Both Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny frequently name this as one of their least favorite episodes. Even the episode's director Kim Manners hated it. Ironically, it was one of the most viewed episodes of the entire third season.
Gillian Anderson is allergic to cats so would generally be acting alongside stuffed toys or puppets. She regards a scene where she has to wrestle with a cat toy dressed with rabbit fur as one of the low points of her time on The X-Files.
Director Kim Manners was not a fan of this episode, calling it "Teso dos Bitches." He had T-shirts printed up for the cast and crew afterwards that read "Teso dos Biches Survivor."
"Teso Dos Bichos" was taken by writer John Shiban from an ancient chant. The words translate from archaic Portuguese to "Burial Mound of Small Animals."