That sounds a bit like Mieauo -- he has never been very quick to innovate, but he can easily pick things up when they are modeled. Suzie was an innovator, and I still remember a whole lot of cringing as she trial-and-error'd her way through MANY things that were absolutely NOT cat toys. I think learners can sometimes be less stress / much more fun to observe than innovators. When Mieauo learns, it feels like a sort of victory :-)
Opal is an innovator when it comes to communication, for sure. She has basically learned to use charades to communicate with us and get us to do what she wants.
She came to us as an adult cat, though, so she was already pretty well-schooled in what is and isn't for cats. We have had a few problems with her playing with any dangly thing, even if inappropriate. She has been known to attack my shoelaces :)
With the mousey thing, Opal has never been a feral cat, and Serena was. So Opal had no context in which to place a toy mouse; she had probably never hunted a real mouse. Serena knew exactly what mousies were for and was SO EXCITED to have one to play with. Serena is very imaginative. She is the only cat I've known who creates elaborate scenarios with her toys.
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She came to us as an adult cat, though, so she was already pretty well-schooled in what is and isn't for cats. We have had a few problems with her playing with any dangly thing, even if inappropriate. She has been known to attack my shoelaces :)
With the mousey thing, Opal has never been a feral cat, and Serena was. So Opal had no context in which to place a toy mouse; she had probably never hunted a real mouse. Serena knew exactly what mousies were for and was SO EXCITED to have one to play with. Serena is very imaginative. She is the only cat I've known who creates elaborate scenarios with her toys.
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