Kevin Richardson (born 1974) is known as “The Lion Whisperer” because he develops a personal relationship with the semi-feral lions at his Welgedacht Private Game Reserve near Pretoria. (His YouTube channel is here.) He’s been criticized for not really contributing to lion conservation, but I find myself mesmerized by the plethora of videos showing his interactions with lions, many whom he has known since birth. Here he makes the rounds of several groups, giving some of the lions eggs and even catnip, as well as scritches and brushing.
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If you have a cat, chances are that it’s followed you to the bathroom and watched you when you were seated on the throne. Some people even find this embarrassing, though I’ve never understood why. Do they think their cat is a voyeur, or is judging their behavior?
At any rate, the question remains about why they do it. This short article in Yahoo argues that SCIENCE has the answer. But before giving an answer, SCIENCE should have answered this question, which it didn’t: do cats follow you to the bathroom more often than they follow you to other rooms? That would take only a simple test, but they didn’t do it.
Let’s accept for the moment that cats do indeed preferentially follow people to the bathroom to watch them excrete. Here are some suggestions from SCIENCE:
Excerpts:
If you’re not a cat owner, it’s hard to explain the situation, but here’s the gist: You go to the bathroom, and your cat rushes in next to you. It then proceeds to watch you pee, like a fluffy little gargoyle. [JAC: Of course it’s not just peeing!] It then proceeds to watch you pee, like a fluffy little gargoyle. If you try to lock the kitty out, it wails and scratches the door like a maniac. It’s a phenomenon science has produced little to no explanation for.
“I have two cats, and if I don’t keep the door open when I use the bathroom one will yowl like her entire heart is broken,” cat owner Phoebe Seiders tells Inverse. “The other I can only assume tries to free me because she, like, flings herself against the door as high up as she can jump. When I do keep the door open they like to come in and jump in the tub (as long as it’s dry).”
It turns out that, of course SCIENCE doesn’t even have answers that might be correct, but it does have some suggestions:
There are tons of stories like Phoebe’s, but no concrete evidence to explain them. According to cat researcher Mikel Delgado, a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, scientists don’t have answers but certainly some ideas.
“There might be various reasons cats like to join people in the bathroom,” she tells Inverse. “Their litter box might be in there, so it could be a room that smells very familiar. Cats also probably know that when we are on the toilet, we are a captive audience — nowadays we are so busy and distracted that many cats are probably looking for an opportunity to have our undivided attention!”
Cats also might enjoy the “cool, smooth surfaces of sinks and tiles,” or even water, Delgado adds. This can make for some seriously priceless photo ops.
. . . Since cats in the wild are pretty solitary creatures, wildlife biologist Imogene Cancellare says domestic cats’ bathroom obsessions are pretty obscure.
“Lap sitting is really popular in the loo — I assume this is characteristic opportunist behavior to find the warmest spot in the house and exploit the attention of their human servants,” Cancellare tells Inverse. “I think they want to be the center of the universe and have learned that humans don’t do much when sitting in the small room with the strange water chair.”
I like the “captive audience” theory, for cats can surely associate a bathroom with a human trapped in place. About the lap stuff, well. . . .
And then SCIENCE, after proffering a few lame theories, punts in favor of extolling moggies:
We may never fully understand why cats do the things they do. But we do know they make our lives complete, in mildly terrifying, infinitely inexplicable ways.
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Here’s a 10-minute video showing “hero cats” protecting people from danger or confronting dangers in the wild, including cobras, bears, and coyotes!. That standoff with dogs are amazing. Did you know that cats were this courageous? No worries: no cats appear to have been harmed.
The last bit of the video also highlights cats’ athletic abilities.
h/t: Merilee, Ginger K.
Our cats are mostly respectful of our bathroom time, although one will paw at the door sometimes. They are both obsessed with water in the bathroom sinks, though. The younger one (now three) has just discovered this (he’s a little slow, but pretty), and is our constant companion for any hand or face washing.
I laughed out loud during that Kevin Richardson video when he showed what Icky’s favorite past time was. I so enjoy the way he discusses the lions and talks about their habits and personalities and so on. That was a fantastic video and a great way of spending part of my morning. Thank you.
How wonderful to have Caturday back! And the entire set of posts… Welcome back, though it’s probably a culture shock.
My cats are especially attentive to bathroom visits when I get up in the morning, when they primarily seem to be checking in, to say “hi” and get a scritch on the head, but also around 8:30 in the evening. They do appreciate having a captive audience and are reminding me that it is breakfast/dinner time. There are litter boxes in both bathrooms, but the cats aren’t interested in that feature at those times. Otherwise, during the day/night, they do not visit me in the bathroom. I’ve had a couple of cats who were very much drawn to the sink: they came running whenever I was in the bathroom, as they liked swatting at or drinking the thin drizzle of water when I turned the faucet on, but none of the current cats are interested in water other than what is in the water bowls.
Great Caturday roundup. Missed it. 🐈🐈🐈
I can accept the greater plausibility that cats want to join their humans in the loo since they quickly learn it’s a chance for undivided attention. Cats and d*gs all know those various special times. D*gs do much the same, only I think it is more a matter of not wanting to be separated. Not even for a moment.
I think that your initial question is very important: Do cats actually follow you into the bathroom more frequently than they follow you into any other room? The answer to this is critical because of the very high probability of confirmation bias. People go into the bathroom for private activities so *are far more likely to notice that their cats are in there with them* than would be the case in other rooms. (“Why are you watching me? I’m trying to get some privacy here!”) This “observation” may say more about the people than about the cats.
Trigger used to sit near my feet while I was on the toilet. Then one day, when I got up, he hopped onto the toilet seat, positioned himself carefully and did his business into the correct receptacle. He had a good scratch around the raised seat cover, hopped down and walked out with his tail held high.
This was three years ago, and he never used his litter tray (in the adjacent bathroom) again. After a week I removed it. Saved a fortune in kitty litter!
Enjoyed watching him interact with the lions. Who wouldn’t want a lion hug and the chance to scratch their chin?
One of my cats followed me everywhere, including the bathroom. She would jump.on my lap while I was in there when she was a kitten, but no longer wanted to be on a lap when she was grown. Another cat just threw a fit anytime any door in the house was closed. She even wanted cabinet and closet doors open. No go of course. The third cat, adopted when she was 4, immediately followed both of us into the bathroom, a habit she must have developed before she came to us. She expected to be rubbed.
Hope my anecdotes can contribute to SCIENCE!
It looked to me like Thor and a couple of his pride mates are leucistic.
Your African safari and this video have both brought back very fond memories of the children’s book “Elsa: The Story of a Lioness” which my mother read to me many, many times when I was young (the beginning of the path to becoming a wildlife biologist?)
When I had a cat she always followed me into the bathroom.
So does pupper – who is a toy Australian shepherd. Dogs work mainly on smell and it’ll smell like “us” – so that’s a draw. And the attention. And it is a job or routine they’re used to so maybe they like to “help”.
My dog “Aussie” goes bonkers when I take the trash to the chute. Or water the plants. He loves to help b/c dogs LOVE a job.
D.A.
NYC