Cat House: The Toilet Toll

One thing is for certain: when they were handing out personalities, all cats received a double dose. I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but I woke up one morning and realized that I was sharing my little old house with six monsters… e-hem, cats.

My most problematic cat is named Orion. She’s the grumpiest, moodiest animal that I have ever met. To be fair, she can also be super sweet—but her disposition can change as fast as the weather in Oregon (those of you that have ever lived in Oregon will understand what I mean. For those of you that have never had the privilege, my brother likes to sum things up with the following joke: “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes”).

Orion is also extremely quirky. For instance, she drools when she’s happy. The title of this hub hints at another one of her idiosyncrasies. The cat is familiar with my morning routine: the alarm goes off, and I hit the snooze button. The alarm goes off again a few minutes later and I stumble out of bed. I shuffle downstairs in a stupor and head straight for the bathroom. At this point, Orion has added her own activity to the morning routine. She races across the room, cuts me off, and sprints into the bathroom in front of me. She then sits on top of the toilet lid and refuses to budge until I pet her. I like to think of this behavior as the “Toilet Toll.” Once I pet the cat, she’ll arch her back and hop down onto the floor—and out of the way. I have to pay the cat toll before I can use the toilet. Silly cat…