Abstract thinking in cats?

Of course!

Wait, you can't ask the question without a definition.

True, are you thinking Cat Einstein, or just thinking cat?

Okay then, here it is from Stedman's Medical Dictionary:

abstract thinking n.
Thinking characterized by the ability to use concepts and to make and understand generalizations, such as of the properties or pattern shared by a variety of specific items or events.

Well, now we need definitions for concept and generalization.

F***** you.

That's a generalization.

And a concept.

Can we just get on with it? What do you mean by abstract thinking in cats, a cat calling 911 when there is a fire?

For instance, when Mo had her accident and we needed to see the vet once a week for a while. One day, I was running late, and as I rushed past her into the bathroom to pee before leaving, I said "Mo, we are late, get in the pet taxi". When I came out of the bathroom, she was in the pet taxi.

How do you know there is a cause and effect connection? Was the pet taxi always sitting there, open, accessible? I mean, did she go in and out of the pet taxi on her own at other times.

Nnnooo.

Nnnnooo, or no?

No, she was in her small cage all the time at that point.

Okay, well, you might have something there. Anything else?

Eenie, the Cowboy cat, meowed at an empty chair to get food the other day. He likes to try human food and he know he cannot ask me. If he asks me, I tell him no, and he won't get any leftovers.

Tough.

Firm.  So, he figured out he can ask J. when I am eating. J. tells him to be quiet, but the cat knows I hear it, too, so he asks without asking directly.

Not necessarily convincing.

But the other day, he asked the empty chair. J. wasn't here. The cat sat there and asked the empty chair.

Now, that is pretty cool.

Maybe it is just a habit, not an expression of abstract thinking.

You mean like politicians talking, or Clint Eastwood's empty chair speech? 

Right.