Is it time for my cat to 'go'

[farewellfigure]

I love my cat. She's cute and small and furry and warm. However as soon as it gets to be about October she refuses to poo or wee outside. She'll go outside quite happily for a little stroll, then she'll come back in to POO AND WEE ON THE FLOOR. I have just heard the telltale sound of her little clicky claws as she tries to cover up her poo mountain with the wooden floor, and lo, there's a big stinking pile of poo in the middle of the hall.

She's 15. Is she senile? I just know that the first thing I will be doing on Christmas Day, before even checking to see whether Father Christmas has come, is clearing up a cat poo and a great big lake of wee. She has a cat flap, and a litter tray for goodness sake.

I don't really think I could go through with asking the vet to, you know, 'deal' with an otherwise perfectly healthy cat, but HONESTLY. What's wrong with doing it in the flower bed?

We had this for ages with our old cat (she sadly had a stroke yesterday and was pts) I used to religiously keep the bedroom doors shut to at least keep her out of there (after she peed on our duvet ) and I had a 50:50 mix of water and vinegar to spray the areas where she'd 'been'.

Like yours, I think our just didn't want to go out in the cold. I never did find a 100% reliable solution and was cleaning up random poos right to the end.

My cats will only use the wood based litter.If I have to use anything else they go next to the tray!

Try a very shallow tray - could be uncomfortable getting in and out of litter tray.

Our cat is the same. He's getting on and has a few medical issues, but they are well managed with expensive medication.

He just hates going out in the cold and would take to going to the loo anywhere. Usually in the hallway, but occasionally in the corner of a room or, on one memorable occasion, on our bed while we were asleep in it. (On DH's side - ha ha ha)

We tried a litter tray in the spot he'd had it as a kitten. No luck. Then we put it in the hall where he was wee-ing the most. It took a few days, but he started using it and is happy doing that now.

When the weather warmed up, he took to going out again, but now he's using the tray again.

We use one of the trays with a lid, but took the door off so it's a little more easy for him to access. And we use the wood based cat litter. I wasn't convinced at first, but it is easy to scoop out the unaffected, unused wood pellets, then tip out the used stuff (which settles as damp sawdust) - then tip the unused pellets back in and top up. We can then stick the dirty stuff on the compost heap.