Why Do Cats Love Boxes?
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I have an adult Maine Coon and he is a walking fur factory. I have never seen so much hair on one cat. His actions are very different from other cats I've had, he avoids sunshine, he doesn't like to sit on laps, and he always sleeps stretched out vs. curled up on the coolest surface available. To me that indicates he's plenty warm and desires no excess heat. However if you put a box down he'll claim it instantly.
I have always thought cats like boxes because it feels secure to them. A Reddit post once commented "Cats are in a difficult position - they're small enough to be prey but they think of themselves as predators. So their natural state is somewhere between dangerous and nervous." I think the enclosure of a box gives them some peace of mind.
I don’t buy it.
Cats like caves too such as bags I think they just like to be surrounded. As well as a perch cats need a perch too they must feel safe being up high. A box on a perch would be perfect but now we're getting into bird nest territory.
1. Cats are ambush predators and have a tendency to like small places they could stalk prey from
2. Cats like to go to safe places where they can be alone, when they feel uncomfortable around humans or other pets
3. Cats prefer warmer temperatures than humans, and boxes keep them warmer
It seems then that the ultimate cat box would be heated, and in a location that both lets them look at everyone else, but also feel secluded enough, like maybe up high on the wall. Or maybe a two-part heated box, one facing the room, the other more private.
If this article were written for the sole purpose of being able to employ this as a section title, I would understand.
My cats did not join me in the box.
That being said, my cat doesn't like to sit in a box but she does enjoy an open sock drawer or suitcase.
Yeah, Occam's Razor, not Schrödinger's cat.
Don't remember last time i had to take my cat outside twice a day, pick up his turds on every street corner, then hire a babysitter if i needed to be out of town for a weekend. Also never seen him eat shit.
He does get let outside a few times a week, he does hunt, and when i choose to go outside with him (without a leash), he follows me everywhere by himself, though usually trailing by 50ft. Did I mention he also bathes himself, daily? Then watches TV, kneads the blankets and sleeps next to us at night.
Reality is different than catchy quotes :)
1. Dachshund--huge appetite, genetic problems from over breeding. Fearless! As a child I had to pull her off the >100 German Shepard. She ran out and grabbed his neck until I got her to realease.
2. Bullmastiff--Big sweet, but with genetic problems due to over breading.
3. American Bulldog/Pit mixes. The two had no obvious genetic problems, but for brothers from the same litter they had vastly different personalities.(One was so aggressive, and neurotic a vet put him on Prozac--didn't do anything, like my experience on SSRI's.) The one thing that I never expected was both would Only urinate and deficate in my backyard. I took them on vacation and they held it for two days. I took them on walk and for 14 years they never once relieved themselves until they got home? I never used negative reinforcement? Actually, they were potty trained in a few day. One other thing, they were both males, but never lifted their leg to urinate? Neither of them would over eat, even when given something really good?
4. One thing about all the dogs in my life; they seemed to have more common sense than a lot of by buddies at the time? I never saw my dogs eat shit, but if I did see them eat grass when they were not feeling well--which makes sense? I never saw one eat shit, but their might be something good about about it(reintroduce good bacteria?)
5. They were my best friends!
I don't think it is 100% universal.
Source, if you want it: http://catb.org/jargon/html/miscellaneous.html
I'm not sure it would work out well full-time, but in my experience, cats also leave their boxes from time to time, so there's precedent.
..I'd still rather have a private office than a cubicle (cardboard or no) though.
Hackers prefer warmer temperatures than other people. This is why they eat Cheetos to grow an insulating layer of fat, and why they spend so much time in a sealed room full of octo-core CPUs and graphics cards.
By extrapolation, I predict that hackers are also ambush predators.
The other day a work colleague of mine described me as "so meek and mild", and I couldn't agree more.
http://media.catmoji.com/post/c2vp/marsupial-cat-sumchatyi-k...
But for what it's worth they clean themselves constantly, and cat litter is incredibly absorptive.
Other than that, never that I discovered. Though leaving temptations out was also generally avoided. His other behavior suggests he did as expected.
(b) I eat off of a plate, actually. The cats are not allowed to walk on the plates. If you just pour your Cheerios all over the table and then lick them up, yeah, probably not a good idea to own cats.