I have a question for cat owners since this is Friday and the appropriate time for cat blogging.
I love my cat, but 99% of the time I can’tget him to pay a lick of attention to me (unless I am sleeping). However, there is one time when he absolutely refuses to leave me alone:
When I am in the bathroom. The minute I get near a toilet seat, he will come running, and he spends the entire time rubbing in between my legs and meowing and being a real nusiance.
I have no idea why. He couldn’t care less when I sit on the couch. He does spend 90% of the day in the same room as me, and sleeps on the printer or on top of the monitor (they are warm) whenever I am at the computer, but he generally ignores me. I already have to hide the toilet paper, since he papered the apartment a couple of times (I am a slow learner). But why the keen interest in me when I am in the bathroom?
Is my cat the only one who does this? My sister’s cat doesn’t do this. Weird.
Dave Straub
Our oldest cat “Basil” (we have three) used to put me through three or four rolls of TP a week when he was a kitten and I was living alone. I would hide it in “latchable” shoe boxes — the type with slot A and tab B, so to speak — and he’d chew the boxes apart. Fortunately, after I moved out of that flat, he “forgot” that fetish. These days he’s very sedate, unless he’s hungry.
Our youngest cat “Otto” is probably not a year old yet. He does exactly what you describe: Scrutinizes our every move in the bathroom. He’ll do the leg-slalom thing and try to jump on your lap if you’re seated on the throne. But there’s more: We have a pretty unique bathroom, with a raised ceiling, sky lights, and exposed rafters. He’s found a way to jump from one of the radiators up onto the rafters. If I’m using the facilities, invariably it’s while Otto is staring down at me from above. He also likes to watch us from up there when we take showers. Kind of unsettling, in a bad horror flick kind of way, but we’ve gotten used to it.
bg
Our cats do this to my wife, but not me. Sometimes they even try to sit in her lap.
Glen
John,
Uh, just how long have you had cats? As a friend says, “Cat are fucking weird.” (Not normally her style.) After more than 30 years of “owned-er-ship,” I can attest: each is weird in its own way.
Of the current zoo of two, one is a regular bathroom vistor. Toilet paper ceased amuse her years ago. Worse (to me) is that she adores rubbing against my legs just after I come out of the shower (which I can’t stand). As soon as my legs are dry, she loses interest.
Her sister loves to snuggle on hot, sweaty nights when I’m sprawled on the couch in a sleeveless shirt. Ever have your armpits first nuzzled (screw “nuzzled,” drilled!), then sandpapered? It’s a treat.
As for other forms of affection: it’s always on their terms. Trust me.
ppgaz
Cats are often fascinated by the smells and sounds that are at the toilet. We don’t often consider the extraordinary sense of smell that they have. Cats will sniff your chair and sofa because, if you’ll pardon the crude reference, they smell your butt there. Cats, like dogs, will smell each others’ butts. It tells them a lot about the other cat — or you — and what you’ve been eating, what your state of health is, etc. It’s a comfort thing in your case, since you are the food provider among other things. Many cats drink out of toilets, as dogs do. Cats live in a world of smells, and the bathroom is a place full of smells, especially when I — er, I mean you — are in there.
Everyman
I’ve had lots of cats in my life; never one who was the slightest bit interested in me when I was seated in the smallest room in the house.
I’m accepting at face value – probably a mistake – your wish for an explanation for this feline behavior, and so I will suggest to you that . . . it may have something to do . . . how to say this? . . . with the odors emanating from you while you are . . . you know. Have you, by any chance, gotten back into that catnip thing that nearly derailed you at about the same time you were chosing a name for your blog site? Or perhaps overdoing it with the tuna casseroles, because I suspect that could do it too. I mean, after you were through . . . processing same.
Another possibility. Your cat may be ever-so-diplomatically suggesting that he would be more comfortable if you were to, you know, shut the door when you are in there. By giving you so much attention – he can’t talk, you know, and this is a pretty tricky message for anyone sharing living quarters to deliver without causing hard feelings – he may simply be saying: “You know, you could have this room all to yourself, if you wanted to.”
Glad to be of help.
John Cole
I had cats until I was 18, but this is the first cat I have had alone and I have been his servant for three years now.
One thing that makes this siutation different is that I had him, by himself, for a year before I introduced the second cat (Oliver, who ran away). Thus, as I have always lived alone since Tunch has been here, I am his only contact to life (other than guests and delivery people).
Everyman
Let’s be analytical here. Did you leave the bathroom door open the entire time when Oliver was there? And if so, why, exactly, did you do that? I mean, sharing with a pet can be real nice, but still . . . .
Or by any chance did you start leaving the door open just shortly before Oliver decided that he wanted to be . . . elsewhere, for the rest of time.
Could it be the aroma of balloon juice, which I confess I have never experienced?
