Its old (16), and can’t be arsed to go outside for a crap any more. We got it a litter tray, which it used by standing in the middle and peeing/pooing over the edge on to the floor. For a small furry creature which doesn’t appear to drink, it certainly produces a lot of stinky urine.

So we got it a bigger (dog-sized) litter tray. Now it stands in the corner and pees/poos over the edge. I mean, cummon!

How can I fix this to avoid having to clean up floods and crap twice a day? Suggestions which won’t cause trauma to cat, wife or kids preferred.

Small tray in big tray?
Enclosed tray?

Have you had him checked at the Vet ? Older cats can have kidney problems and it may require an effort to produce a result.

And don’t be too harsh about him not liking outside anymore, older cats can be terrorised by the neighbour cats and dogs, and can’t really defend themselves. We had a cat who was bitten by a dog in her later years. She was an Inside Cat after that.

You get litter trays with a lid and a wee hatch they go through – stops all the mess

get him a poo house – it looks like a cat carrier but it’s just a litter tray with a lid and a flappy door, it gives him privacy and it’s less smelly in the house for you too

http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product_group.asp?dept_id=776&pg_id=2062

Feed him some better food – when our cat got old he went onto raw chicken for his final years, but we now feed our young cat on natural instinct raw food and his number 2s are like a big bunny rabbits, i.e. solid – and no smell at all.

So if your cat still went over the side of the box, it would not be messy.

http://www.naturalinstinct.com/all-dog-food/?gclid=COr727Ga0MUCFSbkwgodkFEAdg

stuff like whiskas is just rubbish – 4% meat. Even waitrose is only 14%, and Sheba is also very low.

Encore is cooked and 75% meat, but it don’t think it is as good for no. 2 ‘quality’

Our cats do that. You need to get a litter tray with a lid on it, it basically looks like a cat carrier:

Mind you the other day one of our 4 year old cats decided he’d just use the sofa instead, so there was no need to have to clean the litter tray or the flower beds…….

Footflaps – that first one would be spot on, where did you find that?

We can’t use a fully enclosed one as she won’t go in enclosed spaces (rescue cat, so possibly something pre our adoption)

I feel you pain, our eldest does the same… coming down stairs to a pool of pee in the morning, is just an ace way to start the day.
I basically took to put newspaper around the tray, as she struggles to get in most of the time, so those “barriers” will only exacerbate the issue to my mind.

There was an automated litter tray I looked it, but it used special washable granules, and after reading reviews I found out that if the robot scooper happens to miss a poo, the wash/clean cycle then helpfully cooks it for you…

Footflaps – that first one would be spot on, where did you find that?

http://nt.petplanet.co.uk/

I came back from the gym yesterday to find that one of our cats had thrown up his tea on my side of the bed! He’s the wife’s cat, so I suppose he knew what he was doing……

hels – Member

Have you had him checked at the Vet ? Older cats can have kidney problems and it may require an effort to produce a result.

And don’t be too harsh about him not liking outside anymore, older cats can be terrorised by the neighbour cats and dogs, and can’t really defend themselves. We had a cat who was bitten by a dog in her later years. She was an Inside Cat after that.

yourguitarhero – Member

You get litter trays with a lid and a wee hatch they go through – stops all the mess

Good advice here.

The cat might be tending to stay in the house as he/she feels threatened when outside, especially when they are doing their business and even more so when getting on a bit.

We had a litter tray with a flap and a lid until we got a cat flap sorted out. It works really well.

Might also be worth a trip to the vet to check there’s not an underlying health issue.

You might also want to think about the litter that you’re using. It’s possible that the furry blighter doesn’t like to stand on the stuff you’re currently using.

Mine won’t stand on the clay type stuff, and prefer the wooden pellettes. Once he’e dug them around and they’ve broken down into something resembling clay again, he won’t go near the tray.

I have 4 cats. These are their trays. None of them go outside.

or

As a cat owner and lover(not in that way!) I’d probably go with the enclosed cat loo.

I’ve ordered the high-sided one footflaps showed, looks like it should do the trick nicely thanks!

Part of the reason she doesn’t like going outside is the appearance of a new kitty on the block. It kept coming in and fighting with ours so I had to get a new catflap which scanned her chip. It still tries sometimes but I have set the open delay really short so it can’t tailgate. So she’s OK indoors but still anxious when she occasionally does pop outside.

Cat flaps are also quite anxiety inducing for cats; if a cat appears hesitant or appears to be having trouble working one, it’s apparently because they don’t like having to emerge into an open space without being sure if other cats are around or not.

There was a three part BBC series a few years ago on cat behaviour, if you’re an owner I really recommend tracking it down.

We have two cats aged about ten and four. Both are being terrorised by El Gato Negro, a really ropey looking long-haired black stray that comes around a couple of times a day and chases them, which makes both of them poop themselves with fear. Mrs Gti feels sorry for EGN and has been putting food out for it and won’t listen when I say that this will just encourage it and make it think our garden is its territory. D’Oh!

No indoor toilet problems yet though…. apart from the odd barf when breakfast is wolfed down too fast.

Cats can often do this with arthritic hips. It is painful to hold that squat for long enough to go, so they rest their nethers on the edge of the tray. May be worth trying some arthritis meds – your vet can prescribe something.

Our cat has always crapped over the edge of the litter tray. She does it for a laugh. We just put the litter tray in the middle of a load of newspaper now.

our one gets a rat, eats it until the guts burst and sprays rat poo all over the floor, then runs off and does a sick in my shoe.

@philticklebank has it right,

ours had a drug called metacalm (or something like that) and his last 6 months he was much better than the previous 2 years in getting around and moving about.
that might help with the litter tray issues.

good luck,
and remember, in human years, we’d all have problems taking a crap at that age 🙁