Why Does My Cat Follow Me to the Bathroom?

      And how do I make him stop!

by Rita Reimers, Multi Cat Behavior Expert

 

Here is a question that I hear quite a lot:

Rita,

My cat follows me to the bathroom, and won’t stop meowing until I let him in. Are my days of privacy really over? Why does my cat follow me to the bathroom?

Signed,

I Can Do this Alone, Cat!

Dear I Can Do this Alone,

Hate to be the one to break it to you, but when you have cats, you can no longer do anything alone. The question of why does your cat follow you to the bathroom? The same reason he follows you anywhere: Cats hate to be left out, and that old curious nature of theirs just hates a closed door, especially when their humans are on the other side. (He knows you’ll be a captive audience while you’re in the bathroom, too!)

For me, I have just come to accept that I can no longer shut the bathroom door, so I let them come in to sit in the sink or stare at me from the tub while I am getting ready for the day. Otherwise, they will cry outside the closed door and make me feel guilty for not letting them in…

That is, unless I get them interested in something else before I run off the the bathroom. Try offering a treat in another room, or even a treat ball to get your cat(s) occupied while you sneak off to do your thing.

You may get a few moments of privacy through this type of trickery, but I guarantee you there will be someone waiting on the other side of the door once you open it again!

Life with cats will never leave you lonely!

Meow!