Both of my cats are weird. I adopted them from a shelter in Savannah, Georgia from a house that had about 12 to 20 other cats wandering around. In order for me to see both cats at the same time, the foster owner had taken them both into the bathroom so that they would be in a smaller room and separate from the other cats.

That, in fact, could be where Bathroom Cat came from.

Both Rocky and Scarlet had some people-panic issues. Actually, okay, they still have them, but they’re better. The first three days I had them, they hid under the bed until I dismantled it to just be a boxspring with a mattress on top. They have both gotten better in regards to myself, my husband James, and eventually realize other people they meet have no intention of eating them once said people have visited enough.

Still, Scarlet, to us a scientific term, is a very skittery-kittery. She likes to be petted, but usually turns away so you only pet her tail or her back. If she notices you petting her, she’ll scurry away, but come back because she was sort of okay with it and may have liked it, just stop looking her in the eye, dang it.

The one area in which Scarlet has domain is the bathroom. The human bathroom, specifically.

James probably noticed it first one day in my last apartment in Savannah. He was like “Hey, Scarlet’s in the tub!” Which resulted in obvious cat-owner reaction of ‘daawww’-ing and taking pictures before she ran away in terror.

Sometimes it's kinda creepy the way Bathroom Cat waits outside the door.

In our current residence, Scarlet has taken it upon herself to be more aggressive in her bathroom conquest. Whenever a shower is taken, Scarlet is usually right outside the bathroom door, waiting for it to open. When she isn’t, she drags her second-in-command Orange Fishy (who is, coincidentally, a cat toy of an orange fish tied to a string…) and leaves him by the door until she gets back. If said show-taker is spending too long in the bathroom, Scarlet starts to scratch at the door impatiently.

Once the door is open, Scarlet will regard the toweled person briefly, then walk straight past to the tub, hop into it, and sit. Sometimes it will be the end of the tub, but lately she’s started hanging out closer to the faucet. The shower curtain is usually pushed toward the faucet, and she makes a point of batting at the water droplets left on the curtain, or licking them. Or licking the tub in general. The timeframe of Bathroom Cat can go anywhere from a few brief seconds (usually whenever someone attempts to pet her for being cute) to 10 minutes.

Bathroom Cat also brings some awkward breakfast table instances. After sitting in the tub, Scarlet will go to the kitchen and do her little “Pet me, kinda!” dance around anyone sitting there. After the “Aww, kitty”, followed by reaching down and petting her, you get Bathroom Cat tail. Which is wet. And gross.

Unless you previously remembered that she was in the wet tub, petting a Bathroom Cat results in bathwater on your hands.

However, a few days ago, James took it upon himself to clean the tub really well and caulk some of the corners. Since the stuff he used was not really something you’d want your cat to be licking, he shut the bathroom door, and for the last few days, just to be safe, we’ve shut it after showers.

This has led to a distraught, upset Scarlet, who tries to sneak past to the tub, but is shooed away.

Scarlet honestly makes this face if she is denyed access to the bathroom.

By tomorrow, it should be okay to let her in for sure, and I’m fully convinced she’ll be in there for 3 hours once she darts into the bathroom.

To be fair, Rocky has generally little interest in the bathroom, save for the time he fell into the toilet when he was walking around on the edge. It’s left closed now when not in use.

A brief, real-life glimpse of Bathroom Cat in her domain.