Over at Live Science, Margaret Osborne asks (and answers) Why do cats hate closed doors?:
If you’ve ever witnessed a cat in front of a closed door, you might notice how much they seem to be annoyed by it. They might poke a furry arm under the crack, begin to paw at the door or even attack it while letting out agitated meows. But why do cats seem to hate closed doors so much?
Both evolution and pet owners themselves play a role, experts say.
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A closed door hits on all of what cat behaviorist Jane Ehrlich calls the “three terrible C’s” that cats dislike: They hate not having choice, they hate not being in control, and they hate change. While cats don’t necessarily want to be involved in whatever is happening behind the door, they do want to know what’s going on, she said.
Cats also enjoy attention from their owners — which a closed door eliminates. A 2017 study published in the journal Behavioural Processes suggests most cats prefer human interaction to other stimuli, including food and toys. And cats don’t understand that a closed door is temporary, either, Johnson said.
“They just know that the spot that they previously had access to — where they feel safe, or they like to sleep or nap or eat or what have you — is now suddenly taken away,” [cat behavior consultant Ingrid] Johnson said. “When we control things for our cats, we create stress.”