Though they sometimes seem particularly drawn to papers that people are trying to read, cats seem to enjoy sitting on any kind of paper. Why?
I think it’s because they like the clean smell.
It’s just like cats like sitting in cardboard boxes. Cats I’ve had will be so enthused at the prospect of a new box that they will literally charge at the thing. But after a day or so, when the cat smell overpowers the “new box” smell, they’ll abandon it.
That’s an interesting idea. Maybe they’re always trying to colonize new territory.
I guess it’s a good thing that cat’s don’t drive cars.
Our cats enjoy boxes until the humans decide to throw out the boxes. Every new box that comes in, however, MUST be thoroughly investigated.
In the “A Place to Sit” comic by Makoto Kobayashi, the Hero Cat is successively chased off of his seat. First from on top of the sofa, then off the chair, off a stray shirt on the floor, off a bike seat outside. Finally the beleaguered cat finds a ratty old magazine on the sidewalk to settle on.
“Even if it’s this much trouble, a cat is too proud to nap on the ground.”
Too true.
We have two cats: one with long hair and one with short hair. The long haired cat must sit on paper at all times. He also doesn’t like soft blankets or squishy furniture. The short haired cat must have soft and squishy. I thought maybe the long cat hair pulled in squishy when the one cat moved around and the smoother surfaces like paper and sheets let his fur slide (kind of like a satin pillowcase). That was my WAG, maybe cats are just weird.
What I want to know is why, if I put a stack of newspaper outside for the cat to sit on while he waits for us to let him in (to protect his footies from the cold and ice), he refuses to step on it at all. It’s not because it feels cold because he won’t even try it to see.
Its not just paper. My cats seem to have several material fetishes. Cat A (elsie) likes to lick plastic bags. Cat B (la madera) gnaws any and all cardboard. B sits on paper. A sits on any cloth recently worn by a human. I can understand the pica, but not the sitting behavior.
Eight cats own me. They insist that I up my post count in every available cat thread. What else am I gonna do?
I’ve seen box / paper bag behavior explained as tree-hole dwelling instinct. This kinda makes sense. But sitting on paper? Dunno. Maybe they like it just like humans like popping bubble wrap.
Isn’t there a rule about cat threads and pictures?
Mine too. They also like to sit on plastic bags.
If my old friend, Brut, were to tell you, it’s so he can ride it across the room. A running start, a quick stop on the paper, and whee!
Yep. Newspapers and plastic bags for my old cat Ahab mayherestinpeace. I thought about it for a good while and finally decided he just liked to tick me off.
RR
They have to wipe as well yannow
My girl cat is a fiend for bag-licking too. I asked about it a while back and consensus around here was that she was attracted to the beef tallow used in the manufacturing process. She’s also a box-sitter and I have about a half-dozen boxes strewn around my apartment for her convenience and amusement.
The boy cat, though, couldn’t be arsed about plastic bags or sitting in boxes. His fetish is opening cupboards. I have one cupboard that doesn’t close properly and he’s co-opted it as his den. He thinks this entitles him to open every cupboard. For some reason he’s focused like a laser beam on the two cupboards where I keep the toxic cleaning chemicals. I literally have to tie them shut to keep him out.
Recently the girl has gotten very interested in the apartment door. She sits at it and yowls and yowls and yowls until I open it so she can go into the hallway for three seconds and then come back in. Sometimes I open the closet door that’s next to the front door and she’ll dash inside there, indicating she doesn’t really care what door she goes through just so long as she can end up on the other side of it. The boy also likes the front door although he tries to play it cooler than she does, only going out if she’s already gotten me to open it. My neighbors have a doormat shaped like home plate that he likes to sit on.
Yet they are both terrified of the other door, that leads to the balcony. They won’t go near it when it’s open and the couple of times I’ve tried to carry them out there to get them comfortable they’ve screamed and clawed to be taken back inside.
Standard Response for Cat Behavior Questions:
Cats are weird.
Slight hijack, but speaking of weird cat behaviour… if anyone can explain to me why my cat, having spent several agreeable hours with me downstairs, decides to go upstairs on her own volition and then, 30 minutes later, goes into a yowling frenzy which is only alleviated when I myself go upstairs and show her my face, I’d be most grateful.
They have the short-term memory of celery.