Skip to Content

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Are Orange Cats Dumb – It’s A Myth!

Are Orange Cats Dumb – It’s A Myth!

Have you heard that widely spewed myth that orange cats are dumb? If so, you’re in for a treat. When looking at an orange cat’s intelligence, you will need to look at the cat’s breed. Orange cats are not a breed on their own, so you will need to find out what breed the orange cat is first. So, are orange cats dumb?

Orange cats are not dumb. Most orange cats are considered to be of at least average intelligence. They are not necessarily known to be dumb, but you may still find the occasional orange cat with a lower IQ. 

As mentioned above, a cat’s intelligence has less to do with its coat color, and more to do with its breed, health, and upbringing. Orange cats are falsely accused of being dumb and that’s unfortunate. We’ll dig more into facts about orange cats below and hopefully shed some light on their intelligence and how that perception came about.

The Reality Is This: Orange Cats Are Intelligent

Most people claim that their orange cat is of at least average intelligence, if not even smarter. However, this can be difficult to gauge as many cat breeds can have orange fur.

Things like intelligence and temperament tend to depend on a cat’s breed and gender rather than a cat’s coat color. It is also important to remember that cats are individual animals that can have personalities and intelligence that are not technically characteristic of these things as well. 

To make this point further, here are some mindblowing stats about the intelligence of an average cat.

  • A cats brain’s structure and surface folding is 90 percent similar to that of humans.
  • Cats have over 250 – 300 million neurons, which is twice as many as a dog.
  • Cats possess excellent short-term memory

Reasons People Assume Orange Cats Are Dumb

Although orange cats as a whole, are not dumb, it’s important to know where this odd perception came from. I think it’s important because, in fairness to them, they are just like other cats, just with a different coat. An orange cat’s intelligence is not determined by the coat color but instead by other factors such as gender, breed type, and genetics. We’ll talk about that more in a bit.

But first, let’s get into a list of the common reasons people think orange cats are dumb.

Orange Cats Have Small Brains

If you’ve ever looked up information on the intelligence of a cat, chances are you’ve come across information about their brains. Orange cats, like others, have small brains; it’s just a fact. A cat’s brain takes up about 0.9 to 1 percent of its overall body mass. It’s much smaller than dogs.

What you may not know, however, is that a cat’s brain is the center of all that they do. They have a massive cerebral cortex, and this information processing center has twice as many neurons as a dog.

It’s there where they make decisions, calculations, communicate, and more. Whether a cat is orange or not, it can handle large amounts of information and process it very quickly.

The Appearance Of Laziness Is An Ethnic Stereotype

When a cat is not very social, there’s some concern about their intelligence. Orange cats get a bad reputation for being lazy. If you’ve ever seen the Garfield cartoon, then that’s evident, and it’s merely ethnic stereotypes.

But this is not always the case. Although a cat’s intelligence can somewhat be measured by its social behaviors, it doesn’t tell the entire story.

You have to remember that cats are not dogs. Not being greeted at the door by your cat, let alone acknowledged when you enter a room, isn’t an indication of intelligence at all. Because people believe them to be dumb, they’ll take this behavior and run with it, but that’s not fair to orange cats.

Overly Affectionate Behavior

In the opposite view, an overly affectionate cat can sometimes be mistaken for dumb. Sometimes cat’s that take it a bit too far can seem needy and as if they have no sense of direction unless you blatantly give it to them.

For example, our cat Harley is extremely affectionate and sometimes won’t eat his food until I literally place him over by the food bowl and point at it. This doesn’t mean he’s not smart though. If anything, it means he’s trainable and can follow my simple commands.

Orange cats are much the same, and if you’ve got an affectionate one, then that’s an opportunity for you to coach your cat. Try finding ways to incorporate that affection into training and I think your entire perception of an orange cat will change.

Slow To Respond To Your Commands

It can be concerning when a cat doesn’t respond to your commands. The commands can be as simple as calling their name, tapping your foot, or making the all too popular “pspspsps” with your lips.

Still, cats, for the most part, will do their own thing regardless of what commands you make. That’s why is not entirely fair to think an orange cat isn’t smart just because they aren’t responding to you.

Cats aren’t always responsive to vocal commands. However, if you incorporate clicker training or bell sounds, then you may find your cat responds to those. For cats, new sounds spark curiosity. Cats can always tell what you’re saying; cats don’t necessarily understand words. However, they can understand changes in tone and volume.

If you’ve got an orange cat not responding to you, try making those changes and see what happens.

Testing Your Orange Cats Intelligence

If you still think your orange cat is dumb (and trust me, its not), there are a few things you can do to test its intelligence.

  • Hide Your Cats Favorite Toy
  • Rearrange Your Cats Playroom
  • Place a new bag of food by your cat’s feeding bowl

While these experiments are simple in nature, I think they’ll give you some peace of mind about your cat. Hiding the toy give’s you a chance to see if your cat is clever enough to use their senses to find it.

Rearranging your cat’s playroom is another way to see how they respond. Perhaps they can’t do their favorite jumping routines because you’ve moved the boxes from one end of the room to another. So, watch how they respond and what they do next.

The food bag is another great way to test your cat’s intelligence, especially if the bag is unopened. A curious cat will find a way to gnaw at it. Likewise, if your cat can tell its not their normal nutritional feast, they may ignore that bag altogether until you give them the food they are accustomed to eating.