She was waiting for me when I came out of the bathroom this morning.
No, no — not one of my children, although, as you can imagine that has happened to me more times than I care to remember.
Every mother quickly learns that the bathroom is a refuge.
Every child learns just as quickly that if he (or she) waits long enough outside the door, Mom will eventually emerge.
And she can hear you if you talk to her through the door.
If a sibling is being mean and Mom is in the bathroom, a note under the door will sometimes expedite her emergence.
But she may not be terrible happy about it.
Bathroom = Sanctuary
I imagine, if Quasimodo hadn’t had Notre Dame to carry Esmeralda into as he rescued her from the gibbet, if he hadn’t had that great cathedral to escape to, he would have found a bathroom.
I no longer have to use the bathroom as a hideout from my children, though.
Yes, young moms, your children will one day learn to leave you alone in there.
Or they will be so busy with their lives that they won’t care one whit if you’re in the bathroom, the bedroom, or any other room in the house. As long as they are fed and the wi-fi is working, the natives will not be restless.
Now I have a cat that waits outside the bathroom for me.
Yes, a cat.
She follows me around the house. Down the hall. Into the kitchen. Into the living room. Up and down the stairs — not on quiet little cat feet, like the fog, but thumpity-thumpity, like an angry rabbit.
She loves the bedroom where she can hide under the bed and pounce on my feet as I walk around it, straightening the sheets and blankets. I think she especially loves that she can still surprise me
I draw the line at the bathroom.
Her litter box is just around the corner. She likes to supervise my cleaning of it, patting her paws on the scooper as I sift the litter and, um, the other stuff.
But, no, I don’t want her in my bathroom.
It’s that sanctuary thing.
So she sticks her paws under the door a few times to let me know she’s out there and then she waits.
Do cats outgrow this sort of behavior?
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
Nope.
Do they follow you around the house too?
Not yet, but then he’s only 17 years old.
Maybe next year.
If the door is not latched, he will open it.
Such an adorable black cat as well.
She really is a great cat.
Mine’s only three but I don’t see her stopping the bathroom thing soon if ever! She actually looks like yours, but then again a lot of black cats look the same!
I was told that the shelters always have more black cats than any other color because people don’t like to adopt them. People are missing out. I love our little black cat!
Me too – she is just the sweetest thing – yours is beautiful! Mine was a rescue through our vet’s office. When I saw that she was black I was instantly in love! But other people wouldn’t take her just because she was a black cat!
It sounds like she has you quite well trained. What a beautiful cat!
Well-trained indeed.
Such an adorable cat! We have a black one too. Our cats get upset by the concept of closed doors, including the bathroom. They both follow me into the bathroom first thing in the morning. Our bossy female will shove our sweet boy kitty out of the way so I can give her my full attention. So yes, if you want to keep your bathroom sanctuary, you will have to be vigilant, haha.