Loud or unfamiliar sounds, a move, visitors or a change in routine can unsettle a cat. You might notice them hiding more than usual or keeping to themselves.
Cats have sensitive hearing and like to feel in control of their surroundings. When the house feels busy or strange, they look for a place of their own where they can watch the room from cover.
One of the simplest places you can offer is probably already in your hallway.
A cardboard box.
Why Boxes Work
Cats are both predators and prey, so they look for spaces where they can observe without being observed. A box with an open side gives them a clear view out and cover everywhere else.
Dr. Mikel Delgado, a certified applied animal behaviorist, has explained that cats feel safer when they can control how much of their body is exposed, and an enclosed space gives them that control.
Cardboard also holds warmth. Air-conditioned rooms often sit below the temperature range cats find most comfortable, commonly given as about 30 to 36°C, so a snug box makes a warm spot to curl up in.
What the Research Shows
Researchers have studied hiding boxes most closely in shelter cats: animals placed in an unfamiliar environment, with new sounds and smells and little sense of control.
A 2019 randomized controlled trial from Utrecht University followed 23 cats newly arrived at a Dutch shelter, half with a hiding box and half without. Stress scores fell over time for all the cats, but the cats with a box improved faster and reached a lower, steady level about seven days earlier than the cats without one.
The researchers describe hiding boxes as a relatively simple aid to helping cats adapt to a shelter. An earlier 2014 study from the same university found a similar short-term effect.
A box gives your cat a place of their own to retreat to when the house feels busy.
It Also Saves Your Furniture
Cats need to scratch. It keeps their claws in condition, stretches their muscles and leaves scent from the glands in their paws. Corrugated cardboard makes a good scratching surface, and a box gives them somewhere to scratch that can take some attention away from your sofa.
Keep It Safe
The Simplest Thing You Can Do
That delivery box or grocery carton: before you recycle it, leave it on the floor and see what your cat does with it.
If they step in, turn around and settle, they have found a spot of their own.
It costs nothing, it is already in your home.
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