around him."

"Pour one out for Moose."

~ rhinestonecowf-ckboi

Havanese Dog

"My little Havanese, he came out of the vet after a teeth cleaning. The vet said no water for a while. He was groggy and we asked if he wanted a walk or to go home. He turned down the hill towards Riverside Park."

"So we were like OK, let’s go for a walk. He was intent. Almost pulling us down the hill over the pedestrian bridge over the Train tracks and took a left towards the basketball courts and restroom. He pulled us to a water fountain with one of those dog bowl attachments and sat down."

"Looked at us and looked back at it. We defied the vets orders and gave him a little water. He’d only been to that water fountain once, years before, and never from the vet."

"He's got incredible spatial memory we’ve found, he knows the highway exits near his favorite places, he remembers which apartment buildings his favorites of our friends live in, and he’s VERY vocal and communicative of his needs and wants with everything from squeaks, buffs, barks, growls, and chirps."

"He's 12 now, and still going strong."

~ Troooper0987

Tabby Cat

"My mom passed from cancer about 15 years ago. Our cat MAMA (MAMA cat needs to be in all caps because she was BIG MAMA, a 21 pound tabby) would sit on laps in the living room and only ventured to the kitchen to eat from her bowl or to the bathroom."

"She never went upstairs, mostly because she was a portly little soul and because she was 12. She was antisocial with most people and trotted away from everyone but me and my mom most of the time, even hissed and swatted at most."

"Anyway, my mom moved out to my grandma's house to do hospice as things finally got to the end. MAMA walked around meowing at home whenever I saw her there (I moved into Grandma's to help take care of Mom, but would go home to get clothes and this and that and feed MAMA and do the kitty litter) shuffling around at a much faster speed than normal, like she was worried."

"When my mom finally let go, we didn't go home at all that week. My godmother did the cat chores for me as I was saying goodbye. Then we had the funeral, and it was all a blur. I went home that night after days of tears and just pure exhaustion from grief."

"Despite the fatigue, I couldn't sleep. My tear ducts and throat were worn out and had nothing left. Just that wrenching ache of sadness in my gut churning like a washing machine that they don't make any medicine for."

"It was probably about 1 am when I heard MAMA meowing at the door to my Mom's room. Then saw her little bowling ball silhouette at the entrance to mine. She had loafed her way up the stairs for probably the first time in 7 years and half her weight ago."

"She locked eyes with me and stopped meowing, just struggled up to my bed and curled around my arm on my pillow after giving me a little nose boop. Mom hadn't been home in about a month, I hadn't been home in over a week, and it's like she knew my mom was gone."

"There's a a cruel isolation to grief at the loss of a parent. If it's anything like my loss, you see a ton of people all day, but there's a figurative distance between you and your friends and family, and you feel like you're on an island, thanking people on a passing ship for being there."

"When MAMA made her way up the stairs to comfort me, it was the first time I didn't feel alone all day on a day I was surrounded by hundreds of people. I bellowed dry sorrow into her fur. The tearless, echoey sounds you make when you scream at a concert all day. Normally, she would have bolted away at the littlest thing, but she stayed right there until the first lights of morning."

"I decided I'd take MAMA home with me to my apartment after that. She lived another 11 years to be 23! I said goodbye to her a few years ago now."

"She never climbed another set of stairs in her wonderful kitty life. She continued to be mean to almost everyone but me and never sat in anyone else's lap. She was truly my cat. RIP MAMA! You were the best furry friend in history."

~ PM_ME_UR_HIP_DIMPLES

Husky Dog

"My husky mix watches the roads intently, whenever we drive somewhere out of town."

"If I take a different road to get back home, and pass by the turn-off to go on the usual road ... his head WHIPS around at me, from staring at the window, and stares, as if to say, 'HEY YOU MISSED THE TURN BACK THERE !'."

"Cracks me up every time."

"I believe if I drove him 10 miles out of town, and dropped him off (I NEVER WOULD), but if I did, he would have no problem following all of the roads straight back to our house, from memory. He's got a road map in his head, back to our house."

~ tauntonlake

Bantam Hen

"Had a Bantam hen who was kept in the house for a time before being moved outside with the flock. Every time winter came around and it got cold at night, she would start screeching at the door until we let her inside."

"She would get comfy in a little box up high where the dogs couldn't bother her, sleep overnight quietly, and then ask to be let out in the morning. The rest of the flock would huddle up together (cold hardy breed and for some reason would not use their coop), but she was like Why would I do that when the house is heated‽‽"

"She was so smart. Definitely knew her name. Only found an egg from her one time because she hid them so well. Had to give them up when I went to college, and I miss her the most."

~ BassBottles

Border Collie/Husky Dog

"My husband had a dog… she was our first baby. (She was supposed to be mine, but my husband became her person.) She was a border collie/husky cross we think, and was beautiful, smart, well-trained, and fabulous with our kids."

