Cats and Closed Doors

[charlie and algernon]

Poll question: Cats and Closed Doors

you all know how cats will try to open any closed door that may seperate them from their food givers and servants. Why?

[DebJ]

1. I gave up trying to close the bathroom door when I'm in there..

[charlie and algernon]

2. haha, that's precisely where I've chosen to fight that battle

I give in pretty regularly when she fights to get in my bedroom when I've closed the door, but bathrooms are a strict no, lol! I don't need those little eyes staring up at me when I'm trying to go.

[rainbow4321]

9. LOL!! Me, too!!!

If I do try, I get to hear blood curdling meows of "let me IN" and an outstretched paw under the door.

[Moondog]

3. Opening the door is a revolutionary act, don'cha know?

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. I just can't BELIEVE the amount of self-destructive behavior that I see on DU every damn day...

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[charlie and algernon]

5. well, I guess if you have a baby mountain lion...

:rofl:

[Kali]

8. hahahhaha!

good one!:thumbsup:

[petronius]

6. My cat has finally learned that there's no point stressing over a closed door:

it will open eventually and the food/treats/skritches will all arrive on schedule. However, it's taken him almost 15 years to arrive at that state of zen-like awareness...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. It's a matter of principle.

The cat might not actually want to be on the other side of the closed door, but he does not like it that the door is closed and he couldn't get to the other side if he wanted to.

Bathroom doors are a little different, though. There is a Cat Rule that states that no human may occupy a bathroom without being accompanied by at last one cat. If the bathroom door is closed with a human occupying the bathroom (with no cat there), that rule is being violated, causing great distress to the cat who knows he is supposed to be in the bathroom with the human, preferably staring unblinkingly at said human while he/she does his/her business.

My cats will howl and stick their arms through the crack under the bathroom door if I don't let them in immediately. And then, once they are in the bathroom, they just sit on the bath mat and stare at me.

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

10. Bathrooms are a source of confusion for cats

They haven't figured out why humans use that big water bowl for a "litter box".

[TZ]

13. lol. I think the fuzzy little buggers are pretty smart actually

Mine have figured out I'm a captive audience for petting and attention when I'm in there...:rofl:


As for the doors. Cats own your house you know. They need to perform inspections on every room frequently to make sure it is still cat approved....

[realisticphish]

11. my cat either figures out how to open the door

or sits outside it and shrieks at the top of his longs for HOURS. Seriously, people have told me "just wait it out," but those people don't have to live in or near my apartment. And he DOES NOT stop.

So now, most doors stay open, except for a few rooms where he absolutely isnt allowed. He still looks at them suspiciously, like they're a doorway to Narnia or something.

[joeybee12]

12. Other, cats are extremely curious...clsoed doors means there is something they can't see...

and they want to see it, because in their minds, once they see it, it's theirs.

[Arugula Latte]

14. My kitties will relentlessly scratch at a closed door.

Their tenacity is truly admirable.

[carlyhippy]

15. mine hate closed doors, they start ripping up the carpet when I have the door closed

and I am on the other side of the door.

[mike_c]

16. it's a general law of nature-- the cat is always on the wrong side of the door....

I call it mike_c's axiom.

[charlie and algernon]

17. Oh god, I've been in that battle many times

If the cat is in my bedroom and the door is closed, she'll scratch at it until I open it. So I let her out and close again. Not five seconds will go by before she's scratching from the other side to be let back in. Then it's rinse and repeat until she finally tires of that particular game.