Do cats have a sense of humour?

[Jax007]

The question of whether cats have a sense of humour has been a talking point between myself and a friend-I say yes he says no! Question in point my Bengal x Maine-Coone (see pics hard to believe!) is not allowed out oh he used to go out but after getting in a friends car,being picked up by the RSPCA two miles away (Cost me £35 to get him back) and getting totally lost for 36hrs and meeting and greeting people two or three streets away-he is just to friendly for his own good. Yes he is chipped but he wont keep a collar on. I decided to limit his outside activity to going out on a harness or into the outside cat run. This helps his energy levels as do game playing with da bird toy or bird frenzy but he still is a pain in the evening like asking to go out of the lounge spends 5mins  out the room then asks or should I say yells to come back in-I go to the door to let him in and he runs back upstairs! This he repeats several times sometimes he might wait until I've settled back down or yells again before I have shut the lounge door. If I try to catch him and put him back into the lounge it becomes a game of chase up and down stairs! I get to the top and he belts back down stairs & vice-versa! Trying to get him in with food or toys does nothing he just sits there looking at you-he is now teaching my two Bengal youngsters the same thing! You just cannot ignore him as he literally yells the place down.
Case in point no2 I have to keep the downstairs windows shut as he jumps out of them but I did not dream he would jump out of a bedroom window! He seems to wait until I notice he is missing or he jumps up onto the window sill and paws the window. When I go out to try and get him back in he makes it into a game of chase-I live in a
cul-de-sac and each garden has more than a dozen steps to go up and down-whilst I go up and down the steps he just jumps from one garden to the next-I shall leave it to your imagination of how many times I have to go from garden to garden! Case in point no3 Time for bed or going out-he has to be shut in the lounge as if I leave him in the kitchen he spends most of the night or whilst I'm out knocking stuff off the shelves so trying to get him out of the kitchen is now a feat that 007 would be proud of!  And his latest trick hiding under the table whilst the dogs are let out then belting out into the garden before I can take preventative measures! Fun and games yes but I swear he has a look of satisfaction on his face after one of his antics!  Tatty was the only kitten with long hair but also the only blue/grey in the litter his litter mates were more traditional Bengal colouring. Picture of Tatty and litter brother

[jemma116]

Well he certainly looks like he has a cheeky grin on him, even though he is asleep, or is he pretending!

I think all cats have different characters, and this one definitely has a cheeky character.

My pedigree silver Persian cat was melancholic.  He was allowed outside, otherwise he was very depressed.  He sulked for 2 weeks when we had to put him into a cattery when we went on holiday for a week and had no one to look after him.

My cat used to drive me insane too.  He would let you know by tapping on you that he wanted something and would sit and stare at the door.  I'd  let him out.   After a few minutes he's knocking and meowing wants to be let in.  No sooner you let him in, he meowks and wanted to be let out.  

I agree with you, I'm sure they do it deliberately to annoy us.

When you say  "I swear he has a look of satisfaction on his face after one of his antics!" LOL.  He looks like he is dreaming about one of his antics too, because he seems to have a cheeky grin on his face.

Have fun.

[BluCrystal]

You have beautiful cats!  And, as we all know, cats are playful creatures who will play with almost anything: including us!  A bored cat is a cat about to do something 'bad'.  They do it for attention, and they find it to be fun, so I would say this counts as a sense of humor.  You just can't go round creating mass mayhem with a serious state of mind, unless you're psychotic.  Your cats are not psychotic.  They are playing with you.  Play requires an intense ability to concentrate on deliberate behaviors, which your cats do.  They do find it amusing, and that is the point for them, as every cat lives to be amused when not sleeping.  Case in point:  I have six cats.  All of them are allowed in and out whenever they want.  Thing is that we must open the door for them.  Use your imagination: six cats, a human door-opener... and ya wonder why i wanna tear my hair out.  They must go in and out one at a time, NOT all at once, of course.  And I have two that want in and out literally as much as i am willing to open and close the door.  There is a window we have screened to keep bugs out that's right next to the door.  We like to keep it open for fresh air.  It has a six- inch ledge on the outside.  Whoever wants in will sit at that window and stare and bang on the frame and yell.  It's ridiculous.  I know they think this is funny, since we love them and cannot ignore them.  YES, CATS HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR.  Blessings - Blu  

[AnnieBrooke]

Cats are certainly playful.  Anyone watching a kitten play would have no doubt.

Whether they have a "sense of humor" in the way humans do, I would suggest it is a very ironic one.  The kind of thing where they jump onto the desk and sit down, start scooting your pencil around, knock it onto the floor, look down at it, and then look at you with a totally straight face.  Maybe the humor is in the eye of the beholder, but it also seems to be in the heart of the cat at those moments.