Cats: behaviour
Why do cats love boxes?
A box is a safe little room. Here is what scientists have checked, and what nobody knows yet.
For kids 6 to 12 and their grown-ups. Tap any Checked mark to see where a fact comes from.
The short answer
Three things we know.
A box is a place to hide. Hiding helps a cat feel safe when something is new or scary.
CheckedConsensus
Checked: scientists who study cat welfare agree that hiding is how cats cope with stress.
Source: Stella & Croney, 2016. Environmental Aspects of Domestic Cat Care and Management. The Scientific World Journal. A review of many studies.
DOI: 10.1155/2016/6296315
What we read: the full review.
Cats in a new place calmed down sooner when they had a box.
CheckedConsensus
Checked: in three shelter studies, cats with a hiding box showed less stress in their first days.
Source: Vinke, Godijn & van der Leij, 2014. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 160, 86-93. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2014.09.002. Study size: 19 newly arrived shelter cats (10 with a box, 9 without).
Also: Kry & Casey, 2007, 43 shelter cats (10.1017/S0962728600027196), and van der Leij and others, 2019, 23 shelter cats (10.1371/journal.pone.0223492).
Animal doctors say every cat should have its own hiding place. A cardboard box on its side works well.
CheckedConsensus
Checked: two vets' societies recommend a safe hiding place for each cat; a box with a roof and an opening counts.
Source: Ellis and others, 2013. AAFP and ISFM Feline Environmental Needs Guidelines. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 15, 219-230. An expert guideline.
What we read: the full guideline.
How we know
Scientists watched shelter cats.
In the Netherlands, scientists watched 19 cats that had just arrived at an animal shelter. 10 cats got a hiding box. 9 cats did not.
Every day they gave each cat a stress score, from its body and face. By day 3, the cats with a box were calmer. The cats without a box needed about two weeks to get there.
What we don't know yet
Big questions, still open.
Most box studies were done in shelters, with cats that were scared. So some things are still a mystery:
Do happy cats at home love boxes for the same reason? We don't know yet.
CheckedUnproven
Checked: we found no study of boxes with cats in ordinary homes.
The box studies we found were in shelters (Kry & Casey 2007; Vinke and others 2014; van der Leij and others 2019) or in vet clinics (reviewed by Foster, 2025, 10.18849/ve.v10i4.727).
Do cats like boxes because boxes feel warm? Maybe. Nobody has tested it yet.
CheckedUnproven
Checked: we found no study that tests boxes and warmth.
What we do know: cats are most comfortable at warmer temperatures than most homes, so the idea makes sense. Details are in the grown-ups part below.
Some cats even sit inside a square drawn on the floor! A few cats did it in one small test. Scientists need to test it more.
CheckedUnproven
Checked: in one home study run by cat owners, 9 of 30 cats sat on a shape on the floor.
Source: Smith, Chouinard & Byosiere, 2021. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 240, 105338. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105338. Study size: 30 cats finished all six tries.
What we read: a summary only, not the full paper. Low confidence.
Being kind to a box cat Our rule
Let the cat choose.
- Leave the box open, with a way in and out. Never close a cat inside.
- A cat in a box may want quiet. Don't pull it out; wait until it comes to you.
- Take off tape, staples and plastic before you give a box to a cat.
These are our care tips, not study results.
For grown-ups
The studies, the limits, and what the evidence does not show
The strongest evidence is narrow: newly arrived or hospitalised cats, small samples, and behaviour-based stress scores (the Cat-Stress-Score, a 1-7 scale read from posture and face). Within that frame, the finding has been repeated by independent groups and two reviews agree.
| Study | Cats | Finding |
|---|---|---|
| Kry & Casey, 2007, Animal Welfare | 43 shelter cats, box vs open bed, 5 days + day 14 | Stress fell in the box group; more approaches and relaxed behaviour; no difference in days to adoption. (Abstract read.) |
| Vinke, Godijn & van der Leij, 2014, Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. | 19 newly arrived cats, 10 box / 9 none, 14 days | Lower mean stress score on days 3-4 (p<0.01, corrected); both groups equal by day 14. (Authors' open version read.) |
| van der Leij and others, 2019, PLOS ONE (randomised) | 23 cats aged 1-10, 12 box / 11 none, 12 days | Stress fell faster with a box, steady state about 7 days sooner; box did not prevent weight loss; adoption not different (p = 0.55). (Full text read.) |
Statuses
- Consensus A hiding box helps cats settle in a stressful new place; hiding is a coping behaviour; a box does not lower adoption chances; guidelines recommend a hiding place per cat.
- Contested Whether body measures show the same calming: in a 2025 review of five trials, two of three studies with body measures (such as cortisol or temperature) found no clear difference (Foster, 2025, 10.18849/ve.v10i4.727; abstract read).
- Unproven Warmth as the reason; ancestry as the reason (a review calls it "likely", untested); the same effect in home cats; sitting in drawn squares; a box preventing shelter weight loss (one small trial says it does not).
About warmth
A 2016 review states that the comfortable temperature range for cats (the thermoneutral zone) is about 30-38 °C, while homes are usually kept near 22 °C. The review takes this from a National Research Council report (2006) that we have not read ourselves, so treat it as cited, not checked by us. It makes warmth a reasonable idea, not a proven reason.
What this page does not claim
It does not say a box improves a cat's health, or that a cat without a box is unhappy. It makes no promise about children.
Sources
- Kry, K. & Casey, R. (2007). The effect of hiding enrichment on stress levels and behaviour of domestic cats in a shelter setting and the implications for adoption potential. Animal Welfare 16(3), 375-383. doi:10.1017/S0962728600027196
- Vinke, C. M., Godijn, L. M. & van der Leij, W. J. R. (2014). Will a hiding box provide stress reduction for shelter cats? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 160, 86-93. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2014.09.002
- van der Leij, W. J. R., Selman, L. D. A. M., Vernooij, J. C. M. & Vinke, C. M. (2019). The effect of a hiding box on stress levels and body weight in Dutch shelter cats; a randomized controlled trial. PLOS ONE 14(10), e0223492. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0223492
- Ellis, S. L. H., Rodan, I., Carney, H. C. and others (2013). AAFP and ISFM Feline Environmental Needs Guidelines. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 15, 219-230. doi:10.1177/1098612X13477537
- Stella, J. L. & Croney, C. C. (2016). Environmental Aspects of Domestic Cat Care and Management: Implications for Cat Welfare. The Scientific World Journal, 6296315. doi:10.1155/2016/6296315
- Foster (2025). Thinking inside the box: do hiding boxes reduce the fear and stress of hospitalised cats? Veterinary Evidence 10(4). doi:10.18849/ve.v10i4.727
- Smith, G. E., Chouinard, P. A. & Byosiere, S.-E. (2021). If I fits I sits: A citizen science investigation into illusory contour susceptibility in domestic cats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 240, 105338. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105338
None of these papers was marked as retracted when we checked on 7 November 2026.
Corrections log
We add a dated line for every change. Lines are never edited or removed.
- 7 November 2026: first version.
Owners: Dora and Lantern. Signed off by Levi, 07.11.2026.
Dora researched and wrote this page. Lantern checked the sources and built the page. Levi signed it off before it went live.
Last checked: 7 November 2026. Next review: May 2027, or sooner if a reader tells us about a problem.