Has it ever happened to you that you come home with the perfect gift for your cat and it prefers, rather than that fluffy bed or that play tower, to keep the box? Well, if you are one of those pet parents, welcome, since today we will explain why cats love boxes and how you can make them happy.
Something as simple as a cardboard box can give your cat hours and hours of fun. In it the cat not only will scratch its nails without ruining furniture or carpets, but it can also hide, take a good nap in a warm place or play with the other cats in the house.
After reading this article, you will want to have more than one box at home to have fun watching your cat do mischief with one of the cheapest and most adorable gifts you can offer your feline.
No frustration because your cat rejects its expensive gift to get interested in something as simple as a cardboard box. If you already have cats at home, you should be used to their weakness for boxes.
Cats love boxes, regardless of their size or features, especially if they are large enough to allow them to crawl inside and use as a fun hiding place.
Cats’ weakness for cardboard boxes is associated with things like survival instincts, hunting instincts, and feline dynamics for play or fun. If you’ve never had the experience of seeing your cat interacting with an object like this, try giving it a box… it ‘ll thank you for days and days!
Why do cats love cardboard boxes?
Experts in feline behavior attribute many reasons to the special taste that cats have for these disposable objects. A cardboard box is a formidable den for your pussycat.
In it your cat can observe what is happening around it without being discovered spying, its closed environment makes you feel safe, since it only has to take care of watching a single access road from where it sees everything that happens outside, and it is a warm, comfortable and dark perfect place to nap.
Promotes your cat’s survival instincts
The cat is a predator, but remember that for other animals, a kitten can perfectly become a game. This reality is what promotes this survival instinct in domestic cats. It is true that within an apartment your pet has nothing to fear, but that does not mean that it will stop hiding.
This is the reason why your feline prefers high places to nap, for example, as well as boxes for shelter. They are shelters that make them feel safe and at an advantage, to control everything that happens around them without fear of feeling threatened.
A good hunting strategy
No matter how tame your cat is, you should never forget that they are hunting animals by nature and they will never miss the opportunity to go after good prey, whether it consists of a toy, another pet, or yourself, like their favorite human.
The cardboard box for cats becomes a dark cave that serves as the perfect strategy to “hunt”. Although in the case of domestic cats, it is more of an adorable game that it can enjoy for hours and hours.
Provides them with a warm coat
Cats are very susceptible to cold. The ideal temperature for them is about 96 degrees, which is why they lie in the sun or hide between the sofa cushions or under the covers of the bed during cold days.
Cardboard boxes are warm and serve as a very nice hiding place for your kitty. Some will use the box especially for playing games, others will adopt it as a perfect bed to sleep in, especially if it is a cold day!
It gives them great curiosity
Every new thing that comes to your home is a perfect pretext for your kitty to have the curiosity to explore it thoroughly and that does not exclude something as simple as a cardboard box.
Your kitty will want to smell it, put its head inside it, try it as a shelter and if it likes it, get ready because you won’t be able to get rid of that box for several days.
It is a perfect and inexpensive scraper
Yes, there are many cardboard scratchers on the market that besides being ecological, cats are fascinated by them. A box can be turned into a perfect object for your cat to sharpen its nails and mark its territory without a problem.
Helps control stress
A study carried out by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Utrecht showed that cats see a cardboard box as a perfect tool for managing stress.
The investigation was carried out at a pet shelter in the Netherlands where half of the kittens arriving new were provided with a cardboard box inside their cage, while the others were not.
Those kittens who had the support of this object felt definitely more secure and at ease than the cats that were exposed to contact with new people and unknown animals. If your cat is anxious or often has episodes of stress, a box could be very helpful … consider it!
