Every night before bed my cat either waits at the bathroom for me or runs into the bathroom at full speed for before bed bathroom time. If I’m up too late he tries to get me to go to bed to keep his routine.
Today he wasn’t there so I just went without him.
After I came out he sat at the door staring at me meowing. My wife convinced me to give him fake bathroom time, so I went to the bathroom and sat down and pet him for a minute or two then left.
Except when I left he just sat at the door, clearly knowing it wasn’t real bathroom time. He’s being yelling and howling since and refuses to come to bed now that I’ve broken our ritual.
My cat has learned that I will brush her each morning right after I finish making my coffee, so now the second she smells coffee she sits on the coffee table and yells until I sit down lol
Mine does this too. The combo of the noise of the coffee maker and the smell probably reinforces the routine.