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What is it with cats and boxes?

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    What is it with cats and boxes?

    Domestic cats are evolved/bred (I don't know which it is), from the animals that we now call ocelots, or their kin. I'm pretty sure that in an ocelot's normal life in the jungle, sitting up trees and occasionally waking up to yawn then go off to eat some small rodents, the idea of crawling into a small space enclosed by cardboard would not be an enticing prospect, indeed one that would be treated with some natural suspicion. I doubt that's how we, as humans, first caught and domesticated these wild creatures.

    So why is it that as soon as you unpack any new product and leave the cardboard packaging on the floor - even one barely 4 inches high, like the box my new curtain poles came in this afternoon - each and every cat in the house has an irresistable urge to crawl right to the very end of said box, and glare menacingly at you if you attempt to suggest to it that it should come back out?

    #2
    What is it with cats and boxes?

    A smile came to my face as soon as I read the thread title. My three girls all share the same feline compulsion. No matter the size, one of them is sure to leap into a box that has been left out. Initially I thought it might be cardboard's tendency to hold heat, something which cats are good at sensing. But they don't climb into the box to enjoy the warmth, they just stand inside them, staring out. I can't see what they're getting out of it. And cats only do things to get something back, so I just don't know.

    One of my cats came over to me on the couch, just before today's penalty shoot-out, and began rubbing off me and looking to sleep on my lap. If I didn't know better, I would think she knew what was about to happen and was consoling me in advance of Spurs defeat.

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      #3
      What is it with cats and boxes?

      Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:
      So why is it that as soon as you unpack any new product and leave the cardboard packaging on the floor - even one barely 4 inches high, like the box my new curtain poles came in this afternoon - each and every cat in the house has an irresistable urge to crawl right to the very end of said box, and glare menacingly at you if you attempt to suggest to it that it should come back out?
      Cats appear to really like enclosed spaces with as few exits as possible that allow them good views of everything around them. Perhaps it's a predatorial impulse to keep your back clear and everything else in view, I dunno.

      This here is pretty hilarious -- http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/catchaise

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        #4
        What is it with cats and boxes?

        Maybe a desire to return to the womb, just as the kneading action they sometimes make when they get on your lap is their return to the (happier?) times of suckling.

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          #5
          What is it with cats and boxes?

          Perhaps it's a predatorial impulse to keep your back clear and everything else in view, I dunno.

          Something on those lines. Dogs like to be crated too. They're "protected" on five sides and have full visibility from the sixth. Cats' instinct to sit on something that belongs to you however uncomfortable, even when you're not around is odd. Territorial? Protective?

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            #6
            What is it with cats and boxes?

            Amor de Cosmos wrote:
            Perhaps it's a predatorial impulse to keep your back clear and everything else in view, I dunno.

            Something on those lines. Dogs like to be crated too. They're "protected" on five sides and have full visibility from the sixth. Cats' instinct to sit on something that belongs to you however uncomfortable, even when you're not around is odd. Territorial? Protective?
            No, they (both cats and dogs) just like the smell of 'the provider'/'leader'. It's comforting. Cats mostly leave things where they are but just sit on them, whilst dogs carry them off to their own bed/lair.

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              #7
              What is it with cats and boxes?

              One of my fondest memories of our departed cat is when she tucked into a small gift bag. On exiting, she got her head caught in the handle and started running madly around the house, being 'chased' by the bag.

              Mrs WOM's cat, when we met, used to sit in a cigar box that barely contained 75% of its girth.

              Funny people, cats.

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                #8
                What is it with cats and boxes?

                No, they (both cats and dogs) just like the smell of 'the provider'/'leader'. It's comforting. Cats mostly leave things where they are but just sit on them, whilst dogs carry them off to their own bed/lair.

                Ah, makes sense.

                One of our elderly cats sits in Kleenex boxes. She's extremely small and, as a kitten, was able to curl up inside them, now ... not quite.

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                  #9
                  What is it with cats and boxes?

                  WornOldMotorbike wrote:
                  One of my fondest memories of our departed cat is when she tucked into a small gift bag. On exiting, she got her head caught in the handle and started running madly around the house, being 'chased' by the bag.
                  This happened with our cat once.

                  My favorite memory of Pablo--our cat now--was just after we got him from the shelter. He had a stomach bug, and he was shitting very loose stools throughout the apartment (thankfully this soon went away). Anyway, the poor little thing did it once on a seat cushion of a chair he was sitting on, and Mrs. Inca picked him up, holding his hind legs in one hand and holding him around his front legs with her other, so he was staring at her, and she said "bad cat" or something like that, and while she was admonishing him, he let loose with a terrible stream of diarrhea over her hand and arm. I was momentarily disgusted, then I started cracking up.

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                    #10
                    What is it with cats and boxes?

                    Damn. I was hoping this thread might be about Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger.

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                      #11
                      What is it with cats and boxes?

                      Hehe my Hobbes is just the same. my husband emailed a photo the other day of him sitting in a box way way too small, trying to look nonchalant.

