It is not an uncommon fact for any person who loves cats or owns a cat as a pet in their home that these cats love to snuff their elastic bodies into compartment of almost any size. Be it a laundry basket or the drawer or the cardboard box, which are their favorites, these fluffy cats cannot seem to resist the urge to fit themselves inside these containers. It can be a little frustrating especially if you have just bought a new pet bed for your cat but they still prefer to sleep inside cardboard box which can be the very same they might have come in your house. Still, an explanation has been provided about their obsession with stuffing their bodies in closed compartment.
The theory behind the cats stuffing themselves inside tight pales is that they feel safer in them because of their stress relieving effect. A team of researchers working at the University of Utrecht put this theory of cats in boxes and the effect of it on reducing stress, by conducting and experimental study.
What the researchers found has left many cat lovers astonished for their lack of knowledge about these cats. These cats actually do tend to experience lower stress levels once stuffed inside a box. The researchers conducted this study at a cat Shelter located in Denmark which involved a total of 19 cats, 10 of which were already attached to living in boxes.
These scientists presented the results, “experiences filled with stress can have major impact on the health of cats as well as may result in higher incidences where they might contract infectious diseases from living in a shelter due to their increased cortisol levels which leads to immunodeficiency. Although numerous studies present the preference for finding a hiding place as well as stress reduction of the hiding boxes in cats in combine studies, not all of these studies determined if proper hiding would be an effective approach fro the quarantine of cattery.”
The stress level of cats was scored by the Kessler and Turner Cat-Stress Score. Cats living in boxes had a low stress level as compared to the non-box group. Still, after 1 week, both of these cat groups recorded the same score on the CSS.
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