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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why so many people keep litter trays in the kitchen?

175 replies

MrsTawdry · 03/01/2015 20:39

Another thread got me thinking...I see it all the time. Cat's litter trays in the kitchen!

Where you keep and cook food. And sometimes where you eat.

My cat's is in the bathroom where toiletting happens.

AIBU to think this is the only place for a litter tray?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
drbonnieblossman · 04/01/2015 13:34

My neighbour doesn't use litter trays. Instead her fucking cats shit all over my lawn and patio. As long as she doesn't need to deal with it though, that's the main thing.Hmm

usualsuspect333 · 04/01/2015 13:35

My cat does go outside,he never leaves the garden though and comes in to use his litter tray. He rarely leaves the house from October until at least May.

He is not allowed out at night.He has a curfew.

Brummiegirl15 · 04/01/2015 13:49

In my previous flat I had the tray in the bathroom but now I'm living in a larger house it's in the utility room.

My cat is an RSPCA rescue cat and he had zero interest in going outside (he lived in a lorry drivers cab travelling the country before RSPCA) and when I open back door I get a look that says...

"No chance" and he walks off.

That said he is really old and frail now but vet has said the cats that live the longest tend to be indoor cats as they don't get hit by cars, get in fights, eat stuff they shouldn't.

I spend a fecking fortune on cat litter though

notonyourninny · 04/01/2015 13:51

I guess if theres mo were else to put it? Mine is in the un used en-suite.

Original poster
MrsTawdry · 04/01/2015 14:01

ninny EVERYONE has a bathroom/toilet. We only have one...the door is ajar so the cat can enter and leave. Our bathroom is tiny....the tray is pushed near to the radiator which is always off...and that's behind the door slightly...most people would see our bathroom and say there's no room for a tray but we just put it there and work round it; our bathroom floor space is literally about 5 foot long by 3 wide if you don't count the bath.

OP posts:
tiggy2610 · 04/01/2015 14:03

I have two indoor rescue cats who were adopted from the RSPCA on the proviso that they had to be indoor cats. We take one out in the garden on a harness but the other gets so stressed by the prospect of being outside that he shivers and cowers to go back indoors. In some countries it's frowned upon to let cats outside... The amount of times I hear "keeping them inside is cruel!" without people asking why they are indoor cats is just infuriating. Letting two 6 year old cats, who has never properly been outside, into the garden by a fast main road would be far worse.

Out litter tray is in the kitchen,it's the only place to keep it. The kitchen has tiled floors and is one of the largest rooms in the house, therefore we can keep it as far away from the food prep area as possible and is cleaned daily with ease (my two have very high toilet standards and will refuse to use unless sparking). The litter tray, however, is a large enclosed corner tray with a door which DH has built a wooden surround to with a little curtain and drawers for all cat related paraphernalia. It looks like a storage box until we point out its the cats WC. Grin Our only other option would be to keep it in the living room as the bathroom isn't big enough for their palatial toilet box.

Aeroflotgirl · 04/01/2015 14:04

It's a leeetle bit ick to keep,a tray of poo and wee in the kitchen where you prepare food and eat. Why not by the back door!

Aeroflotgirl · 04/01/2015 14:04

Outside by the back door I meant.

Original poster
MrsTawdry · 04/01/2015 14:05

More than a leetle bit ick and not forgetting that most cats kick the stuff around a lot too! Mine does anyway. He pees then kicks...so the piss covered gravel could fly anywhere.

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsTawdry · 04/01/2015 14:06

Tiggy doesn't your bathroom have tiles? What's on the floor there? Confused

OP posts:
PinkParsnips · 04/01/2015 14:07

Ours is in the open plan kitchen / dining room and I absolutely hate it being there, but our bathrooms aren't big enough and have a crawling baby so the hallway is no good either.

We don't have a cat flap and last time I tried putting the tray outside , instead of going out of the open door the cat did a runny poo on my cream carpet and dragged my floor length curtain into it Confused

I just make sure it's emptied every day and when eating it's put outside but it's a real pain so is the cat

Bunbaker · 04/01/2015 14:08

"I don't have a conservatory,utility room,large enough bathroom,downstairs toilet or a cat that shits outside. I do have a large enough kitchen and a litter tray that is emptied of shit everyday."

