The Cat Thread

It’s not at all like that.

It’s painted white.

Parsley asleep...so trusting...he is very loveable.

1 Attachment

A question for you all:
Do those of you with outdoor cats still have a litter tray and do your cats use it?

My neighbour was just complaining that he’s always finding cat poop in his garden, but he has 4 cats and apparently 5 litter tray throughout the house. We kept a tray for a month or so after the cats started going outside, and they pretty much stopped using it entirely, so I got rid of it.

We still have a tray that the cats can get to but they never normally use it. Our cats are locked indoors overnight and so there is a tray for emergencies if required. Only time they used it recently was when we gave them some dodgy chicken in the evening and they pooped and puked in the tray which was handy for cleanup. It's out of the way in our laundry, next to a toilet and they have to go through an internal cat flap to get to it (so we can keep the door closed) so they obviously remember where it is and how to use it. Otherwise they just go in the neighbours veggie patch during the day.

My cat does go outside but not all the time as he can’t use the cat flap and we can’t leave a window open when we are at work or out...so we keep the litter tray which he does use even when he has access to the great outdoors...other cats in the past I have been able to ditch the tray...so depends on the individual mog I guess.

Ours use the garden or should I say the flower pots, we have a litter tray for when we are going away for a night as we locked them in, but as soon as the litter tray is out they will use it even if the back door is open or they have access to get outside.

Thanks for the feedback, so it seems like every cat is different! Ours have access to the outside at all times, but we don't have a garden. It seems odd to me that he was complaining that if we all let our cats shit outside it would smell terrible and we'd not have cats, to me the opposite is true and if my cats shit inside all the time it'd drive me mad. I'd like to think I'd feel the same if I had a garden which cats were using, and would either just get over it, or use some of that repellant stuff.

How long do people think it's ok to leave their cat(s) alone? We're going away for 3-4 nights and not sure whether cattery is the best idea. I reckon he'd be ok at home, so long as we can get someone to come round and feed him...

We leave ours 3 nights max, as thats as much as our time feed can do.

If you have someone who can come round and make a bit of a fuss and hang out with the mog as well as just put food and water out, it's better.

(Many forumers willing to provide this service if local... )

Two weeks is doable too. The cattery certainly wasn't a success for Suzy, last time we brought her there (2nd time, 1st time she was only half a year old) she was completely exhaused for a week and did nothing but sleep after we picked her up again, as if she hadn't been able to for that period, being among five or six other cats apparently stressed her out.

During the two weeks two of our friends come to the house (two times a day) to get her food and water. She's always a bit miffed for lack of attention the first night after we get back, but things return to normal after a day or so. I don't get the feeling she's very unhappy about this arrangement, I think she likes it best to stay in her own territory.

1 Attachment

Ours definitely like being in their own environment.

Mine is definitely happier at home, she has a cat flap so I feel better knowing she can go out. I usually just arrange for neighbours/friends to drop in to feed her when we are away, and we do the same for them.

How do you stop a cat shitting outside you can cant implore a cat to use a litter tray if it has outdoor access.

How does he know some of it is not his own cats? If they are able to go outside it is almost certain they shit outside too!

We have a litter tray but our cat goes almost exclusively outside, I don't know where as I am unable to scale six foot fences into neighbouring properties like the cat can.

Our Tabitha has had a runny arse on and off for a couple of weeks. Been to vet and she had a bit of a temperature but it was coming down, had some special food and medicine which she's had, plus we kept her in and it got better, started letting her out again and it's started happening again on and off. Next step is back to the vet for a sample to be sent off to a lab. Just wondering if anyones had this with their mog and what the cause and/or outcome was?

yes - she is eating another cats food or being fed it, or she has access to old gone off human food (ie food waste)

we put a huge white label on our cats collar that said "NO FEED" and a little message about how he needed special food.
it worked.

Both our cats had this, but they had it when we picked them up as kittens (12 wks old). Had a bunch of tests and samples taken. Tried them out on different foods as it was thought they were sensitive to most stuff. Remember them being on this duck and pea stuff which the cats were not impressed with. Vet never pinned down what it was. We settled on Hills Prescription Diet Z/D wet and dry food. The cats were never excited about it but ate it fine. Had them on it for about 3 years. Their stools did sort itself out over a year. About a year ago now we slowly started to introduce other food which they now go nuts for and are completely off the Z/D. No problems with the stools.

I think having them on one type of bland food for a prolonged period of time helped. Also trimming the fur around their butt as the wet poo would catch on their long fur, would help our anxiety about the situation.

I thought about that and maybe once we are settled I can but I am worried they'll escape the communal gardens and find their way to the busy road behind us...and they have zero road sense. I want them to be happy though!

This. Catteries aren't without their drawbacks but I wouldn't relax knowing mine could be up to mischief, hurting themselves or falling sick so if you can't find a friend or two to pop round for a while each day, it may be your best option?

Do those of you with outdoor cats still have a litter tray and do your cats use it?

She does, him not so much.

Your neighbour is deluded thinking his cats don't contribute.

Patch brought in a mouse last night, it took us about 2 hours to not caught the mouse - it managed to wedge itself between the wall and the wardrobe, so I had to empty the wardrobe in order to move it out and unwedge the little guy, the it went missing in th bedroom, moved things about, looked everywhere, I gave us and went back to sleep. Patch has been on duty all night and day today sniffing the little guy out and a whole 24 horus later, we finally got it!

I love my cat!

Cheers guys.

@anthonyj We did wonder if that was the case, we have a compost bin in the corner the garden thats obviously full of all sorts and it's open, so that's an option. We also have a load of creeping buttercup in the garden that's apparently not too good for them, so we're going to try to get rid of all of that. I don't think anyone else is feeding her as we know our neighbours both sides well and she doesn't go much further very often, but it's entirely possible she's eating god knows what that she shouldn't.

@Baerli_Baer Cheers for the tips. Weirdly she had no problems (neither has our new kitten) when we first got her. Both started on felix, we transferred Tabitha onto Natures Menu, which she was fine with for a couple of months and then the runs started a few weeks ago, we kept her in and got some special food and some 'imodium for cats' from the vet and it cleared up, then we transitioned her back onto a bland diet and let her out again and it's started again, so not sure exactly what the problem is. We've got a feeling now it's her eating stuff she shouldn't be, as it seems to come and go more or less when she's let out unsupervised.

How to educate a friend on how to own a cat?

1. She has had her cat for about 4 months now, the cat is longing to go outside and they have a garden, but she is worried that once the cat has gone out, he will jump over the fence to next door and then next door and then next door and eventually he will not return home. So she has planned to finally let him out next year once he will have been with them for a whole year.

2. She uses supermarket carrier bags for cat waste and now complains about her stock running low because it's 5p a pop. I told her to use dog poop bags and she reveals that they clean the litter tray and completely replace the litter daily...

3. She literally treats her cat as her child, as in she has plans for when he grows up...

By the way, I don't actually plan to 'teach' her how to treat her cat, but whenever she talks about these weird things she does, it makes me laugh. LOL

I was just thinking who is this beauty!! Is Suzy still small enough to sit on your shoulder or was it your hand? That was one of my favourite pics on this thread of all time!