Or maybe Oliver figured out, but would not share with Tunch what he learned, what happens to the blue water you send forth once you are . . . done . . . there. And he went off to see whether he was right.
I’ll work with you on this for as long as you need me. Feel free to call on me.
axien
My cat Princess sounds like yours only she only shows me affection when I am playing on the computer. I think she has labeled the computer room are special spot because everywhere else in the house she doesn’t even acknowledge my existence.
Laurence Simon
Nardo is a major-league toiletboy. But then, Nardo and Piper are also bedcats. I think it has to do with trapping a pet human when they won’t resist or fight back.
JP
We have two Rag Doll cats. One of them seems to be convinced that we are a family of cat eaters, and the only way we can be sure he is still alive is to check to see if he is holding up his end of the poop manufacturing. The other one does exactly as yours does. Fascinated by what goes on in the WC.
In addition we have four dogs, and our German Shepherd also shares this fascination.
capelza
I can not shut the bathroom door on my current cat. If I do, she slams against it and meows. So I am never unaccompanied in the bathroom. This even includes showering.
Over the years I have had some cats that were indifferent. Then there was one who would jump up on top of the edge of the shower door to watch me (kinky little boy, he was). Another would wait patiently for whoever to get out of the shower and then hop in and lap up the water droplets. Of course there are the cats that can’t wait for you to flush the water closet so they can watch the water circle.
Cats are fucking weird indeed. And they’ll never deign to tell you why.
Tim F
Nardo wouldn’t be named after a famous Pittsbugrh weatherguy? Just asking.
Tim F
It’s not just cats. I remember a strange encounter while camped out on a glacial moraine in the Cascades in WA state. As soon as I dig a ‘throne’ with an acceptably spectacular view than the local mountain goat steps out of the bushes and kicks off a staring contest. Maybe the whole idea of people crap fascinated him, hard to say. I can say that wild goats look a lot bigger when you’re squatting and helpless.
Wrye
I’ve had two cats that do this too–if the door is closed, they will push it open and come in to see what’s going on. They both are fascinated by water, though, so that may play into it.
yourbro
Speak does the same thing. I think he is really smart to have so quickly learned that me shutting the door means that he HAS to get in to see me IMMEDIATELY.
Lee
I love when they stick their paws under the door to try and open it. The little ‘thump-thump-thump’ of them pulling on the door cracks me up for some reason.
John Cole
I have completely given up shutting the door. If I do that, he meows like he is being gutted, scratches the door, and sticks his paws underneath the door like he is trying to escape hell.
Jess
They say a cat hates a closed door no matter which side of it s/he is on.
Lesley
When Jane was alive, she would always hang out in the bathroom when I was there. She would even stand between the shower curtain and the liner when I was showering, watching me as if I was some kind of water-loving freak. She actually fell in a couple of times. Luckily, she was a very calm cat, so she would just walk to the end of the tub and jump out.
My new cat, Portia, also runs into the bathroom the minute I set foot in it. She will stay there the whole time, even lying down on the hamper next to the shower when I’m showering. However, her hatred of getting wet prevents her from wanting to get any closer than that.
Emma, however, has never evinced the slightest interest in the bathroom. Other than to get to the litterbox under the sink.
It is, indeed, true that all cats are weird in their own ways.
physics geek
All 3 of my cats do it to me, but only 1 of the 3 does it to my wife. A previous cat of mine used to climb into my pants that were sitting around my ankles and then get quite cantankerous when I attempted to get up.
Mr.Ortiz
This isn’t helpful to your situation but while we’re all sharing, it’s the basement for my cat. He’ll brush against my legs and jump in my lap for all of two seconds anywhere in the house, but he’ll only fall asleep in my lap (for as long as I let him; hours if I fall asleep too) if we’re in the basement. Not just anywhere in the basement, there’s a specific futon.
rose
There are several possible reasons for this behavior. If he knows where you keep the tissue rolls he may be politely requesting that you hand one over. They do love how we smell, the stinkier the better. Your cat may prefer raw skin to a cloth covered lap. As far as getting them to pay attention at other times, at the risk of sounding silly, you must learn to speak cat. You know that chirping noise they make, purrrup? If your cat does not come to his name being sung, yes sung, the chirping sound will usually bring them in a hurry.
Everyman
Jess offers this thought:
The trick, then, is to persuade your cat that he is really on the side of the door, when he’s outside of the bathroom, that he wants to be on, perhaps by yourself clawing and scratching on the inside of the door after you are . . . done. Cats can be fooled. Use cat treats. Liberally. And talk softly.
Kitt
Yep, one of my three cats do this, the youngest – Khaos – he’s about 18 months old. He did this too, Dave
and still does on occasion….so the TP is on a stand-a-lone paper towel holder.
The little toad has a ‘thing’ about certains vegetables – mushrooms, radishes…if they’re allowed to sit for any length of time, he uh, abuses them.