You may be familiar with Copley’s Law of Boxes: Boxes contain cats. Why is it that if you leave a cat and a box together for any length of time, you will return to find the cat neatly boxed? Is there something about kitty evolution that has contrived to make them so incredibly pyxophilic?
Nothing special about boxes. Cats are drawn to any cozy, just-right, kitty-size container. Could be a sink, basket, large bowl, even a vase.
Not just boxes. Any place where a cat can hide and feel secure. Our cats love boxes, paper bags, open drawers, closets, etc.
One of our cats is able to open any of the kitchen and bathroom cupboard doors, climb in and settle down. He will even make it a game and push open the cupboard door from the inside and let it slam shut. It’s his version of hide and seek. If we don’t play by his rules, he will push open the door and let it slam continuously until we get up to play.
We even have to be careful with the dishwasher, oven and refrigerator.
I wish I could answer your question. I think this may be one of the greatest mysteries of life.
As a quick digression, I would like to add that cats also seem to enjoy bags. Leave a grocery bag out in the open, and you’ll likely find your cat in there shortly thereafter, like the world’s furriest loaf of bread.
It’s an evolutionary adaptation. Cats may be predators, but they are small enough that they are on the menus of any number of larger carnivores. Having someplace they can hang out in with their backs protected while affording them a view helps keep them from being eaten. Of course, the modern housecat is in virtually no danger of being consumed, but you’ve got millions of years of evolved instinct at work here.
Whereas I think my cats are just crazy. If the box isn’t big enough to be in, on is sufficient.
My cats also chew cardboard to shreds. They don’t seem to swallow it, but any piece of cardboard left unattended is soon decorated in little cat-teeth-sized holes.
Our cats, in addition to being box-fetishists also have a few very strange compulsions…
both of them are obsessed with watching the toilet flush, as soon as they hear the water start to drain from the toilet, they MUST run into the bathroom, put their front paws on the seat and watch as the water swirls away, Blue, our black and white cat goes one step further, once the flush is complete, he sticks his head as far into the bowl as he can, he simply MUST know where the water has gone to
Nemo, our orange and white cat has a similar fascination with flushing toilets as Blue, but he’s not as insistent on finding where the water went, he has his own water fetish, when you fill his water dish, he frantically paws out about half of it so it’s covering the linoleum floor, then looks up at you with an expression that seems to say “It’s okay, i got the water out of the bowl for you”, he then proceeds to drink, filling the bowl only halfway to prevent him from pawing out the water results in a disdainful look that seems to say “where’s the rest of the water, i ain’t drinking this…”
Blue is also obsessed with paper bags, but not in the normal feline way, no, he has to sit on them to flatten them, once they’re flattened, he’ll get up and paw at them like he’s trying to dig his way through them
At least he hasn’t figured out how to investigate the question on his own.
I guess my cat’s just weird. He likes getting into boxes okay, but what he really loves is rubbing his lips against cardboard edges. And my laptop. I guess he’s scent-marking, but why cardboard and electronics? (He also does it with my boyfriend’s Hiptop, but not a desktop computer screen.)
You forgot one: Always check the dryer. My mom learned this when she decided to add a wrinkled blouse to the almost-dry load of clothes.
“Yeeowl!” thump “Yeeowl!” thump
Luckily, Kitty only dried for a few seconds before my mom yanked the door open. She says that unless she had witnessed it with her own eyes, she would not have believed any living creature could achieve that speed. Kitty shot from the drier at roughly the speed of sound and actually climbed partway up the wall on the other side of the room before changing course to the bedroom where she hid beneath the bed and refused to come out for the rest of the day.
Poor Kitty. She was always choosing bad locations for her naps. Like the time she decided to nap inside my step-father’s drums. You know the big drum that sits on the floor and has a Kitty-sized hole in it? Well, he didn’t see she was in there before he sat down to practice. He ended up with lascerations up his legs and chest from where Kitty had clawed her way to safety.
But, not to pick on only fourlegged animals, my hubby tells a funny story of when he was working on a shipping/receiving dock. They had a man working with them, who was small in stature and a little strange. To avoid detection, he apparently decided sleeping in the cardboard compactor was a good idea. They only discovered this when they threw cardboard on him and hit the crush button. His screams emitted in time for them to hit the emergency stop button.
Ah yes, our cats do too, but Zubin likes to start chewing on the sides, spits out the pieces, and will continue until the side is down to the floor, while we pick up the pieces. Here he is starting on a new box.
I’m so glad to hear that. I thought there was something wrong with one of my cats.
One time I heard him meowing. I thought maybe he had locked himself in the bathroom or laundry room again, as he has before. When I finally was able to pin it down, I noticed it was coming from the refridgerator. I have no idea how long he had been in there, but he sure was glad to get out. I think he’s learned his lesson, too. Dark and cold = no enter.
Might I suggest closing the lid entirely? It may save you and your cats some, uh, health issues
Dunno. Maybe I’ll just ask that nice Dr. Schrodinger…
Gee, how could I have forgotten!! Our oldest just loves climbing into the dryer as my wife opens the door to unload it. Everything is so warm and comfy inside!! We have pictures of him in there. So far, he hasn’t taken a ride.
On a related note, our munchins absolutely hate closed doors. More specifically, except for normally closed doors (closets), all doors must remain open. If either of us use the bathroom, for any reason, the door must remain ajar so any one of our little cherubs can walk in and inspect the premises. It’s not uncommon entering and sitting down in the 'reading room" for at least one cat to join me and poop in his litter box beside me. Of course, fresh cat poop smell will gag a maggot so my stay is often shortened as a result.
Gee, how could I have forgotten!! Our oldest just loves climbing into the dryer as my wife opens the door to unload it. Everything is so warm and comfy inside!! We have pictures of him in there. So far, he hasn’t taken a ride.
On a related note, our munchins absolutely hate closed doors. More specifically, except for normally closed doors (closets), all doors must remain open. If either of us use the bathroom, for any reason, the door must remain ajar so any one of our little cherubs can walk in and inspect the premises. It’s not uncommon entering and sitting down in the 'reading room" for at least one cat to join me and poop in his litter box beside me. Of course, fresh cat poop smell will gag a maggot so my stay is often shortened as a result.
The “cats just love paper bags” trick was the one we always used when we had to take our cats to the vet. Since we could never just catch up with them when we had to grab them and put them into something for that trip, we’d just put out a big paper bag on the floor and let them walk into it happy as a clam. Once in there, we’d just roll up the top and carry them out to the car and zip them to the docs like that. Sorry, dude, but health comes first. We used to love them, but it wasn’t for their brains.
And, no - don’t lets start that thread again.
You might want to have your vet check their teeth. My Katya used to chew on cardboard all the time, and she turned out to need a couple of teeth pulled. After the teeth were pulled, she didn’t chew on cardboard nearly as much as she had before (though she does sometimes still do it).
Go to the bottom of the page. Like I said, the world’s furriest loaf of bread.
The pic above is said cat playing fetch. Yes, like a dog.
My cat does that. Not so much lately, but when she was younger, she used to play fetch all the time. She’d pick out an object she wanted me to fetch–she always had her favorites–and bring it to me. I’d pick it up and throw it and she’d dash after it, pick it up and bring it back. Ad nauseum.