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“I’ve read that the larger the cat, the smarter the cat.”

Absolutely NOT.

Over the years two of the sharpest cats we’ve had were literally runts, and both were jet black. Poo joined us as a kitten in 1978, and lived to be 24 years. She kept all the other cats in line, and I mean KEPT THEM IN LINE. She was tiny.

Today we have a kitten named Cooter” that is also like Poo one real sharp kitten, and a runt. Her mama named “Boots” is small, stupid, but real sweet, her BIG brother goes by “Skooter” is something along the lines of Gomer Pyle.

Actually as I reflect upon the BIG cats we’ve had over the years they had varying degrees of responsiveness, levels of conscienceness, but intellect would be improper wording. Sweet cats all, but the “smartest” were the little, or littler ones.

Of the say “normal” sized cats, or say the “in between” we have they are all different in personality, responsiveness, conscienceness. If there are two of the same litter, they are generally speaking opposites in the above categories. We have four eighteen year olds. Two each from different litters, and all males. “Whiffy” is totally cool, and laid back, and alert, but brother “Piffy” is a jerk, and always has been. “Skeezix” totally cool, and laid back, alert, and best friend from birth to “Whiffy”, yet brother “Pharoah” is a lifelong jerk. All the good, cool-cats stick together, and all the jerks stick together.

They are interesting to observe.

I LOVE your comments on cats! Despite my current cat - a very dumb, mean and lazy goofball (and that’s the good side of her nature!), I adore these animals. We really get to touch the tiger with them.

My cat was a feral kitten and I do think that makes a difference in personality. I only adopt rescue animals.

Do you think the gender of cats makes a difference? Male cats are warmer, female cats colder? It’s been my experience over the years.

I'm convinced that there is a range of intelligence in any species. I've known cats that were lovable dummies and others that were standoffish smart. But Rarely, I come across a cat that is an Einstein of the species. I saw this with the cattle on the farm, too. I even named one little black calf ‘Albert’ because he was so precocious and so attuned to language commands. You see it in horses and dogs, too, so I suspect it is common to the animal kingdom.

BTW, I lost my little Einstein, Crookedtail, last year. He was nearly twenty and probably the smartest cat I have ever known. He understood the English language and even tried to mimick speech. He was quite capable of saying MILK when the fridge opened. And yes, he made that word/sound very differently from the other sounds he used. If he was trying to get my undivided attention, he would have an almost stuttering, random emphasis sounds cadence to his meowings, as if he was trying to make human sentence structures. ... Oh how I miss that little guy!