Cats are pretty wild, even domesticated ones, and cat videos often distill their chaos and physicality perfectly.

“What makes you laugh?” my editor, Jody, asked as we discussed steering Dropping In and my thoughts away from getting dreary when the weather does.

“Lately?” I clarified. Lots of things have made me laugh, but sometimes they go into hiding. I had to think for a second. Was there a funny show I’ve been watching? Not really. And I hadn’t seen any new Bill Burr clips in a while. In the end, I had to answer with the one thing that occurred to me: “Cat videos.”

I almost hesitate to admit it, but cat videos can penetrate a bad mood and make me laugh out loud in that involuntary, almost startling way, which is the best.

My Instagram Reels algorithm, if I am using those words in the correct order, thinks I am interested in professional skateboarding, basketball highlights, “SNL” clips, skateboarding trick tips, weird fake AI videos from other countries, stand-up comedy and animals in the wild, such as lions and other large predators chasing down their meals.

But the very best, the ones that make me guffaw, are cat videos. And I don’t mean the cats dressed up or ones that make it look like the cat is dancing or otherwise being cute. No, I mean videos of ordinary house cats behaving badly.

These are the videos of cats stalking and tackling babies and toddlers, or perched atop a refrigerator like an apex predator swatting at their owner as they enter the kitchen; the videos that remind us that animals, even domesticated ones, are still a little wild, their operating systems running on instinct, in possession of swift reflexes and agile bodies that allow them to leap several times their height.

It’s no wonder we describe incredible agility and dexterous movement as “catlike.” I wish I were catlike. I’d be on my roof right now.

Well, maybe not RIGHT now. My roof is covered in snow. But if it were warmer out, and I had the “catability,” I’d jump up there.

My point is, cat videos not only offer a distraction from inclement weather, but they’re also hilarious. I don’t know why they’re so alluring — is it because of their physical ability and the way they survive crazy situations? In one I recently saw, a cat tried repeatedly to leap from a set of exterior stairs to a roof across the alley, and failed repeatedly, falling to the ground far below, running up and trying it again. Nine lives, indeed. Do cat videos remind me of being younger and more able-bodied and make me wish that I could jump onto roofs? Now that I mention it, maybe.

Growing up, my family had many cats, my favorite being the one we named Thrasher, after a skateboard magazine, because he was so crazy, physical and fast. And then my family here in Bend had a cat for 16 years. He got old and lazy, but in his prime, Sammy had his moments, like one summer when he discovered mice nesting in our compost bin, which hadn’t been turned over in a bit. Over the course of a day, he obliterated the entire mouse family, bringing them to our sliding glass door one after another, the most wild, well, animalistic look in his eye, like he had more hunting to do, and we’d be wise to stay out of his way.

Cats also suffer little in the ways of consequences for their choices. Sammy would sit stoically atop the fence between our house and our former neighbors, and their medium sized dog would go absolutely nuts but couldn’t reach an unfazed and stock-still Sammy on his perch, which didn’t even look comfortable. Likewise cats in videos, at least in my social media feed, such as the tabby I watched clawing its way through an entire roll of paper towels, the still-attached sheets folding accordion-like as they hit the floor. The cat pauses briefly to look at the filmer before resuming its awesome job of making a complete mess. It’s beautiful.

Another of my favorites right now is a series of kittens and cats chasing, smacking and otherwise not giving a damn about animals many times their size. A kitten rides atop the head of a gator swimming at the surface, another kitten keeps a pack of dogs on their heels by hissing and flaring its fur. Another kitten scares a calf into leaping backwards with a single swat of its paw to the face.

The video has a header on it that reads, “When you’re size one but God gave you main character energy.” Maybe that’s why I find them so funny: Cats are fur-covered anarchists pouncing upon the world, people and other animals as if they own the place. And the crazy little mammals don’t get bogged down in the narratives we humans do, regretting our mistakes, worrying about the future, convincing ourselves of all the things we can and can’t do.

Cat videos distill their brand of chaos perfectly. You rarely really know what a cat’s going to do next. You almost always know what you’re going to do next — and if you don’t, might I suggest watching some crazy cat videos?

And when the world feels upside down, and you wish you were in another hemisphere, another time zone or even another timeline, sometimes the best fix is just to laugh at a cat video.

Best of all: Cat videos offer all the enjoyment to be had from cats, with no litterboxes to clean.