Conference misery::feline_v1

    My goodness!  The Self-Entitled "Smartest Little Kitten in the World"
    Niniane could tell you a thing or two!  Niniane is my 10 month going
    on 5 year old blue point Siamese.  Is she a smart one!  This is
    the kitten who opens the cupboard door and bangs it shut until
    I feed her.  The kitten who watches me put something out of reach
    and then figures out a way to get to it, who talks back to me when
    I tell her "NO!", who knows the difference between "Nin-iannne"
    and "NINIANE!" and responds accordingly!  Who comes up to visit
    with me every morning for cuddles when my husband lets her upstairs.
    Niniane who plays fetch, begs on command, climbs on everything and
    doesn't break a thing (scaring Mom half to death), this little blue
    point could probably run circles around your friend!  In fact, I've
    had blue point Siamese all my life (except for Charm, who is a seal)
    and they have been smart, calculating cats that it's very difficult
    to stay one step ahead of!!  You can see them thinking!!
    
    Blue Points dim?? Hmphf!
    
    Mary-Michael, Niniane and Charm 

    Smart Cats
    
    I too, agree with you.  Siamese Cats are extremely intelligent and
    I don't think it matters what point they are.  I had a seal-chocolate
    for 12 years (she died recently of FeLV - I will always miss her)
    and I have never known a smarter cat.  My mom has 2 tortie point
    siamese cats and they too are a couple of smartie pants.  I love
    them.  Someday I will have a siamese of my own, I would like to
    get a female to breed but this is going to take some convincing
    on my husbands part.  Right now I have 2 adorable furfaces that
    keep me very amused.
    
    Joanne
    

    re: .1 and .2
    
    So glad to hear it!  Love them Siamese!  Any tabby points out there?
    
    As an aside...I once found a part tabby point in a pet store and
    fell maddly in love with him.  He was an adorable, extremely pointy
    faced little guy.  Fortunately for me he was taken by the time I
    could get Ed in to look at him -- we're at our pet limit right now
    and a third cat would have been a mistake -- at least that's what
    the logical side of me says...the heart isn't so sure.
    
    Karen, Tristan and Tenzing.

    Well I don't know, but I have a Chocolate Point and a Sealpoint and
    my sons insist the Chocolate is "retarded".  He's a sweetie - but
    not too bright!
                      

    re: .4
    
    That's fascinating...the woman who insists that blue and tabby
    points are stupid also claims that her chocolate point is totally
    dim.  Maybe it's chocolate points that don't have it upstairs? 
    
    ;-)
    
   Karen, Tristan and Tenzing.

    I have a (I was going to say little, but she weighs in at about
    10 or 12 lbs.) sweet sort_of_Siamese lady, KoKo, who we always
    said looks like she should be wearing a yellow slicker and be
    carrying a lunch box, and should be standing on the corner
    waiting for the school bus to come by even though it's Saturday!!
    I think she has a little Hymmie lurking around in her background.
    Sort of flatish round face, large round blue wide-spaced eyes,
    sort of longish hair, short legs - yup, sometimes we wonder if
    KoKo is really in there!  She sure does have a wonderful song
    to sing and she sings all the time!
    
    E.T.

    I have a Chocolate Point, whom I believe to be the smartest cat
    I have ever known or owned!  I'm always telling my husband that
    she's too smart for our own good!!    :-)
    
    corine
    

    Some friends of mine have a brother and sister duo, the boy being
    a chocolate point (Hector) and the girl is a blue point (Cassandra).
    When describing their personalities, Ann described Hector by saying
    "God realized He forgot to put the brains in, so he marked the ears
    brown..."
    
    If the degree of brown-ness makes a difference, my seal point makes
    an unlit candle appear bright.
    
    Mary
    

    I love your analogy Mary !!  I have 2 Siamese, the older is
    Sasha who is an uncanny little lady!  I think that she understand
    every word I say to her.  The knowing expression in her eyes
    is amazing.  She is one very bright brown girl!
    
    E.T.

Intelligence is a product of genetics modified by birth trauma and/or
the general health and diet of the mother.  Inbreeding that can occur with
some pure-bred animals can lead to lots of smarts or really dim bulbs
depending on the source genes....my lynx point, Hannah, is very
smart for a cat (or a dog, or a ...) while my little gray and white "mutt"
cat, Nicky, is, shall we say, lacking in basic intelligence.  Mind you,
I love them both desperately, but I know the basic intelligence of the
crew.  Marge's siamese, Tabby, a seal point, is also a dim bulb - but we
both love her too.  It doesn't really have anything to do with breed,
but breeding stock, health of mother during gestation, and circumstances
or birth (easy birth, or difficult birth with subsequent oxygen starvation).

    It varies from cat to cat.
    
    There are two theories about my tabby cat, Oliver.  Theory 1, held
    by everyone except me, is that he is, shall we say, somewhat dimwitted.
    
    My theory is that he is so incredibly intelligent he pretends to
    be stupid, with the result that he never has to lift a paw (for
    example, he pretends not to understand the catflap, and so the door
    is opened for him .... and so on).  This is the cat who has his
    own personal deckchair, left on the lawn in the sun at all times.
    Would you call that stupid?