Do you ever wonder why your cat does certain things? Cats are mysterious and usually aloof creatures.
Except, your cat may not be aloof when nature calls: you make your way to the bathroom, close the door for privacy, and outside of your door, you hear your cat meowing, crying for you.
You open the door, and there she is, waiting patiently for you! Why do cats wait outside the bathroom? Animals don’t do things without a purpose, so let’s find out why your cat does this curious behavior!
This article is part of our “20 Weird Cat Behaviors Explained” series!
Why is your cat waiting outside the bathroom?
There isn’t one proven answer as to why they do it. Many cat experts are confused about this, too, and can’t give a specific scientific reason for this unusual behavior.
To understand why cats do the things they do, we have to figure out the purpose of this cat’s behavior.
Things cats do may not always make sense to us, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t purposes for their odd behaviors.
We can provide some ideas as to why your cat may do this; then, you can decide what your cat is trying to accomplish!
Perhaps they miss you, want something in the bathroom, or are scared. Let’s find out the purpose for this odd behavior.
Your cat may be curious
You know the old saying, “curiosity killed the cat?” This cliche seems to allude to cats always roaming about their surroundings and constantly mapping out where they live and what their owners are doing.
Cats have an innate curiosity that helps them survive in the wild, so their curiosity is an instinct they’re born with.
If you close the door to your bathroom while you do your business, your cat may be wondering what you’re doing! Is something happening to you? Are you okay? Is there a danger to themselves in the bathroom with you?
My cats wait outside the bathroom for me, too. Eventually, after a bout of crying and scratching at the door, I simply let them into the bathroom, so they can satisfy their curiosity (I live alone).
After a while, being able to enter the bathroom wasn’t enough anymore. My cat would jump onto the side ledge of the tub to see what I was doing while I was showering!
My cats also like to hop in the bathtub after I’ve showered, examine the water dripping from the showerhead, and look at the water collected at the bottom of the tub.
They might be scared
Another reason your cat may wait for you outside the bathroom is that they feel scared and vulnerable away from you.
My cats are often skittish, and cats get scared on their own. Whenever there are fireworks or a loud truck drives by, they run to my side for protection.
So it’s possible if you have a particular “scaredy cat,” your cat may feel vulnerable and scared while you are in the bathroom without them.
This could certainly be the case if your cat is urgently putting their paw under the door reaching for you, and meowing desperately! My cats often do this if I’m in the bathroom without them.
However, your cat could be scared of you going to the bathroom!
Cats are often confused by human behaviors. They may get scared because they can’t make sense of what we’re doing; they are not instinctually social creatures like dogs or humans.
If your cat comes and goes just to see what you’re doing in the bathroom, they could have been scared of the circumstance.
They miss you
Another reason may be that your cat misses and loves you, and they don’t want to be separated from you! That’s another reason my cats cry when I close a door.
Science has proven that cats love us even more than they love food, so, likely, your cat doesn’t even want to be separated from you for a few moments in the bathroom!
I grew up with a calico cat named Kiki that would push the bathroom door open and rub on the legs of family members while they were sitting on the toilet in the morning!
She would do it to every family member, and since we were all so busy, this was the best way for Kiki to get attention from us since we couldn’t go anywhere while on the porcelain throne.
How about some practical reasons?
Aside from being emotional, there can be practical reasons why cats wait outside the door wanting to join you.
It’s part of your routine
Cats tend to be creatures of habit and don’t like change, so your cat may wait outside the bathroom just knowing they can expect you at a certain time of day.
Cats are territorial animals that have survived based on knowing where they live, so they’re always mapping out where they live and what you’re doing.
This would be similar to when cats (often annoyingly) know when to wake you up in the morning to feed them breakfast and carry that routine into the weekend when you want to sleep in!
Your cat may know when you need to head to the bedroom (often better than you know yourself) and follow you out of habit.
If you have a needy cat (like mine), they simply follow you wherever you go, or they remember where you end up at certain times of the day!
They may be trying to regulate their temperature
Your cat may also wait outside of the bathroom for certain environmental factors. Bathrooms may offer a source of warmth or coolness for your cat.
In the winter, if you live in a place that gets cold, your cat may be a little chilly and is drawn to the warmth of you taking a hot shower.
Or, they may be drawn to laying on the cool tiles on your bathroom floor if you live in a hot place without air conditioning so that they can cool themselves off.
They might want a sip of water
Cats may also wait outside the bathroom door because they’re hoping you’ll let them in for a drink of water.
Some cats like to get a sip of water from the sink once you let the faucet run, and the easiest way for them to get to the water is while you’re there!
My mom’s cat won’t drink water unless it is running from the faucet, so she often finds her cat wanting to be left in the bathroom for a sip of water.
This is because cats can feel vulnerable drinking from standing water; they think it could be contaminated, or it might make them vulnerable to danger when they stop to drink.
Curious about the smells in the bathroom
Cats may also be attracted to the bathroom because of all the different smells that come from the bathroom while you’re in there… good and bad!
According to Purina, cats have a sense of smell that rivals those of dogs:
“With almost 40 times more odor-sensitive cells than our human nose possesses, a cat’s sense of smell is a wonderfully intricate mechanism that some researchers even rank above that of our trusted canines.”
Think about all of the different smells we consider good, but then imagine it magnified by 40 times that. Then, think about how confusing (or intriguing) the bathroom environment may be to your cat!
You smell one way to your cat when you enter the bathroom, and after you get a shower, you smell like a different person to her!
Or, they may be curious about the less desirable scents from a bathroom when you visit the porcelain throne… especially, when you close the door!
Conclusion
You now have quite a number of reasons as to why your cat waits outside the bathroom for you. What reason do you think your cat is waiting?
Is she thirsty? Is she used to your routine?
Is she curious about the different smells? Or does she simply love you and miss you?
Only you know your cat best, and now you have some ideas about why she waits outside the door for you!
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