Anyone who has spent time with cats knows that our feline pals are weird. Ask any parent to one of these goofballs and they’ll tell you all about the times they appeared out of nowhere, yowled in the middle of the night, or pounced around the house like there was no tomorrow. As much as we love their little quirks, we often need help decoding our companions.

Out of all of the bizarre cat behavior out there, there’s one that never ceases to amaze us — their mysterious urge to climb and hide in the most unusual places. From cardboard boxes and laundry baskets to kitchen sinks and pots, they seem committed to setting paws on every surface they can find.

There’s a whole online community dedicated to sharing pictures of our beloved furballs finding peculiar spots to crawl into. The aptly titled subreddit ‘The Cat Trap Is Working’ is a place for all feline lovers to receive their purrfect source of entertainment. Continue scrolling for a selection of posts that vividly illustrate how quirky cats can be and upvote the ones you enjoyed most!

#1 Does This Count?

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#2 Captured The Entire Gang

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#3 Took A Bathroom Break After 5 Hours Of Building This Puzzle And Came Back To This

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‘The Cat Trap Is Working’ subreddit has been an excellent outlet for feline lovers to share jokes and pictures of their furry friends ever since it was created in 2015. Over 162K members have a place to show off their trap-setting skills and prove that even these clever and smart critters can fall for bait. This online community highlights one particular aspect of weird feline behavior, cats crawling into or curling up in odd places. Although the moderators wrote “cats in boxes” in the community description, you’ll notice in this compilation that felines find shelter in as many small spaces as they can find.

This seemingly strange behavior can leave many pet parents quite baffled. Even though we know their quirks are based on their instincts, people can have difficulties figuring out what their pets are trying to tell them. After all, cats are famous for having some of the most perplexing behaviors in the world that make pet parents ask one question over and over again: “Why is my cat so weird?”

#4 A Less Conventional Way To Catch Felines

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#5 Muahaha! I Outsmarted Her!

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#6 Hmm

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Dr. Marci L. Koski, a certified feline behavior and training consultant, explained that there are several reasons for this overwhelming urge to hide. Essentially, it demonstrates how they evolved as both wild predators and prey. They are naturally stealthy because they need to get fairly close to their victim and also glide through their environment unnoticed.

“They are instinctually driven to hide and conceal themselves when they are sneaking up on a prospective prey item, and avoiding being prey for other predators (i.e., any carnivore that is larger than they are),” she wrote.

Hiding in their little jungle we humans call home also offers a place of refuge from the noisy family, annoying dogs, and other stress-inducing factors. Hiding under beds, in the back of closets, and in laundry baskets provides a safe spot and gives them comfort.

#7 Not Only Has The Catrap Worked, But Gary Has Basically Moved In At This Point

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#8 This Trap Is Small And Broken But Still Working

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#9 Perfection Boxes

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Moreover, they may try to tell their owners that they could be ill or not feeling well. “If your cat all of a sudden decides to start hiding for long periods of time or changes her hiding behavior, you will want to make a trip to the veterinarian to make sure everything is okay,” Koski said and added it pays to be observant and notice when and where your furball is most likely to hide. That way, you can determine how she’s feeling and whether or not it is something to be concerned about.

#10 Damn Almonds

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#11 He Realized The Box He Entered Is No Longer Stationary

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#12 Not My Cat But A Very Successfully Executed Trap

“Bean likes to be carried around in empty soda cases”

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When it comes to hideout places, few things catch our cats’ attention in the same way as the plain old cardboard box. It may not look so appealing to us, but kitties keep climbing into these lairs every chance they get. Other than the fact that they provide them with a sense of security and help reduce anxiety, they also find them physically comforting. “Boxes can greatly reduce a cat’s stress and help cats regulate their body temperatures,” Daniel Rotman, CEO of kitty litter company PrettyLitter told Reader’s Digest. The optimal ambient temperature for cats is upwards of 85 degrees Fahrenheit, so small and enclosed spaces can provide insulation that helps them retain body heat.

#13 The Unexpected Guest Fit So Perfectly In This Cattrap Including The Tail

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#14 Got A Weird Looking Cat In The Trap

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#15 Does This Count As A Trap?