"But she impressed me most with her malicious compliance. She’d started eating what the kids (still tiny back then) would leave on the table. I got mad and told her to stop eating off the table… so she picked up the bowl with leftover mac n cheese in it, put it on the floor, and then ate the food."

"I couldn’t even be mad; she did exactly what she was told."

"She’s been gone for 10 years now. We still miss that girl. Best dog ever, and a great nanny dog with the kids."

~ Icky-Tree-Branch

Cat

"My cat learned she could paw at the phone screen and turn my alarm off. I had been waking up late and not knowing what I was doing wrong until I saw it with my own eyes."

"No one else believes me, but all you had to do to 'turn off' the alarm on the phone screen was tap the 'stop' button."

"Now I have one that makes me do a few math problems to actually shut it off. If she figures that one out I'll just quit my job."

~ EstablishmentTrue859

Dog

"My dog loves car rides and loves driving around our suburb with his head out the window. He realised that if he bolted out the door, I would always come fetch him in the car."

"The little rascal found out the number of blocks he had to run down to guarantee a car ride. Now, every time I fetch him, he waits 4 blocks down the street and will just sit there with a smug look on his face."

~ EeefDoesArt

Cat

"I heard a loud noise from the back of my house and went to check, thinking a raccoon got in the laundry room again. My cat started aggressively herding me the other way."

"Turned out my son had fallen out of bed and hurt himself, and was crying pretty much silently. Kitty got lots of treats that night."

~ Emotional-Cat-5396

Dog

"I had made a sandwich and set it down on the coffee table. My dog was watching me and then started barking and ran to the front door."

"I assumed there must be someone there, so I went down the hallway, and my dog ran back towards the living room. I opened the door, and no one was there."

"Went back to the living room to find my lunch gone andthe dog pretending to be asleep in his bed. He was squinting and would shut his eyes when I looked straight at him."

"I got tricked and robbed by a dog who then had the brains to pretend to be asleep."

"Genius, a thieving a**hole, but a genius one."

~ AdventurousTeaCup

Dogs

"I had two dogs, about 6 years difference in age. The older one would take all the toys/etc from the younger one, then go on her own way to play with it."

"The younger one eventually learned that if he wanted to play with something, he should first go grab a toy that he didn't want, she'd come take it from him, then he would grab his favorite."

"They'd both have what they wanted."

~ 732

Cat

"My cat gets zoomies at night and likes to pounce around on the bed, even when I'm under the covers. So sometimes she'll hop all over me but not really acknowledge my presence."

"Well, one week I was in bed recovering from hip surgery. My cat was doing her usual thing, but this time as she was zooming past, one of her paws grazed my hip."

"She then stopped, turned back around, and started making biscuits where my surgery incision was. After 5 minutes of that, she went about her day."

"That's not the end, though."

"The NEXT day she hopped on the bed, sat on top of me, and proceeded to knead my hip again, exactly where the doctor had made the incision."

"I can't tell if it was sympathy or if she was sending healing vibes. But now I know she's willing to help if she thinks something's wrong. Cats definitely don't get enough credit."

~ Cerulean_Zen

Labrador Retriever Dog

"I taught our Labrador to shut the back door when she came in from the yard. We'd leave the door just barely unlatched so the AC wasn't escaping and she could nose it open and come in whenever she wanted."

"Once she was in, she'd push the door fully shut and go find a human who would have heard the door bang shut so that she could get a treat. We had convenient little treats in candy jars in most of the places people spent time."

"Then she started shutting the pantry or bathroom door, then going to claim a treat from someone in another room."

"I also taught my dog to find my keys for me. Actually, she would go fetch or point to anything I asked for if she knew the word for it or could figure out what we were lazily pointing to, which is why we had convenient treat stashes in case we wanted her to hand us the remote or whatever."

"For about a week, it was great! If I didn't know where I'd put my keys, I'd just ask her 'Where are the keys? Get the keys!' Fell down into the couch? No problem, she'd sniff them out."

"Then she realized there were always keys on the pegboard where I was supposed to be putting my keys, so instead of finding MY keys, she'd just go get any keys."

~ Zealousideal-Rent-77

Amazon Parrot

"A couple of years ago, I got talked into adopting an elderly, arthritic Amazon parrot with chronic sinusitis. It's very much like having a special-needs toddler."

"He was cage-bound for a long time and not well socialized. He only ever said 3-4 words (hello, wow/woo, uh-oh, and bird) but mimics a variety of other bird sounds. He picked me as his personal slave, but also got along well with my husband, although they rarely interact closely."

"Last summer, my husband went on a short trip, and the parrot barely seemed to notice. After my husband got back, we settled in for some food and to chat about the trip."

"The bird was perched inconspicuously next to us. During a lull in the conversation, he made a low throat-clearing sound and then said with perfect clarity, 'Where'd you go?'."

"We both almost fell out of our chairs, but I'm so glad I had a witness, or I'd spend the rest of my life second-guessing what I'd heard. The bird has never said this, or any other full sentence, since then."

~ nrz242

Did you have a pet that turned out to be smarter than it seemed?