How Owners Try to Stop Cat Escaping Delights Internet: 'Cube Time'

A video of an escaping cat that is kept inside a see-through cube in a backyard has gone viral on TikTok.

The clip was posted three days ago by j (known as @jessrape on TikTok) and has received 11.9 million views. A message overlaid on the post reads: "My [family's] cat kept escaping, so now he has supervised cube time in the yard." The footage shows a cat inside a mesh cube with zip openings on several sides. As he walks across the grass, he rolls the cube along with him.

A caption shared with the post says: "Last 2 times he bit my mom's finger so hard she had to go to the emergency room [because] of joint damage and also ended up needing antibiotics."

Aggression, defined as "hostile or violent behavior intended to dominate or intimidate another individual," is a common behavioral problem for cats, according to the Cornell Feline Health Center at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

The center's website says: "Its causes in cats can be complex, both in terms of triggers and targets, making it challenging to find strategies to eliminate aggressive feline behavior."

A February 2020 study published in Animals noted that "uncontrolled outdoor access is associated with a number of welfare concerns for companion cats," such as increased risks for disease, injury and the predation of other animals.

But access to the outdoors can also offer cats various benefits. For example, "it has been suggested that outdoor environments have increased natural enrichment and space for exploration, which provides for greater mental stimulation," the study said. "Keeping cats indoors prevents them from performing natural behaviors, such as exploring, climbing, and hunting, which might lead to boredom, frustration and increased behavioral problems."

In a later comment, the video's poster said the cube is "just a part of his cat tent, he was dragging the whole thing so we just unzip the cube for him when he wants to roam."

In another later comment, the poster explained that "we put him in the whole enclosure whenever we are outside so he chills [with] us when it's nice out."

The poster said in a subsequent comment, "We call him houdini because he slipped out of the last few harnesses, he's too powerful for his own good."

Several TikTok users were delighted by the video. User nessalomeli.1115 wrote, "Supervised cube time i'm dead."

Joseph said: "It's enrichment time in their enclosure! Love it!"

User a Gregular Bear simply wrote: "The cube of shame."

User @yetiprints said: "His tail wagged at the end like he's scheming."

Hannah Brown wrote: "At least if he runs away you can just say he's in a cube, he'll be found so quick."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. This video has not been independently verified.

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