Speaking of Cats in Boxes

It’s a rule.  Leave an empty (or almost empty) box or container where a cat can find it and in goes the cat.  The “experts” have all sorts of reasons for that behavior.  “Boxes Make Cats Feel Safe,” “Boxes Make Great Hunting Hideouts,”  “Boxes Help Keep Cats Warm,” and “A Box Is New and Mysterious” are a few that come up over and over.

I prefer to think that the answer is more often “because it’s there.”  I come to this conclusion, not through any complicated intellectual process, but by asking myself why cats think that we humans sit in chairs so frequently.  Do they think we feel safe there?   Or that we are waiting for prey to come sit on our laps?  Or would it even occur to them that we just want to rest a bit — to take a load off, as it were?  Seems unlikely.  Resting is lying down as every sensible cat knows.

In reality, I doubt if cats think much at all about why we humans sit in chairs (or anywhere else).  I doubt if they care — unless, for some reason it signals “time for a treat” or another cat-centered activity.  Trying to figure out the whys and wherefores of others’ habits is more likely our bailiwick, not  that of our feline friends.  And… I have to say that it’s as hard to second-guess cats as it is to figure out chickens.

One thing though… chickens do NOT like boxes.

 

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