I’ve had a young cat for a few months now. She’s 8 months old, I love her, but she’s clearly in her “crazy kitten” phase and has made a few mistakes—nothing too serious, though.

The problem I’m having is that I live in a 45 m² apartment, and her litter box is in the bathroom, which you access directly from the main living room. Whenever she uses the litter box, she makes a LOT of noise. It easily lasts five minutes every time—she scratches constantly (even though the litter is perfectly clean) and makes a huge fuss before finally doing her business and leaving.

It’s honestly been getting on my nerves, and this afternoon she did it again. It really wasn’t a good moment for me, so I snapped and shouted “WILL YOU STOP ALREADY?!”

She ran off, and less than ten minutes later I heard her scratching in my bedroom wardrobe : she had defecated in a storage bin where I keep my underwear.

That made me really angry and I yelled at her before cleaning everything up. I obviously regret it, but I think it’s my fault—she probably thought I was scolding her for using the litter box when she clearly needed to go. Now I’m worried she won’t use it anymore. Once I had calmed down, I went to get her and brought her near her litter box, speaking to her calmly and petting her.

What should I have done differently ?