Conference misery::feline_v1

    My two kitties sometimes get their boxes of food down from the shelf
    and open the individual packets when we are gone for a few days
    - we leave them food in their automatic feeders, but I am sure that
    they eat most of it as soon as we get out the door!  Nebula has
    dicovered that there is a partial bag of some dry food that my
    father-in-law's cat wouldn't eat in the utility closet (I keep
    forgetting to feed it to the cats, who are not at all fussy about
    their food), so I have to watch that she doesn't sneak in there when
    the vacuum cleaner is taken out.  Cats are cleverer than you think;
    they just don't have the manual dexterity to run a can opener!
    JFCL can open normal doors, for example, by standing on her hind
    legs, grabbing the knob between her front feet, and turning it while
    leaning on the door (only works for doors that open inward, which
    is just as well) -- Nebula probably could too, but she isn't long
    enough when she stands up that way to reach the knob.  Both cats
    turn lights on and off by jumping at the switches (not sure if they
    are doing it only because the switch sticks out from the wall, or
    if they are trying to control the lights, though).

    Many years ago, when Honey was a kitten, he was fed only Science
    Diet kitten food.  He seemed to like it just fine.  Then, out of
    the blue, he stopped eating entirely.  I had no idea why, but his
    food went untouched for days.  When I called my vet, he asked if
    Honey was using the box regularly, and did he otherwise seem OK
    (in other words, was he still tearing the house apart?).  Yup, he
    seemed fine; he just wasn't eating.  Well, what comes out must go
    in so he had to be eating something.  The search was on...
    
    At that time, I stored the food I fed my wild cats in the basement
    (cool, dry place, eh?).  I dashed off to the basement, and there
    I found the back half of a Himalayan kitten sticking out of a neatly
    opened bag of Thrive....Talk about looking like the cat that ate
    the canary...the little brat still had his mouth full!!  Of course,
    I can never get those strings to pull off that easily, but he can!
    
    Mary  

    When I had moist food baglets, Nianinne used to open them _very_
    neatly with her claws.  And she wasn't a particularly bright cat.
    
    Steve kallis, Jr.

    I feed Chiun and Abigail a packet of moist food in the morning and
    a small can of food at night. (Abigail seldom eats the moist food,
    preferring dry; Chiun won't eat the dry at all.) Anyway, Chiun's
    signal for me to get up and feed him is to dig into the wastebasket
    for some paper and start ripping little bits off of it. I've never
    been sure why he took this up, but it does sound like tearing the
    top off of a packet of Moist Meals...
    
    And no, neither of them have ever made can-opener noises!
    
    -b

    One of the funniest sights I ever saw in my life was Argus's
    hind legs and tail sticking out of the C/D bag. He was trying to
    eat his way to the bottom.
    
    Deb
    

    
    A former roommate of mine had a big, beautiful manx named Dougie.
    Dougie could open the fridge!  No kidding, he stole a *giant* piece
    of prime rib once.  And the other five cats in the house *loved*
    him for it!
    
    Rita
    

    My 7 year old 16-pound male, Lucifer (wonder why we called him that???)
    has a real habit of thinking he can talk to us when he wants to
    eat.  NAG*NAG*NAG!!  After his piercing look and whining meow, he
    dashes to his bowl, turns around and then looks me in the eye with
    a 'well, what are you waiting for?' kind of look.  
    
    Since my dog at times used to sneak up on his bowl and proceed to
    devour all of Lucifer's dry food, I began to scoot it under the
    baker's rack so the dog couldn't reach it.  So now when I hear this
    little scooting noise, I know that Lucifer has proceeded to slide
    his bowl back out so he can eat!