‘[My cat] started making biscuits where my surgery incision was’: Pet owners share the astounding moments they realized they deeply underestimated their pets' intelligence

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Nov 4, 2025 4:00 AM EST

As pet owners, we often forget just how intelligent our furry, or feathery, or scaley babies are until that one moment when they reveal to us that they know much more than they let on.

Intellect can be measured in numerous ways, including emotional intelligence and logical intelligence, among others. Though our pets don't have opposable thumbs and don't know how to speak human languages, they can display their knowledge of the world around them in other ways. Now, am I saying that they all have object permanence (my cat being the antithesis of this idea), but sometimes, you realize that your pet might be capable of more than you'd ever imagined previously.

In a Reddit thread, a user posed a very interesting question: "Pet owners, what was that moment that made you think 'wow, I have severely underestimated the intelligence of my pets'?" This sparked a beautiful conversation about the emotional intelligence of the fellow cats, pups, and even parrots of the world who wowed their owners and made them believe in their intellectual capabilities. Do you have a story to share about one of your beloved pets and their hidden smarts? Scroll below to read some heartwarming stories from real pet owners.

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  • 01
    sick woman with a cat indoors lying down on the sofa at home
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

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

    nrz242 A couple 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 cagebound 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 pa
    via nrz242
  • 03
    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.
    via nrz242
  • 04
    Zealousideal-Rent-77 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).
    via Zealousideal-Rent-77
  • 05
    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).
    via Sealousideal-Rent-77
  • 06
    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 in 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.
    via Zealousideal-Rent-77
  • 07
    Undrcovrcloakndaggr haha that story just makes me think she's even more smart! I have a story that's a bit of a reverse of this. My friend from school used to have a dog that had a brilliant awareness of time, he'd jump over the gate and come and sit at the bus stop waiting for us a few minutes before we'd arrive. He was really accurate with it and everyone was very impressed with him...
    via Undrcovrcloakndaggr
  • 08
    Except he'd do the same during school holidays... so we could be in the middle of playing with him in the garden, and it'd get to the time when the school bus would usually be arriving and he'd run off, leap the gate and run down to the bus stop... We'd then have to traipse down and collect him!
    via Undrcovrcloakndaggr
  • 09
    732 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.
    via Undrcovrcloakndaggr
  • 10
    Kelpie_Dog My Sheltie does something similar. He gives my Kelpie the tennis balls that have been run over with the lawnmower, so that he can have the good tennis balls. The Kelpie doesn't care, infact he likes the broken ones as he can stuff 3 of them in his mouth. The Sheltie on the other hand absolutely will not play with balls that are damaged, or have any kind of colours on them other than standard green.
    via Kelpie_Dog
  • 11
    a dog running with a ball in its mouth
    via Barcs Tamás (Unsplash)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 12
    The Kelpie knows his trick, so he takes the good tennis balls and hides them, which then eventually get run over with the lawnmower... It's a vicious cycle.
    via Kelpie_Dog
  • 13
    AdventurousTea Cup I had made a sandwich and set it down on the coffee table, my dog was watching me and then start barking and ran to the front door. I assume there must be someone there so I go down the hallway and my dog runs back towards the living room, I open the door and no one is there. Went back to the living room to find my lunch gone and 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
    via AdventurousTeaCup
  • 14
    crayonsocialism One of my childhood dogs was a border collie mix who would sleep on the couch late at night after everyone had gone to bed. If I came out of my room to get a glass of water, he'd hear me, slide off the couch and onto the floor without acknowledging my presence, pretend to be asleep on the floor, and then make a big show of waking up and noticing me. It would've been very convincing if I hadn't been able to see the whole thing.
    via crayonsocialism
  • 15
    JoanOfArctic That's almost my same story, but I have an orange cat Reddit promised me a dumb cat This orange cat watched as I brought my soup out to the table, went into the kitchen, and knocked something over.
    via JoanOfArctic
  • 16
    I went into the kitchen and he jumped off the counter. I spent all of 10 seconds putting a lid back onto a container and moving the item to the back of the counter so that it would be safe from rolling off the counter if the cat came back, and by the time I got back out to my soup the fucking cat had his goddamn face in it. He created a diversion, deliberately, to eat my soup. I now know not to trust him. He is not as dumb as he looks.
    via JoanOfArctic
  • 17
    Earl_E_Byrd I have an absolutely beautiful doofus of a cat. But his IQ is on a sliding scale in relation to his distance from the kitchen. The closer he gets, the higher it gets, and by the time he's around food, his IQ has increased by at least 100 points. All his smarts are spent on thieving.
    via Earl_E_Byrd
  • 18
    Cerulean_Zen 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.
    via Cerulean_Zen
  • 19
    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 shes willing to help if she thinks something's wrong. Cats definitely don't get enough credit.
    via Cerulean_Zen
  • 20
    Eeef DoesArt 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
    via EeefDoesArt
  • 21
    EstablishmentTrue859 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
    via EstablishmentTrue859

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