                      I also love the way that if you put a sheet of newspper on the floor, there will be a cat sitting on it within moments.

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                        #12
                        What is it with cats and boxes?

                        Me Old Flower wrote:
                        Damn. I was hoping this thread might be about Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger.
                        Hang on - has Wyatt changed his name again?

                        Comment


                          #13
                          What is it with cats and boxes?

                          Amor de Cosmos wrote:
                          No, they (both cats and dogs) just like the smell of 'the provider'/'leader'. It's comforting. Cats mostly leave things where they are but just sit on them, whilst dogs carry them off to their own bed/lair.

                          Ah, makes sense.
                          Of course, the other explanation is simply that they are pure evil.

                          ...As ever.

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                            #14
                            What is it with cats and boxes?

                            Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:
                            Domestic cats are evolved/bred (I don't know which it is), from the animals that we now call ocelots...
                            Where do you get this stuff?

                            Comment


                              #15
                              What is it with cats and boxes?

                              Amor de Cosmos wrote:
                              No, they (both cats and dogs) just like the smell of 'the provider'/'leader'. It's comforting. Cats mostly leave things where they are but just sit on them, whilst dogs carry them off to their own bed/lair.

                              Ah, makes sense.

                              One of our elderly cats sits in Kleenex boxes. She's extremely small and, as a kitten, was able to curl up inside them, now ... not quite.
                              I hope no one is wiping their noses afterwards with the cat-infused tissues.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                What is it with cats and boxes?

                                Eggchaser wrote:
                                Amor de Cosmos wrote:
                                No, they (both cats and dogs) just like the smell of 'the provider'/'leader'. It's comforting. Cats mostly leave things where they are but just sit on them, whilst dogs carry them off to their own bed/lair.

                                Ah, makes sense.

                                One of our elderly cats sits in Kleenex boxes. She's extremely small and, as a kitten, was able to curl up inside them, now ... not quite.
                                I hope no one is wiping their noses afterwards with the cat-infused tissues.
                                Specifically not anyone with a potentially fatal cat hair allergy, who - upon getting the onset of kitty-induced sniffles - reaches for the kleenex, only to find...

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  What is it with cats and boxes?

                                  I spent a weekend at a friend's recently. They have two cats.
                                  Took me a week to get over the asthma like symptoms of feline evilness.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    What is it with cats and boxes?

                                    I wonder... if you had just moved house, say, and simply threw all your empty boxes out into the garden/yard, so that they formed a huge 'cardboard ghetto' for your kitties, how long would it take for those cats (and all the others in the neighbourhood) to move into this brown barrio and revert to being completely feral?

                                    I reckon they would have lost all vestiges of domestication within 30 minutes.

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                                      #19
                                      What is it with cats and boxes?

                                      Am I the only person who had this book as a child?



                                      it's a NZ tale of unsurpassed wonderfulness which all cat-loving parents of small children should immediately rush out & procure.

                                      the cat from France likes to sing & dance
                                      the cat from Berlin plays the violin
                                      the cat from Japan has a great big fan
                                      but mycat likes to had in boxes

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                                        #20
                                        What is it with cats and boxes?

                                        It's Spangly Princess!

                                        Hello, Spangly Princess. Long time no see ...round these parts, at least.

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                                          #21
                                          What is it with cats and boxes?

                                          Wa ayat al Urbi wrote:
                                          Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:
                                          Domestic cats are evolved/bred (I don't know which it is), from the animals that we now call ocelots...
                                          Where do you get this stuff?
                                          Pieced together from half-remembered facts found on truck-stop sugar packets.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            What is it with cats and boxes?

                                            hello EvilC! I have been locked in a cupboard by Liq/kind of busy with far too much work (delete as appropriate) but it is nice to be back.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              What is it with cats and boxes?

                                              SpanglyPrincess wrote:
                                              Am I the only person who had this book as a child?



                                              it's a NZ tale of unsurpassed wonderfulness which all cat-loving parents of small children should immediately rush out & procure.

                                              the cat from France likes to sing & dance
                                              the cat from Berlin plays the violin
                                              the cat from Japan has a great big fan
                                              but mycat likes to had in boxes
                                              That sounds great, I think our little one would really like that book. She loves our cat to death--she tries to pick him up and give him big hugs. I'm surprised he's as tolerant of her as he is.

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                                                #24
                                                What is it with cats and boxes?

                                                I was sure domestic cats had to be descended from Old World wildcats, because the alternative would have to have involved an intrepid crew of maritime ocelots setting sail from the Americas. For what it's worth, I have Wikipedia in my corner on this; it seems Africa is where the domestic cat's ancestors are from.

                                                The key sentence in this context seems to be "The African Wildcat often rests and gives birth in burrows or hollows in the ground." That suggests the box thing could be nesting or play-nesting behaviour?

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                                                  #25
                                                  What is it with cats and boxes?

                                                  This one was in heavy rotation for little boy Bruno:

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