Alice White
As soon as a box appears in the house, your cat has already settled comfortably in it.
Boxes Help Manage Stress
Like you, cats also sometimes want to be alone and take a break from their problems. Therefore, they try to find a corner for themselves where no one sees them and from where they themselves can observe what is happening around them.
Cats are completely incapable of resolving conflicts and adhere to an avoidance strategy in any stressful situation.
Veterinarian Claudia Vinke studied the behavior of cats in a Dutch shelter. She conducted a study and found that cats experience less stress and more quickly settle in unfamiliar places if they have their own secluded shelter. And the box is perfect for this.
Convenient to Track their Prey
Cats are predators by nature and like to sit in ambush. Unlike large predatory animals, they do not pursue their prey. Cats adhere to a different tactic: they hide, and then unexpectedly attack the victim. The box is the perfect hiding place for hunting. True, for lack of a better one, one has to attack the owner’s feet.
It Smells Warm and Delicious There
The ideal room temperature for cats is 30–36 ° C. For humans, it is almost 10 degrees lower – 18-22 ° C. Therefore, cats are always looking for warm places – a battery, a working laptop, a windowsill heated by the sun. And, of course, cardboard boxes that keep you warm.
Cardboard is popular with felines for another reason. Like a stack of newspapers or a drawer in a writing desk, it retains the smell of wood. The cat’s keen nose picks up a scent that they like very much and reminds them of the wild.
Out of Habit Since Childhood
Most often, the first months of a kitten’s life are spent in a cardboard box. Therefore, the associations with cardboard houses are the most positive: it is warm, cozy, the mother-cat feeds and washes. And what, cats are also not averse to nostalgia.
The Cat is Bored
When the cat has nothing to do with itself, the box can be an interesting toy. You can jump into it, you can hide in it, and also gnaw and scratch the walls, listen to the pleasant rustle of cardboard, sniff, and settle comfortably. And the very process of researching a new subject is an exciting experience for your pet.
