Why Do Cats Love Boxes?

http://www.wired.com/2015/02/whats-up-with-cats-and-boxes/

by iamben • 11 years ago

160 58 11 years ago

iamben2• 11 years ago

"It is widely grokked that cats have the hacker nature." - Eric S. Raymond

delinka• 11 years ago

I have yet to observe human hackers utilizing boxes in any manner similar to cats and therefore am uncertain as to the relevance of this quote. This is not intended as criticsm as much as an invitation to elucidate on the cat's hacker nature with regard to corrugated containers.

iamben2• 11 years ago

Touché. I, like many of us here, am a fan of cats. It's hackernews. I like the quote. Bit of rough dot joining, there you go.

Source, if you want it: http://catb.org/jargon/html/miscellaneous.html

shabble• 11 years ago

When we had a huge stash of cardboard after getting some whiteboards delivered, we ended up building something not unlike the jwz 'Tent of Doom'[1] around a few desks. It was surprisingly relaxing and productivity-enhancing for the few hours it survived before it was deemed 'unprofessional'.

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.

[1] http://www.jwz.org/tent-of-doom/

kazinator• 11 years ago

Google "Temple Grandin" and "hug machine". Maybe cats are autistic, and boxes that fit are their equivalent of the hug machine. :)

obituary_latte• 11 years ago

Our boxes are made of Sheetrock, wood, glass, or cubicle walls ;)

adrusi• 11 years ago

Hackers think of themselves as dangerous. They have powerful skills that can they can use to intimidate and take advantage of others. But hackers are also extremely vulnerable. As children, they were always the outcast, the one that got their glasses stolen and tossed around on the playground. Deprived of valuable peer interaction, they develop into reclusive adults who can easily be taken advantage of by one with an understanding of their psychology.

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.

kchoudhu• 11 years ago

Haven't seen hackerspeak that forced since the movie "Hackers".

PhasmaFelis2• 11 years ago

Pretty sure the guy who assembled the Jargon File has a better understanding of legit hackerspeak than you (or just about anyone else).

pvaldes• 11 years ago

"... and here comes the cool marsupial cat with smart spotted design, included i-pocket, and low weigth with this new operating system, named of course, MCat OS" - Perry R. Saymore

http://media.catmoji.com/post/c2vp/marsupial-cat-sumchatyi-k...

A_COMPUTER• 11 years ago

"Everything that I personally like has the hacker nature." - Eric S. Raymond

ck2• 11 years ago

Some of my cats love boxes but others have no use for them.

I don't think it is 100% universal.

coldcode• 11 years ago

Dogs have owners, cats have staff, goes the popular saying. Apparently staff includes people who try to figure out cats. What a difficult profession to be in.

leeoniya4• 11 years ago

Popular saying, huh?

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 :)

Igglyboo• 11 years ago

I have 3 cats and aside from changing their food, water, and litter boxes a few times a week they require no maintenance.

WaxProlix• 11 years ago

My impression was that the quote had more to do with how cats and dogs supposedly perceive or act towards their owners, not about the level of maintenance required for one or the other. We get that you like your cat, though.

shawnee_• 11 years ago

According to a 2006 study by the National Research Council, the thermoneutral zone for a domestic cat is 86 to 97 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s the range of temperatures in which cats are “comfortable” and don’t have to generate extra heat to keep warm or expend metabolic energy on cooling ...Corrugated cardboard is a great insulator and confined spaces force the cat to ball up or form some other impossible object, which in turn helps it to preserve body heat.

Yeah, Occam's Razor, not Schrödinger's cat.

benihana• 11 years ago

Can someone who loves cats explain to me how so many cat owners seem okay with letting it walk all over the surfaces they eat from after it walks all over a box of sandy cat piss?

MikusR• 11 years ago

Cats don't walk on piss. You are thinking of humans.

Floegipoky• 11 years ago

We don't "let them". Cats do whatever they want, we just have to adjust our lives and living spaces such that they don't have the opportunity to do anything too destructive.

But for what it's worth they clean themselves constantly, and cat litter is incredibly absorptive.

pavel_lishin• 11 years ago

I disagree, cats can be trained; ours no longer jump up on kitchen counters.

jimmaswell• 11 years ago

Can someone explain eating directly off of the table to me

vegetor• 11 years ago

off or of, choose one

pestaa• 11 years ago

I am very grateful for this joke.

