Every breeder of furry pets has repeatedly noticed their genuine interest in boxes and packages. Often, cats are not interested in the content, but in the packaging itself, which delights and takes all the attention. What could be the reason for such interest, why cats love boxes and often use them for sleep, will tell the material of this article.
What is interesting about them?
Often, cat owners are faced with the fact that pets remain indifferent to expensive couch and game complexes. It is difficult for an average person to understand how to exchange a good thing for a simple and sometimes even boring item. However, cats have their own opinion on this. Scientists have found that an animal can treat boxes and packages differently. However, it rarely leaves such gadgets without attention.
A simple cat packaging can find different uses. Today it is a means of active rest, tomorrow - a secluded place, during the day it can become a material for research. The reason for the different interest may lie in the mood of the pet. That it is a factor in determining the purpose of the subject.
And cats are not just interested in the boxes - they need them.
What do boxes like?
A cardboard box in the eyes of a cat can become a haven or an object for the game. Often, cat owners use this packaging to create large game complexes. However, the cat does not necessarily have to box was sheathed with warm material. If she likes her, it will be a favorite item that takes a lot of free time.
The smell of childhood
Someone believes that the cause of interest may lie in the relationship of cardboard with wood. It is likely that the cat smells a native smell of wildlife. However, a more believable version is her childhood memory: being a kitten, she was with her mother in a cozy box. And because it can remember the smell.
If the animal climbs into the box and, purring, for a long time pulls its litter, turning over with its paws, then it is. This instinct in cats laid since childhood. This behavior is typical of small kittens falling asleep near the cat. This calm, a sense of protection and absolute peace, this is what the cat has been looking for all its life. Some cats behave in the same way in a bed before bedtime.
Social factor
In addition, the box can become a kind of cocoon that protects the cat from stress. This fact is confirmed by studies of scientists working with domestic cats in shelters. A cat without shelter feels insecure, she is prone to stress and has poor contact with people.
Behavioral behavioral strategy helps the animal to hide from what it may fear.
If the pet does not have its place, it is likely that the box will perform exactly this function.. Other cats occasionally use boxes as a social barrier. Hiding into it, they feel protected from the master's reprimands, cry or noise. These situations are rare, only in the absence of another secluded place the cat will hide in a box.
Toy box
The look of an active cat rarely misses small boxes, postal boxes. Small objects become anti-stress toys, large objects become shelters in which you can hide while tracking down prey. Funny pets believe that they are not visible in the boxes. They get a huge discharge in the process of games, scratching, biting or moving objects from place to place.
Often, cats spend a lot of energy cracking boxes. Such activity is necessary for wasting extra energy, after which pets tune into a sweet dream.
Individual individuals manage to push their faces into narrow boxes, and this does not bother them at all. In their games, they rarely set themselves any framework.
Cardboard is used to make kogtetochek. He does not injure the animal when he wants to scratch his claws, and allows him to "tear off" in a fit of active games. Other individuals play to the point that they gnaw holes in boxes, with pleasure biting paper. They are sensitive to the rustling sounds and with pleasure create them themselves, scratching and biting cardboard boxes.
Physiology
Cats are considered animals that adore different burrows. They love to watch the prey, sitting in ambush, and therefore often even hiding in a closet or pedestal. Animals are very quick-witted, they can watch or track something for a long time, and some, on the contrary, are completely relaxed before falling asleep when they find themselves in a secluded place. The conclusion about the various burrows was made by scientists for a long time, and the studies were carried out on the basis of the habits of many animals.
Pets love boxes, from which the owners make improvised houses, cutting round entrances to the “holes”. If at the same time to connect a pair of objects with a common hole, such a toy will be appreciated better than an expensive lounger. The cat will be inside its labyrinth, being fully confident that it is invisible, as well as using boxes as personal space.
In general, the craving for boxes and packages is explained by vibrissae. Tactile touching objects (especially rustling) attract cats. Thanks to the mustache, they get information about things, but not every subject is amenable to quick study. The cats gnaw the boxes only when they are examined by vibrissae, receiving information that non-living objects (animals do not eat anything alive, even mice are initially killed, so that they cannot bite them at the meal).
The cats like rustling, it vaguely resembles the vibrations from the mouse paws, which enter the brain through the whiskers. It is for this reason that they touch the packages and boxes with vibrissae. In addition, each type of mustache gives its assessment of a certain thing. Vibrissae on the paws can evaluate the box as an object from childhood, those that are located on the face, may indicate that this item is for play.
Other hairs suggest that the box can be perceived as a lounger.
Alternative to the lounger
A cat, accustomed to its place from its young claws, very quickly realizes that it is a corner in which no one will touch it. In addition to the fact that sometimes she needs a personal space, she may just like the new improvised “house”. There are cases when two cats living together share a similar “house” among themselves.
And here, if there is no friendship, a joke or mere curiosity can grow into rivalry. As a result, the conquered toy-box becomes a basic stove bench. If desired, the box can be nibbled and used as a scraper. What dictates the mood at the moment is what the box will be, and the cat rarely thinks about its safety (according to the principle “my box is what I want, I do it”).
Why bite packages?
Plastic packaging attracts pets not less cardboard. There are cases when a pet is frantically tearing a plastic bag with his teeth. This does not mean that he lacks any substances or he is sick. Not at all: in case of illness, vitamin deficiency or poor health, the cat pack is not interested. The animal is so entertaining itself, because, you see, often the owner pays her too little attention.
The cat starts its game with a rustle and often with a package toss. While entertaining herself, she can give in to her predatory instincts, like those when she plays with a mouse.Other individuals like claws digging into polyethylene. If the cat is not jokingly nibbling or even eating a package, most likely there was something edible in it, which left an alluring smell. For the same reason, the cat licks packages.
Why play with cellophane?
From nature cats are extremely curious and interested in everything. They like the rustling sound, some members of the family like to inspect every package they see in the house. They can climb into them, sit for a long time inside and be sincerely offended when they are scolded for it. Cat nature is such that furry pets look at everything in their own way. Sometimes breeders jokingly point out that their pets were born in bags - so much they beckon them. Moreover, cats sometimes not only play with packages, but also climb to sleep in them.
Plastic bags are different from the usual toys. During the game, they not only rustle, but also magnetize the wool in contact with it. Cats love everything unusual, giving free rein to the instincts. In addition, the sound of the rustling package they may be associated with a call to hunt.
Being in a playful state, the cat can play along with itself, throwing the bag or trying to touch it as often as possible, in order to hear the interesting rustling again and again.
They love pets and paper bags. They are happy to climb into them, like in boxes. Investigating this subject, they do not forget to note for themselves what was in it. If there was something tasty in it, the pet may be distracted from the game and look for the source of the smell. However, the cat often quickly switches to the game again, because it is characterized by a quick change of mood.
Sometimes the package becomes an improvised haven during the game. The cat is sure that he is safely hidden and invisible to the owner. At the most opportune moment, he goes into the attack, sticking a fluffy paw out of the bag and grasping the prey. The packages make good bow toys, which kittens and adult cats like. However, during the game you need to watch out for the animal, so that in its curiosity it does not go too far. We can not allow the pieces of the package or box hit the stomach of a nimble hunter.
Video answer to the question why cats love boxes, see below.
