I'm usually alone at my place, so I don't always get into the habbit of shutting my doors completely when I go from room to room. But one thing in particular that has been kind of creeping me out is that my cats keep coming into the bathroom with me and won't leave me alone when I'm in there.
Is this a normal thing?
I know that cats like to mark their surroundings and all, but what is their fascination with me? They start acting like I gave them catnip or something.
It sounds normal to me! My cats follow me from room to room. I always shut the bathroom door, so when I come out, they're sitting outside waiting for me. If they can't find me, they'll start meowing and won't stop until I come out and give them attention. I don't think there's any fascination with the bathroom per se, so much as a fascination with places they can't access.
I wonder, are your cats older? I've noticed that younger (less than 3 years or so) cats seem more independent. My thirteen-year-old and eleven-year-old have gotten more clingy over the years. They'll leave me to sleep in another room only if they know where I am, and they come out to check on me periodically.
One of my cats does this! Just as my children had outgrown following me to the bathroom or standing outside the door talking the cats decides to take their place. If I close the door she meows and bats her paws under the door frantically. When she comes in she just sits there or wonders around the bathroom.
In my case I just think the cat was worried about me suddenly being alone in there!
I had to laugh
even though it's obvious to me from my cat's behavior that she favors my husband and son more than myself, she DOES follow me into the bathroom. She just sits there and looks at me. I try and pet her and she moves away from me so I can't touch her, yet she still stays in there looking at me. I'm like "what do you want? You won't let me pet you, you have food and water, your box is clean, what's up?!" Crazy cats
I just had to reply to this post because one of my cats is actually a bathroom sitter. He stays in the bathroom most all day and either lays on the toilet seat or on the side of the bathtub. I think he just waits for me to use the bathroom. When I sit down on the toilet to go, he jumps on my lap and purrs and when I am done, I have to tell him to get up.
I don't know what his fascination is with the bathroom, but he seems very content hanging out in there. He leaves to eat and use the litter box, but then he goes right back.
My cats generally follow me around, including the bathroom. I try to close the door in front of them, since being watched is a little creepy for me, but I don't always make it. My younger cat just watches, but my older cat gets really interested about the sounds. She actually places her front paws on the side of the toilet seat and tries to peek inside, while I'm sitting! I have yet to find out what would happen if I let them in while I'm in the shower...
My cat does this too. She tends to follow me around the house when I'm working (sits in the middle of the kitchen and talks to me when I'm cooking or washing dishes) and she almost always follows me into the bathroom if I don't shut the door completely. I can even count on it in the middle of the night. I can see that it would be a bit disconcerting. Tails get in the way and stuff.
She also always wants to be in the bathroom when I'm showering. I usually wait for her to be in with me before I shut the door (conversely my husband's cat DOESN'T like to be shut in that way) When I push back the shower curtain she's always waiting on the mat (I tell her she's a good guard cat!) and wants attention.
I can't blame her for wanting to be in the bathroom with me at either time, since that's the one room she's worked out a good petting, no matter what I'm doing.
I am glad to see I am not the only one that experiences this behavior in our feline companions. Of my two cats only one partakes in this behavior but only under certain conditions. She will only join you in the Bathroom when either a) you are sitting on the toilet or b) when you you are taking a bath. I believe she likes it when you are physically restricted in your movement and she can maximize her pet time.
I'll be honest, as much as I love my cats, it creeps me out when they do this. The last thing I want to be doing is petting my cats while I am trying to go to the bathroom - it just seems really unsanitary and gross to me.
The funny thing is, they actually get annoyed if one of us happen to see them using the litter box. They act like we caught them red handed doing something bad. They'll stop and give us this neurotic stare until we walk away and leave them alone.