Our cat, Susan, has been part of the Professional Moron office since her December 2024 adoption. Six months in and that familiar cardboard box adoration thing is intriguing, as it is to so many humans.

When you fork out for some fancy new gift for your cat, why does the little weirdo prefer the box it comes with? Well, we’re taking a look into this mysterious of all mysteries today… thus, read up about it.

Cardboard Boxes: The Path to a Happy Cat

Behold, Susan’s box collection! Some of it, anyway, but that’s general Susan behaviour—chilling with her favourite box.

We’ve accumulated a bunch she’s fond of. The main one she jams herself in for sleep, there’s also a large one we got with a new bin that she uses as a tunnel. This one right here—many hours of entertainment.

It may not look like much, but to Susan this thing is a pathway to another dimension.

She’s also chosen the yellow box above as one of her core napping spots, REJECTING the fluffy cat bed we bought her. What’s going on then? Well, here are some cat-based insider considerations:

1. These little monsters are ambush predators and prey, so being in a box can help them feel safe, enclosed, and out of sight.
2. Stress relief through a sense of comfort and security
3. Avoidance of conflict. If there’s a stressful situation, being in a box ends that issue.
4. Warmth and temperature regulation, so they’ll often jam themselves into small boxes to increase body temperature
5. To spread their scent around
6. Fun

They can get anxious (see cats and autistic similarities in humans) and this little area for them, especially in a big box, can help them recover after getting scared.

There’s been a study on that in will a holding box provide stress reduction for shelter cats? Behold:

“The present research addressed the effect of hiding boxes on the stress level of solitary housed cats in quarantine rooms of a Dutch animal shelter during the first two weeks after arrival.”

And it’s definitely something to offer once a cat is settled into your home and more relaxed. With Susan, we’ve noticed she uses the boxes for:

• Fun
• Sleep

As a play obsessed cat, she likes to jump in and out of them, run through them, and sleep in the yellow one (a lot). At this point, they’re a big part of her daily routine and if we removed the boxes she’d probably maul us.

And we really don’t want that, to be honest.

Further Insights: Jackson Galaxy on Cats and Boxes

Jackson Galaxy is the go-to cat expert online and has, naturally, weighed in on the box debate.

He highlights an excellent point there at the 2:40 mark. With Susan, her favourite toy is this rainbow coloured string thing with tinkly bell on one end. She’ll often run to her favourite box and get in during play, thrashing around with her paws with an ecstatic expression on her fearsome face. Now we know why.

We’ve seen this behaviour elsewhere online, with the cat Maru (housed in a Japanese lady’s flat) being obsessed with boxes.

Whether you’ve got an outdoor or an indoor cat, you should keep some boxes around your home for your furry friend. They add a personal space and a bit of fun for them.

And that’s not a suggestion, it’s a command from the God of Cats to go forth and find some cardboard boxes. Regardless of your interior design interests in your home, that’s all out of the window when you’ve got a feline—cardboard is the new Art Deco.