Is Anyone else's cat "crate/kennel trained"?

Right before Hurricane Katrina came thru I went an bought a kennel for Peanut Butter so if we had to leave i could kennel him and our little dog(who is already kennel trained)seperatly. I brought it home and put a towel in it for comfort if he had to be confined in there-- I left it in the hallway next to our bedroom door with the cage door open.

Our little dog is crate trained and due to incontinence issues she has to be kenneled when we leave for extended periods of time. So anyway, Peanut Butter has tried MULTIPLE times to "kennel" with calista when we go away. The other nite my son was laying on the floor outside our bedroom and PB was in his kennel. I asked my son if PB went in there by himself and he said yes. I didnt think anything about it. I have walked out of our bedroom several times to find that PB has "kenneled" himself. He will even paw the door closed while hes in it.

I know this is a good thing that he is comfortable with his kennel to just lay in there (with the door open or closed not locked) Im just wondering if my cat is weird-- i wonder if he thinks he may be a dog as we have had him since he was 4 weeks old and hasnt had any interaction with any other cats since we got him. He sleeps with calista, eats when she eats, and occasionally they play together. Could he think that Calista is a sibling or something?

Jazz a Boo sometimes sleeps in her kennel! She treats it as her own private room! God forbid I try to put her in there for a dr. appt., she fights me tooth and nail!!!

This is off topic but I just wanted to say I love the name of your cat. I have a pug named Jasper and we call him Jazz a boo all the time!!!!!

About a week before we have to take the kitties to the vet, we bring their carrier upstairs and make it comfy with a towel so they get used to it. They use it as their personal quiet room.

Now, since they are both used to the car and don't mind going out, we just take the carrier with us in case we had to use it to confine them for any reason but we usually just carry them in our arms. But we DO have a harness and leash on them in case they were to ever jump down. The leash is over my wrist for safety.

I got some fleece crate pads/beds and ever since I put those in the carriers the cats just love sleeping in them. They seem to like them much more than the towels I used to use in the carriers.

I keep the cat carrier out and the door open all of the time, so my kittens are used to it. My furniture is pretty heavy, so if they ever got the idea that carrier=vet, I'd never be able to catch them. The carrier is under a papasean chair, next to a wall, so they use it when they're playing hide 'n seek/chase. One will hide in the carrier, and wait for the other to walk through the door and *pounce*!

I haven't noticed them sleeping in it, though. The papasean chair and couch are right next to it, and a towel in a carrier just doesn't compare to Mommy's feather bed and heated blankie.