This was why we used the kitchen, plus we didn't allow our cats upstairs.

Aeroflotgirl · 04/01/2015 14:10

I know MrsT it is disgusting tbh. On come dine with me once, this person had litter trays everywhere in the house, including tge kitchen where they were preparing the food Envy. Not only that, as she was preparing the food, cat was walking all over the surfaces Envy. I don't think she disinfected it's paws somehow.

tiggy2610 · 04/01/2015 14:11

tawdry Sadly the bathroom floor isn't tiled, which is more upsetting to me than keeping the litter tray in the kitchen! We're renovating the house and the bathroom is the last room to be done which means we have a very impractical carpet in the bathroom Shock

That's a whole other thread right there Wink

usualsuspect333 · 04/01/2015 14:15

I#m not turning my bathroom radiator off just to accommodate the cats litter tray.

My bathroom is so small you would step out of the bath into the litter tray.

No thanks.

Aeroflotgirl · 04/01/2015 14:15

I have no pets so what do I know. But the sight of this persons unemptied litter tray in the kitchen made me Envy

Bunbaker · 04/01/2015 14:17

"It's a leeetle bit ick to keep,a tray of poo and wee in the kitchen where you prepare food and eat."

Why do you assume that cat owners don't clean after their cats? When we had cats I used to clean the tray every time the cats used it (unless I was out of the house, in which case it got cleaned as soon as I came in).

Some cat owners are skanky and don't keep the litter tray clean, but not all.

AnyFucker · 04/01/2015 14:20

Did somebody really say their cats don't walk on the kitchen work tops ?
hahaha

tiggy2610 · 04/01/2015 14:21

I think the sight of an unemptied litter tray in any room of the house would be disgusting Hmm

But as bunbaker said, some people do have the ability to clean daily and not have the house covered in litter or smell. Ours are cleaned out daily with disinfectant and remade and as its enclosed we only rarely get an 'escapee' peice of litter. A friend of mine had an open tray that she rarely empties which is very ick Envy

TheOldestCat · 04/01/2015 14:22

We keep the litter tray in the back yard, which seems to work. Our kitchen is too tiny to have it in there and when we did (when we first got cats), it made the house smell. We're out at work in the day so can't always deal with the poo as soon as it happens!

I did wonder if other cats would use our tray, but our mog, daft as she is, seems to keep them away.

Mynewnamenotyours · 04/01/2015 14:26

We avoid having a litter tray most of the time but 14yo cat is getting lazy about going outdoors so may have to reinstate one. Cat (and previously sibling before he recently died) have been kept in the kitchen overnight with access to catflap for years.

It will be in our kitchen when we reinstate as it is a big room, downstairs toilet literally doesn't have space for it without stepping in it. 14yo cat can't cope with the stairs easily to get to main bathroom as she is arthritic.

Kitchen is only other room with a tiled floor.

Whilst I know it's not ideal, it is a large room and litter tray is about 8ft min from where we prepare food, is always cleaned out immediately and floor swept nearby it on every visit to the kitchen. What else should we do?

Bunbaker · 04/01/2015 14:28

"We keep the litter tray in the back yard, which seems to work"

What do you do when it rains?

TheHermitCrab · 04/01/2015 14:32

Agree with you, I have two indoor cats, litter tray is in our bathroom facing the loo, they poo where we poo!

Hate them being in kitchens, cat will always take a shit while you are preparing food, sods law. And no matter how quick you clean it you will always have that whiff of pee or poo that you just don't want around when you are preparing/eating/cleaning regarding food.

It's odd to me that so many people do it.

As for the person suggesting surely you keep it outside. My cats don't go outside. Never heard of indoor cats? :/

TheHermitCrab · 04/01/2015 14:34

Bunbaker

Plenty of litter trays have lids. Mine does for my indoor cats. It's a dome with a cat flap on the front and a filter. Much nicer than a sand pit/box type tray.

TwinkleDust · 04/01/2015 14:36

We put a catflap in the door of a 'broom cupboard'. Emptied twice a day of poo and wee. Doesn't pong. Tiled floor. Far less anti-social than letting them poo in other people's gardens. Cats are not allowed in kitchen!