Cats definitely have their quirks. Once you have lived with your cats for years and know them very well, you pick up on some of their funny habits and behaviors. I can’t remember when I first noticed it, but cats I have had always seem to like to sit ON things and IN things. For example, if the entire bed is made and there is a single shirt laying in one small corner of the bed, they sit on the shirt. If there is a folded blanket on the back of an otherwise empty sofa, they sit on the blanket. If you leave a magazine or book laying on any surface, they sit on the magazine. And it seems to also be true that if the shirt or blanket is dark or contrasting in color, they like it even more.
Jack in a box.
And everybody knows about cats and cardboard boxes. This quirk has been well documented by the antics of the adorable Maru, of course. They become excited and are unable to resist climbing into a new cardboard box to sniff, hide, play or even curl up for a nap. And the tighter the fit, the better! They love to squeeze in, even if it causes the box to bulge. And it’s not just the space inside the box, but the cardboard itself receives a lot of nose rubs and body rubs. I have been known to save cardboard boxes for my cats for them to enjoy. Around the holidays, a box was setting by our door for more than a week, and our kitty Cassidy slept on top of it constantly.
In both cases, I’m sure familiarity and territoriality are factors. Cats think of our homes as their worlds and we are just a part of that. When something is new, like a cardboard box or piece of mail, they are curious about it and instinctively want to explore it and claim it by putting their scent on it. It then becomes familiar to them and is a new addition to their world. The shirt on the bed is probably comforting because it smells like us, and we are a familiar part of their world.
These two delightful kitty-isms played into the design of my new Cat Beds and Cat Mats. My kitty in high school, Switzer, had a permanent “bed” on my bed that was a simple cardboard box lid. She climbed right into it one day and kept returning to it, so I kept it there for her permanently. When I was thinking about what kind of bed to design for my cats, this concept came to mind. If I could give them something like a cardboard box, hopefully they would adopt it as a sleeping spot. Similarly, I thought the idea of making a “kitty throw” or “cat mat” to place on the bed, sofa, chairs and/or ottoman could be a nice way to give them a favorite napping spot all their own that they could return to and find comfort in.
Of course, one of my ulterior motives in presenting them with beds and mats at all was to keep cat hair under control. The kitties seemed perfectly happy sleeping on the blanket on the sofa or in a chair or on our clothing, but those spots were then hairy and even sometimes had kitty litter dust from their feet.
So, after a few experiments, I arrived at a washable fabric cat bed made with two layers of an interfacing that gives it a rigidity that is similar to cardboard. And it really works! Two of the three cats are in them for every nap and all night, and they appear to be blissfully enjoying their time there. I am see lots of bellies showing and noses rubbing the edges. I made them in two different sizes, and found that they loved to squeeze in and curl up in the smaller size (12 inch square) and stretch out or double up in the larger size (14 inch square).
Jack in DK Cat Bed Prototype #2
The Cat Mats have been well received and are working well too. I decided on a rectangle to accommodate stretching out, and it’s about the weight of a quilt. I have several of them in different places and they are easy to throw in with the laundry when they get too hairy. And when they come out of the laundry, the cats have a fun time reinstating their smell on them. Another nice feature is how much easier it is to do a quick clean-up if guests are coming over. Instead of extensively vacuuming all of the furniture, I just pick up all the cat mats and put them out of sight temporarily. Voila!
It is very rewarding to have observed my cats’ behaviors, designed something around that and seeing it work! Have you noticed these or other behaviors in your cats? Have you ever designed something in response to something they did?
