Neurotic or Not? You decide! March 1, 2010
Posted by Onely in Great Onely Activities, Just Saying., Secret Lives of the Happily Single, single and happy, Your Responses Requested!.Tags: bathroom habits, kittens and Kitties, leaving the door open to the bathroom, single with pets
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I am an incredibly private person when it comes to the bathroom. So private, in fact, that even though I live alone, when my dog is anywhere around the bathroom when I am about to use it, I make her either leave the room or close the door completely.
So, when Christina mentioned last week in an email to me that one of her cute new kittens SAT ON HER LAP while she used the bathroom, I was, quite frankly horrified. Here is the transcript of the email conversation that followed:
Me: “ewwww, i would SO never let an animal sit on my lap or anywhere near me while i was peeing!!! that’s so disgusting — definitely a Onely activity.”
Christina: “There is no ‘let’ with cats. If they want to sit on your lap when you are on the toilet, they just jump up there before I know it’s coming. This morning Theo used his claws to get leverage.”
Me: “it’s called SHUTTING THE DOOR to the bathroom!”
Christina: “huh? What is this door-shutting of which you speak? I believe I remember something like that from many years ago when I used to live with other people. . .”
I hate the thought of anyone (or any thing if you don’t think animals are people too) watching or listening to me while I’m on the toilet — which I realize might be understood as slightly extreme, but I’m okay with that because it’s better than the alternative — a dog sniffing my crotch or a kitten clawing my legs while I’m totally exposed and relatively helpless. But while I think Christina is totally crazy for being so open with animals, she thinks I’m strangely prudish.
We made fun of each other for a while, but it seems that neither of us can muster the rhetorical skills necessary to convince the other that she’s nuts… So, we’d like you, Copious Readers, to settle the debate: Who’s the neurotic one? Me, her, or somewhere in between (no hard feelings, we promise)!
— L
photo credit: EyalNow
Onely.Org 
I’m with Christina 🙂
I’ve forgotten what it’s like to close my bathroom door. My dear kitty (the Daisy-Boo of my screen name) comes running every time she hears me go to the toilet. She’s not as curious about bath times or when I brush my teeth, just toilet visits. LOL
She’s well-behaved though and simply relaxes on the mat, as if keeping me company. I wonder if she’s afraid I’ll fall in and she’ll have to come to my rescue?
The only time I ever close the bathroom door is when I have guests.
Speaking of falling in–Alvin fell into the bathtub today. Wet up to his little tummy. Poor clumsy baby.
I’m also with Christina.
Some of the litter boxes are in the bathroom, so the cats are sometimes in there when I’m on the toilet. And one of my cats likes to sleep on the bath mat.
Being single and having no pets, I generally have no restrictions, although my bathroom is precariously close to my kitchen, so I generally will close the door when I do a 2.
I think it would be up to the animal. If they are grossed out, they will likely avoid the area. Let’s not forget that many a dog has been known to eat the unspeakable-substance, so they’re obviously a bit less grossed out by such things!
My bathroom door is rarely closed even when I have certain guests and also depending on whether #1 or #2. It not entirely neurotic though, because it really bugs me when kitty wants to rub against my leg when I’m on the loo and during other, ahem, “moments”; otherwise, I’ve not been able to reason with her as to why she can drink from the toilet but then not be around the toilet when inconvenient to me. (She’s probably upset that her water source is being defiled) Similar issue with sleeping: She gets pissy when I’m not the only human in the bed and she has to navigate a narrower cuddle space than usual.
It looks as if Lisa and I are kind of tied 2-2, if you interpret Matt and Autonomous as coming down in Lisa’s camp. Thanks to Daisy-Boo and Alan who have my back! Now we need a tiebreaker!
Christina
I think I fall somewhere in the middle of you two…Door’s usually open but I don’t like cuddling while on the pot!
It wasn’t CUDDLING!! (Well, maybe a pat or two. . . )
CC
Yeah, I don’t think anyone’s really on my side here. but that’s ok. And my dog is ok with it too, which is all that really matters 🙂
L
No no Lisa, I’m on your side. I have lived alone for YEARS and I don’t even have any pets and I ALWAYS close the door. If you stop closing the door, it will just lead to a break down in the entire social system. What if you get so used to it that you forgot to close the door in public one day!
YAY! Thanks Lauri — who are these other freaks on this blog, anyway?
😉 L
Neither of you are neurotic – each to their own.
No, Lisa is definitely neurotic. Hi Lisa! = )
How about quirky instead of neurotic?
Quirky AND neurotic!
I wonder if neurotic is an actual condition that I shouldn’t be making fun of.
CC
ugh, i wish i hadn’t decided to eat my lunch while getting caught up on onely. ha! lisa, you’re an example of a GREAT dog owner. i’ll bet a lot of people let their dogs do whatever the dog wants (follow “master” into the bathroom), even if it makes them uncomfortable. maybe cats are different, but as you mentioned: dogs aren’t subtle about their sniffing.
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