cats outside toilet training.

pukkamum

Hi am looking for tips on encouraging my 2 cats to do their business outside, tried putting the litter tray outside but they both just waited til it was indoors again.
yesterday they were out all day and as soon as they came in used the tray!

paddypaws101

I think it is one of those things they do in their own time.
Mine are not spending much time at all outside right now, but come spring they will all be in the garden more and (presumably) use the facilities out there.
It's not such a terrible thing for them to carry on using a tray indoors....it does allow you to keep a careful eye on 'output' and spot any health issues early on.

Gold_Dust_2

I used soil in the tray instead of litter, and eventually they realised that the garden is just a giant litter box. They stuck with it for years, until age and ill health meant that they needed an indoor tray.

seven-day-weekend

Mine have two indoor trays (one up, one down) , and will use them if they are in the house, but will go outside as well.

I wouldn't put the litter tray outside. However, you might try mixing cat litter with some soil in a patch of garden. Then they might realise that the garden is for outside and the tray for inside.

On the other hand they might not. Cats are very much creatures of habit and may just chose to wait until they come in!

notanewuser

Why do you want them to !!!! elsewhere than your own house?

Why should my daughter's health be at risk because you've chosen to keep anti-social animals?

(Will be doubling the number of cocktail sticks in my flower beds as soon as it stops raining.)

:mad:

pukkamum

notanewuser wrote: »

Why do you want them to !!!! elsewhere than your own house?

Why should my daughter's health be at risk because you've chosen to keep anti-social animals?

(Will be doubling the number of cocktail sticks in my flower beds as soon as it stops raining.)

:mad:

Why would you bother to reply on a subject that upsets you so much, your rant isn't going to change my mind and unless you live next door to me pretty sure your daughter will be fine.

rising_from_the_ashes

Sorry but I can't see what the problem is with them using a litter tray?

Would you want to go out in the pouring rain / snow and try to scratch around in mud / hard ground to try to dig a hole to go in?


Seriously, part & parcel of having cats IMHO

AND it's often the first - and sometimes only - way to discover they've got a UTI or upset tum

Knowing your cats' toilet habits and what is normal for them is, again IMHO, a very important health check aid and means any problems can be spotted very early and hopefully dealt with before they've become serious

cabbage

Hi

I had the same problem with my rescue cat The first year we had him he would go outside and then come in for a poo. When the weather got better he used to go on some patchy grass under the trampoline. Eventually I dug over the flower beds and now he's happy to go in there even in the winter.

The main problem I found was he didn't like his paws getting dirty in the wet weather. Now we've had him 2 years he goes outside all the time and uses his litter tray for wee's only.

In warmer weather try to find some nice dry, crumbly soil. When they start looking as if they are heading for the litter tray for a poo gently put them outside in the dry crumbly soil and wait until they have a poo. Eventually they will get the message.

Incidentally, mine always seem to poo in their own garden but I don't mind as I would sooner they do it in mine than a neighbours garden

GwylimT

When we ours have been old enough to start going outside if we have had problems with them only using the litter tray we have often started mixing soil in with their litter and digging a nice area in the garden and mixing a little litter in that, so the soil is both soft and has some familiarity.

I find it weird when people claim my cat is a health hazard, surely allowing your children to eat soil, which is made up of faeces, dead animal/plant matter and stone is the actual issue.

marleyboy

We trained out cats by first mixing earth in with the litter and edging the tray near the back door until eventually outside. From there we had a patch of land set aside at the end of the garden for the cats and mixed litter into the soil, up until they got the idea that they could use the plot. Where the roses now bloom.

notanewuser

GwylimT wrote: »

I find it weird when people claim my cat is a health hazard, surely allowing your children to eat soil, which is made up of faeces, dead animal/plant matter and stone is the actual issue.

Erm, no. It's not about eating soil.

Lets say your mangy moggy !!!!s on my front lawn or in my flower beds. One of 2 things will happen. Either I have to go and check every square inch and clean up any of YOUR pet's mess before DD can go out to play, or I risk her standing on it/getting it on her hands if she's looking at the flowers or whatever. It's then a job for me to keep it out of her eyes (as it could blind her), or out of my house. All because you don't want YOUR pet !!!!ping in YOUR house.