DanBC• 11 years ago

you clean the surfaces? you use plates and washable food preparation boards (chopping boards etc)?

sxcurry• 11 years ago

We have a hard and fast rule in our house: The cats are not allowed on the dining table, unless they really want to be there.

dredmorbius2• 11 years ago

I've never cared for that and have negotiated with my cats to not do this (generally carried out with a spray bottle). My most recent cat recognized the concept well enough that when I moved to new places (which happened with some regularity) he recognized the concept of "kitchen counter" as "place I'm not allowed". Similarly dining room table, though he was allowed on my desk.

jdmichal• 11 years ago

Of course, in actuality the cat possibly learned to not be on the counter or table around you. What they do when you're not around or sleeping is an entirely other question.

ScottBurson• 11 years ago

It's a legitimate question. I have mixed feelings about it myself, but not to the point that I've bothered to train the cats to stay off the counters. Mostly I just avoid putting food directly on the surfaces the cats touch. It's not that hard, really.

PhasmaFelis2• 11 years ago

(a) Cats are quite fastidious and will avoid stepping on soiled litter.

(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.

51Cards• 11 years ago

I'm not sure I go with the temperature theory though it does explain the sun/lap loving behavior of cats in general.

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.

j_m_b• 11 years ago

Maine Coon owner here. I concur that they have very different behaviors than Domestic Short Hairs (DSH). Mine HATES to be held, mainly only goes outside when it is dark out and much less frequently than my three other DSHs who like to go out any time of day. He mainly just sits around and sleeps. Sometimes, however, he is a good "guard" cat. For example, one time the neighbors dog was running wildly around in people's yards. The other cats ran away but he lunged and hissed at the dog to chase it away. He also sometimes growls when strange people come to the door. Main Coons are a different breed!

leeoniya4• 11 years ago

not sure how unique the growling is to Maine Coons. my DSH growls when something doesnt sound right outside the door, too.

Eric_WVGG• 11 years ago

I was thinking about the “security” theory a couple months ago when I took this picture of a box my cat is obsessed with. https://twitter.com/Eric_WVGG/status/521764321622507520

I don’t buy it.

bashinator• 11 years ago

Leftover predator behavior where a cat will attempt to camouflage themselves by picking a resting place that's already visually distinct from the background field.

dghughes• 11 years ago

When I was a kid our family cat would "hide" by sticking his head under the skirting of a chair, meanwhile his entire body was visible.

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.

jafaku• 11 years ago

But cats also love to sit on squares or circles (no walls). Try creating a square with tape on the floor.

Luyt• 11 years ago

Or on mousepads! Especially the same moment when you're working behind the PC.

http://www.luyt.org/pictures/cats/mousepadcat.jpg

acomjean• 11 years ago

I had heard that too but am skeptical and 0-2 trying to recreate.

snarfy• 11 years ago

I believe one reason it's boxes and not just any container is because cats love paper. Put some papers on the floor and a cat is likely to lay on it. My parents would get the newspaper and the family cat would always lay on the papers, and my dad's theory was it was due to the static electricity that builds up on a cats fur, and the paper minimized their discomfort.

mattstreet• 11 years ago

I'm not disagreeing but I'd like to mention that two of my cats absolutely love my plastic laundry baskets.

ozi• 11 years ago

Ah, Caturday.

jhawk28• 11 years ago

Kids love boxes too. So many cheers of excitement every time a big amazon order comes in.

thumper• 11 years ago

This was my thought, too. I spent countless hours hiding inside of boxes as a child. I always found it comfortable to be "held" by the box, and loved the notion that I couldn't be seen by others.

My cats did not join me in the box.

azakai• 11 years ago

The reasons suggested are

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.

_Adam• 11 years ago

And inevitably, if one were to construct such a box the cat would not use it.

duskwuff• 11 years ago

They'd probably prefer the box it shipped in. Not because it's more suitable, but just to be contrary.

radarsat1• 11 years ago

"The box-and-whisker plot"

If this article were written for the sole purpose of being able to employ this as a section title, I would understand.

Vaskerville• 11 years ago

I think publications write about "Anything Cats" simply because they know that alot of people will read and discuss the articles.

That being said, my cat doesn't like to sit in a box but she does enjoy an open sock drawer or suitcase.

err4nt• 11 years ago

I have noticed cats, even light-couloured cats, can't seem to resist sitting on black backpags of duffel bags. Has anybody else noticed black-bag-seeking behaviour before?

Why Do Cats Love Boxes?

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