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Even when we begin to grasp the intentions of our beloved cats’ movements, their quirky behaviors do not lose their charm. However, it turns out that by describing their activities as amusing, we might be missing out on what’s lying beneath the surface. Dr. Jo Lewis, an award-winning British feline expert vet and author of What’s My Cat Thinking? told Bored Panda in a previous interview that cats “are usually trying to tell us something far more significant than ‘hey, I’m so cute!'”

#16 The Cat Trap Worked Better Than Expected

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#17 I Have Never Met A Cat Who Loves Cat Traps As Much As Gary

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#18 Imaginary Cat Trap

“Nobody has had a more productive day than my mother”

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“We have to be careful we don’t misinterpret what are actually important clues about their health and wellbeing,” she continued. “More often than not, behaviors that we label as ‘cute’ … are a clue to how they’re feeling in that moment. They might be hungry, but they may also have learned to enjoy the attention or food that you lavish on them when they do that particular ‘cute’ thing and simply want more of the same. But they might equally be signaling that you could be doing a lot more to better meet their needs.”

#19 Trying To Get Out Of Helping With The Groceries!

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#20 Just An Old Lady With Her “Blankie”. Her Favorite Possession

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#21 Threw My Belt On The Floor. Trap Working As Intended

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We may label the cheeky or naughty cat behaviors as cute when in reality they’re driven by a cat’s basic survival instincts, an illness, or side effects from medication, Dr. Lewis added. For example, when your beloved feline surfs your kitchen countertops for scraps, “she might have an artificially increased appetite from illnesses like an overactive thyroid, diabetes, or medications like steroids.”

Sometimes, their behavior is not even about the food at all: “They might simply need some attention, the chance to interact with you more and this is the first opportunity that day when you’ve been home and sat in one spot.” So if you assume they’re just acting cute, “you could be missing out on diagnosing and treating an illness, or be overlooking an opportunity to understand them better.”

#22 Egg Trap

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#23 Works Every Time

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#24 Tiny Trap For Tiny Feet

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#25 I Put This Down To Sweep The Floor And Accidentally Made A Cat Trap

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#26 Refused To Use His New Bed Until Now – Check Mate Buddy

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#27 Filed Under T For Trouble

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#28 Unintentional Tiny Trap

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#29 My Niece Is Fostering Kittens, And Her Daughter Left A Toy On The Floor

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#30 The Tentacle Trap Is Working

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#31 I Caught A Double. How Rare

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#32 Caught Myself A Good Boy

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#33 Oh, Hi

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#34 The Family Cat Likes To Sleep In My Pants

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#35 Trapped My Cat By Putting 2 Pieces Of Paper On The Floor And Waited

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#36 Caught Me One!

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#37 The Vet Has Informed Me That This Is A Nearly-Universal Occurrence

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#38 A Trap For Each Cat

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#39 He Dragged The Box All The Way Over To Me To Show Me It Worked!!

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#40 All It Takes To Keep Him From Gate-Crashing My 6th Grade Class Is A Strategically Placed Potholder

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#41 He Knows His Worth

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#42 My So Laid Out Her Crochet Project On The Floor To Measure It. Not Even 30 Seconds Later…

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#43 Two Cats. Two Traps. Later Two Naps

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#44 I Received The Happiest Scream When I Walked Into The Room And Found Her In This Trap

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#45 The Plant Is No Longer With Us…but We Kept The Tank Because He Loves It

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#46 My Rug Has A Built In Cat Trap That He Naps On Every Single Day

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#47 Cleaned The Aquarium And 5 Minutes Later…

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#48 Does This Count? She Always Sits In This Circle Of Cables

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#49 His Favorite Place

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#50 This Portable Trap With A Convenient Handle Works Very Well

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#51 The Cat Traps Are Working Eerily Well

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#52 I Caught A Kitten With The Bowl I Use To Weigh Them In

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#53 Got This For Stuffed Animals. He Disagreed With The Purpose

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#54 Caught This Foster Potato This Morning

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#55 If Not For Cat, Why Cat-Shaped?

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#56 Please Stop Rubbing Your Face Against The Corner Of My Laptop And Giving A Peep Show Of Your Butthole To My Coworkers

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#57 My 4 Poster Trap Caught 2 In 1!

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#58 Little Fluff

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#59 Unintentional Trap Is Working

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#60 Catcats

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#61 Pumpkin Is Trapped/Hiding

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Source: boredpanda.com