Veterinarian Carlos breaks down what cat intelligence actually looks like, using scientific studies to explain their cognitive abilities, memory, and social smarts. Learn what your cat's behavior reveals about how smart it really is.
How smart is your cat? Well, today I'll tell you in this video. Hi, I'm Carlos and I'm a veterinarian. Welcome to the Happy Pets and Families Channel. The other day, I was talking to a friend of mine. Hello, Maria. And she said, hey, I've been surprised by how intelligent cats are. I've never lived with a pet before, well, except for the occasional bird. And cats are really super intelligent. And that's what inspired me to make this video. Let's see what scientific data supports the claim that our cats are intelligent. The first thing I have to tell you is that measuring a person's intelligence is not the same as measuring the intelligence of a cat or any other type of animal. People can be given different types of tests, questions that can be used to determine, for example, an iq. However, in the case of animals, this is much more complicated. So cognitive capacity is usually always used. Cognition is the process that enables animals to memorize, learn, or be aware of their environment. And in this case, there are many studies that have analyzed the cognitive capacity of cats. And I'm going to give you some data that are super intense. To begin with, I have to tell you that our cats have approximately 250 million neurons in that tiny little head. Neurons are important because they are the cells that are responsible for analyzing the information that the animal perceives. And that is why a greater number of neurons means that animals have more complex intellectual capacities. For example, in the case of people, we have 16 billion neurons. In addition, there are studies that have compared the number of neurons that different types of animals have and have found that the fewer neurons an animal has, the lower its capacity for inhibition. The aspect of inhibition is important because it shows that they can think about, for example, the consequences of carrying out any type of act and decide not to do it because of what could happen to them. That is why our feline companion can learn and can restrain itself when carrying out some type of activity. If we have taught it that it will not achieve anything by doing so. For example, cats that knock on doors so that we open them. If we do not show the cat that it will achieve something that. That is, if we do not open the door for it, the door, our feline companion will gradually abandon this habit because he is holding back. He knows that by doing this, he will not get what he wants, which is to go through that door, either to go outside or to enter our room to sleep. In addition, there have also been many studies that have demonstrated the social intelligence of cats. The ability they have to, for example recognize their name and be able to differentiate it from that of other cats that live in the same environment as always. All the studies I have based this video on are listed below in the description box. Other studies have shown that our cats can communicate with this when they are faced with some type of problem. For this, cat food was placed inside a closed container. The cat would stand near the container and was able to indicate to the human, by looking at the container and then looking at the human, that what it wanted was inside so that it would open it and it could access the food. And surely this is something that sounds familiar to you, that your cat does it a lot. Mew does it quite a bit. Even in that moment, he even loves me. This is a sign of social intelligence. There is also another study that says that cats can return the love that you give them. Cats spend more time with those people who invest more time in them. If you play more with your feline companion, he will reward you by seeking you out and wanting to be with you. The social intelligence of cats has also been measured by seeing if you are connected with your cat. If you maintain a strong bond, there are several exercises that you can do at home. One of them is to sit in the middle of a room that is completely calm and you should be, for example, looking at a book or looking at your phone while your cat walks around that room. You should ignore him for at least two minutes. Then you should call your cat and see if he comes. When you call him, if he comes and wants to interact with you, it means he has a good connection with you. With this, we can see that our cats are intelligent at remembering their name to begin with, but also because they know that you, as their human, give them caresses, prizes, treats, etc. Food in general. And in any case, you are something positive for them. If you want to know how you can measure the bond you have with your cat and with it the social intelligence of your feline companion, which, after all, is another source of intelligence. We have already talked about it in a video here on the channel that I have linked below. And finally, it has also been shown that cats have memory. Numerous studies were done. One of them consisted of placing four bowls, two of them with food. The cat was allowed to eat from one of the bowls and then it was taken out of the room for 15 minutes. Then the cat went back into the room and went straight to the bowl that still contained food. That's because it remembered perfectly where it was and which one it was and passed the other bowls if you want to know more about the memory of cats, we have already talked about it here on the channel, and I have left the video linked in the box for all of this. I think my work here is done because I have shown you that your cat is intelligent. Probably many of the things already you would have observed them yourself, but here they are proven by science. If you want to tell me in the comments how you have seen that your feline companion is intelligent, what he does that others don't, how he shows it to you every day, leave me a comment so I can read it. Hey, maybe we can all write a scientific article here. Also, if you like the video, you can show me by giving it a like and subscribing to the channel, if you haven't already. If you Click the bell, YouTube will notify you when we have a new video. And here on YouTube we also have a secondary channel called Questions and Answers from a Veterinarian. But don't leave, because we have to meet this beauty called Aera, who is Luca Cataldi's feline companion. He tells us that he watches us from Italy and if she was pretty. Here we meet the beautiful rock, Silvia Ordonez's tiny feline companion, and we say goodbye from Puerto Rico. That's where Paulie Lives, who is 14 years old and lives with her companion, human Isa. Thank you very much for following the Happy Pets and Families Channel, and I'll see you in the next video. Well, I'm not responsible for anything in this video. We've already said what's going to happen. So go ahead, you say whatever you want. I'm not going to say that. You're not going to tell me? No, no, don't say that like that. Don't say it like that. Today I'm here to mediate in a historical war. The historical war is that of cats against dogs. You understand, right? I thought that if it was a success, it was your problem, and if it was a failure, it was mine. Okay, okay, perfect. Let's see. I'm going to give arguments one way or another, but today I bring arguments for everyone, for those on Team Dogs and for team Cats. But because I. I mean, I know that I have a problem. Yeah, but you. Because you've been taught the big ones, you've been taught that way. I don't know, I should go to a speech therapist. Which team are you on? Well, yes, you're watching this channel. I'm not even going to ask you to leave me a comment. I don't know if you want to put it like this, but okay. For those who defend the idea that dogs are smarter, I'm bringing you a fact and you'll well, what the hell do I care? Well, what's wrong? You know. No, that's why we can't say that some are smarter than others. Okay. What? No, I don't agree with what you're saying. The video is making cats look bad. It's not interesting for our community. Sell it to me. Better. Well, it was a bit like that. You'll have to ask me a question. Well, the same one always comes up. I was going to say dichotomy. No, not that word. Today I've come to resolve all those discussions that can arise around this topic. Especially with your brother in law.
