Why is my cat so interested in my shower?

Question

When I take a shower my cat will often sit right outside of the sliding glass door and poke at the edges of it. If I open the door (which potentially exposes him to the water) he runs away. However, after I am done, if I leave the sliding door open he often wants to walk into the shower and sniff around. Why does he do this?
My have-no-idea guess is that the moisture in the shower amplifies smells and this makes it very appealing to him to sniff the higher-magnitude smells. How far off am I?

Answer 1

We can only guess what exactly is going through a cat's head, however I can think of multiple possible reasons.

The cat is drawn to the smell of your hygiene products.

I've heard tales anecdotally of cats that for whatever reason super like the smell of hygiene products, even going so far as trying to eat shampoo or conditioner, or licking newly washed hair. Of course be careful to keep these things away from your cat, as they are not safe to be eaten.

Some cats like playing with water.

Even while most (but not all) cats hate getting wet, even still they might like playing with small amounts of water, like the drips left behind in a shower. As long as it's only their paws getting wet, they don't seem to mind as much.

The cat is trying to follow you.

Though cats don't have much of a reputation for being social, they will actually follow cats or people they are bonded to around as a way to socialize. Some cats even get separation anxiety when left alone, though it's often less obvious than it is with dogs.

The cat is curious or thinks showering is entertaining.

Cats are often curious about human activity, or even entertained by people watching. I've seen my cat obviously taking interest in watching my neighbors out the window. Multiple of my cats have been drawn to the kitchen when we're doing anything in there. If it were just while cooking, I'd guess they are drawn to the food smells, but they also seem to like to come and watch if we're just washing dishes or cleaning too.