to shut my cat in the kitchen tonight?

[OstentatiousBreastfeeder]

I feel awful just typing that. Like a cat jailer.

My cat hates being indoors at night, but he's getting older and the cold is starting to affect him I think - he's not asking to be let out anymore. Thing is, he does his business strictly outdoors and always has. He detests litter trays and would rather piss beside it out of principle.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt last night and now have a very smelly hall carpet that will need replacing.

WIBU to enclose him in the kitchen with an open window in case of toileting emergencies, a snuggly blanket and some food? It's not the end of my bed, but it has to be warmer than the sub-zero temperatures outside, right?

[HettyD]

Our cat is always shut in the kitchen. I wouldn't leave window open though as security concern...

[DoolallyMarjorie]

Same here, ours are always shut in the kitchen - cat 1 goes out pretty much all day and just comes in to sleep. He has a litter tray but prefers to hold it till he goes back out next morning.

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

We shut our cat in, with just access to the laminated floor areas (dining room, kitchen, utility, all small rooms!). She's fine but gets into DD's or our room if I get up with DD in the night. Wonky door frames mean the doors don't shut properly so unless you check, it isn't closed and cat gets in. DH is allergic and DD wakes up if cat gets on her bed. Ours does use a litter tray though.

Sounds like you don't have a cat flap and presuming there's reasons for this. However could you make a cosy den in the garage/shed and put a microchip controlled cat flap in there to control access?

Otherwise I'd shut the cat into the smallest room with washable flooring just for overnight. Not sure how to tackle the litter tray problem though, if our cat was really old I think I'd cover the floor with newspaper to at least soak it up.

[dun1urkin]

One of ours is shut in the kitchen at night now due to his dementia related toilet issues - he was waking me not DH up in the middle of the night threatening to go in the corner of the bedroom despite there being a cat flap AND a litter tray.
He's got a heated cat bed in there, seems ok with the arrangement.
Could you leave the heating on until you get a warm bed? No solution for litter tray refusal though