Why Do Cats Love To Sit In Boxes?

By Shivam B

Cats always look for a comfy place to sit, and it doesn’t get cozier than an empty box. Even as society places high value on our pets that they have their own furniture, treats, and clothes, cats have found their cat beds and trees lacking. They have found ways around the lack of square edges on furniture, which apparently they don’t love, by sitting in boxes. they even prefer sitting in two-dimensional boxes made out of squares with masking tape!

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Cats prefer to sit in something that merely gives the illusion of a rectangle or square, and this is backed up by a recent study published in Applied Animal Behavior Science. The findings may give researchers greater insight into how our furry friends perceive visual illusions.

The study’s coauthor Gabriella Smith told Gizmodo via email that she learned more about optical illusions in a lecture and that made her wonder if such deception would work on domestic cats. She also had the question, would cats sit in a fake box (i.e. an illusory box) and enjoy it as much as a real box?

Science may have proven what the internet already knew: cats have an “if I fit, I sit” attitude when it comes to resting and taking their cat naps. A gray cat sits in a Kanisza square which is one example that proves this point. What is this really about? Why do they love the enclosed spaces and even the illusion of one?

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It’s often said that cats like to sit where they fit, and science is finally catching up. of course, researchers need to conduct more research before the mystery of why this may be decoded for sure. But Nicholas Dodman wrote in 2017 about one theory from a group of researchers: “Cats might prefer sitting on boxes because it provides them with an enclosed space.”