It’s widely observed and commented upon that cats love to sit in boxes (“If I fits, I sits”). My cats are no different. With six of the characters, I need to have more than one box for them or else I’m aurally assaulted with the cries of cranky cats who won’t share. Fortunately for me I get “short” boxes, which are covers over cases of canned dog food that I order from Chewy. They not only serve whatever inscrutable purpose cats have for sitting in boxes, but they’re also prime targets for one of the cats who loves to chew cardboard. I’d much rather have cats chewing on cardboard than on something dear to me, such as furniture. I’m left with having to vacuum up chewed cardboard at least every other day, if not daily, but that’s not a real problem.

Nicholas has turned eleven months, and has grown quite a bit. He’s big enough to be indistinguishable, size-wise, from Beau and Luke. He loves his boxes, and he also loves his asparagus. Not to eat but to play with. When my wife prepares asparagus she trims off the woody ends, which Nick just loves to play with. He rolls them off the edge of the table and carries them around in his mouth. Here he’s caught sitting in a box with his asparagus section at his feet.

I received an order from Amazon in a small (for Amazon) box, big enough for Zoë to sit and hide in. She immediately claimed it as her own as soon as the box hit the floor. She was eyeing it as soon as I walked in from the outside carrying it. It was hers for a few days until she got bored with it, at which point everybody else decided to play with it for a while.

Cat owners are all too often told they need to spend large sums of money for cat toys. In reality, nothing holds a cat’s attention as much as a nearly-free cardboard box.