I figure most everyone has or has had some kind of non-people friend, so why not share some stories. Though this thought came about decidedly after my oversized animated teddy bear of a cat decided to prove once again that cats are not always smarter than dogs...

He is a hyperdependent long haired ball of fluff, whose elevator doesn't seem to reach the top... most of the time. Even as I'm in the process of typing this up, he 'lost' me in the house and was crying to know where 'mommy' was. He's by no means a kitten either, weighing in at a little over 20lbs, 4 yrs of age and about 2.5' in length, he makes a Chihuahua look like a mouse.

In any event, he gets bored easily (though he can keep himself entertained for hours on end sometimes by a spot on the wall, have a divet in your drywall, he'll be sure to find it) and he can be smart in some cases. For instance he's already learned all the classic dog tricks, from sit to speak, stay, roll over, shake...

So today, inspired by the friskies pull and play toy they keep advertising I decided to make him his own little puzzle treat dispenser. I took a tissue box (as he already loves the little pop up toys from those aka the tissues) cut out the plastic lining and tossed a few treats in there. It should have been more than a large enough opening for him to fish out some treats, or knock the box over, just to get a feel for the game, while still being small enough that he couldn't simply slip his head inside.

The point is to make them figure out how to get the treats out, not how to shove their head through a tiny hole and eat.

Does my little ball of fluffiness figure this out? NOPE! He spent about ten minutes pushing the box around the living room floor trying to cram his head inside. I tried to show him again, that knocking the box would drop a treat out. He happily ate the treat then decided a more aggressive attack was needed upon the box.

Since his head didn't fit, he dove in with both his front paws, and tried to then get his head to fit inside the box....Honestly I would have taken photos of his attempt but I was beside myself laughing. Needless to say, the poor boy met with failure once again, which honestly surprised me that he didn't get at least one treat to come out given his determined attack.

So after getting the box off him once more, I tried yet again to show him... look tap the box from the back, treat pops right out... okay?! NOPE... He once more happily ate the treat, then decided maybe, just maybe if he couldn't get into the box going head first, he'd try from the tail end.

Seriously to watch a cat, try to position himself to stick a back leg into a box first, and then try to pull himself up to that back leg to climb into an opening clearly too small, is a sight I never, ever, imagined I would witness in my lifetime. And for his efforts, he only managed to get the treats trapped completely in the back of the box.

I tried in vain to show him again, how this was suppose to work. He happily ate the single treat I dislodged for him and then laid down on top of the box.

Cats are not always smarter than dogs, or even the fleas that torment them.