It began as a perfectly good stroll along the hallway until a woman realized that there was something that resembled customer service etiquette. They were a placid lot of four orange cats standing very neatly in a silent line, all facing the same way, as though they had decided on rules that nobody had taught them.
The shot was featured in a Tik Tok posted to the account of Orangecatmom9, where the single file line up was the entire gag. The plot twist was explained in the text on the video: they were “waiting in line to the bathroom” and a playful warning was given that the “Estimated wait time” can be 4 hours. Far ahead of the line the cause of the patience was seen another cat was already making use of the litter tray.
The audience not only laughed, but sensed that they were watching a classic family tale. The video had gone viral to almost 14 million views, and the social media comments were filled with individuals talking of the same puzzling situation: households with more than one litter box, and yet all the cats always picking the same one. When tips came that the family would like additional trays, the producer responded right in the comment section: “JUST SO EVERYONE KNOWS I have 8 LITTERBOXES SO DON’T TELL ME to buy more than one,” they wrote.
It is the best thing that makes the line-up a bit funnier and a bit more interesting. Multi-cat homes, “more” is not always the magic word but “where,” “how it feels” can be equally important.
Animal welfare advice indicates why. Cats may be fine to co-exist with each other, and even then they are likely to protect most important resources, and toiletting time is one of the most sensitive times of their lives. According to Blue Cross, cats are solitary creatures and they do not inherently like sharing facilities such as litter trays, food or water and hence the general rule is to provide a litter tray to each cat plus an extra tray in quiet and accessible places. Even in the case of a home that fits that criterion, it is still possible that certain cats might want to be on a certain tray because it seems safer, has been familiarized with or just because it is in the “right” location to them. Cats are also easily vulnerable during toileting and thus tension around the litter space may manifest itself as stress, changes of behavior or even tension within the household which may be fine until the point it becomes not.
This logic of resource can be observed during mealtimes, as well. Experts in feeding note that a lot of cats are not fond of eating shoulder to shoulder as their predecessors developed eating as a solo activity. Providing several eating spots in different and low-traffic forms can serve to reduce crowding and rivalry in the home with more than one cat; this is another method of providing each cat with more control over day-to-day activities.
In the meantime, cat “queues” have reached their own niche of the internet culture. This same type of line as the one observed in the hallway: cats waiting to have a turn with a toy, a bug, or a favorite spot appears in the trend of cat queue on Tik Tok, which is usually accompanied by the kind of hold music that makes the entire process seem more official.
At the residence of orangecatmom9 as listed in the bio section having nine cats in total the line was an indicator of the fact that often feline reasoning does not coincide with human thought. In some cases a family may provide choices at all locations and the cats will still vote as one that there is only one bathroom that can be used.
