Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To banish cat from the house?

379 replies

FeckingEll · 30/11/2018 00:28

At night.

Have rehomed the bloody thing in the garage.

We haven't had a litter tray indoors for over a year. Had an outside one for a while which she didn't use so I removed it. For the last few weeks, when it's been wet outside, she has been shitting in her bed. Two mornings in a row now I've come down to it.

I don't want an indoor tray again so have locked her in the garage with tray and food where she will go every night over the winter from now on.

DC think IABU but they're not cleaning up the shit and having to do two boil washes, one for bed, one to clean machine!

OP posts:
whoskeys · 03/12/2018 07:05

You do realise that in Scotland, wild cats are roaming free day AND night! They are similar size to domestic cats. Are you all going to write to the Scottish government demanding heat pads are left all over the countryside?

Dollymixture22 · 03/12/2018 07:31

No because wild cats aren’t pets.

I didn’t demand a heating pad, I suggested it beciase a pet has been moved to an unheated garage in the winter. Please be reasonable.

Soubriquet · 03/12/2018 07:39

You do know wolves live outdoors all year round? And catch their own prey. And never go to the vets or be neutered Hmm

whoskeys · 03/12/2018 07:56

Cats will leave their homes without a single fuck given for their owners, so, I doubt the cat cares if it's not being actively 'loved' every minute of the day.
It has everything it needs. Maybe if it spent the night meowing and wailing to get out, then I'd believe it wasn't happy, but it's not.

ErinWinspear · 03/12/2018 07:59

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 09:12

Yes and rats live in sewers running through shit and eating scraps. If I chose to keep one as a pet though I’d make sure it had a clean cage, bedding and fresh food and water.
Having a pet isn’t compulsory. If you choose to own a pet you really sure make sure it has a better standard of living than one without a home!

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 09:13

And if it’s old in the garage it’s hardly going to be meowing to get to the even colder outside once it knows it won’t be getting let into the house!

Lizzie48 · 03/12/2018 10:12

Having a pet isn’t compulsory. If you choose to own a pet you really sure make sure it has a better standard of living than one without a home!

This! I don't get why some posters get themselves a pet and then moan about them needing to poo or scratch or whatever. A lot of people don't own pets, which makes a lot of sense if what you want is a house that never smells.

whoskeys · 03/12/2018 11:19

I’d make sure it had a clean cage, bedding and fresh food and water.
Which part of this is the OP not doing?

CaliHummers · 03/12/2018 11:46

You do realise that in Scotland, wild cats are roaming free day AND night! They are similar size to domestic cats.

They're a different species with a different evolutionary history and different cold-weather adaptations, although it is true they will hybridise.

The wildcat is Felis silvestris grampia (there's a discussion about subspecies though). The domestic cat is Felis silvestris catus and is a descendant of the African wildcat. The Scottish wildcat is about 25% bigger and has a much thicker coat than the domestic cat.

You might as well just argue that Siberian tigers live somewhere really cold, or lions live somewhere really hot. We're talking about a domestic cat that was used to having indoor access. If you were trying to get it used to be out more, I'd have started in late July/ early August so that it had time to grow a thicker coat before the winter set in.

whoskeys · 03/12/2018 12:28

Well, if a wildcat can live happily in the Scottish winters with a 25% thicker coat, a domestic cat will be more than happy in a garage with a double duvet.

All that has changed, is the cat now resides on the other side of a wall. Nothing else has changed. It has food, water, litter, a cosy bed etc.

I really don't get the hysteria, the cat is absolutely fine Confused

Catsandbootsandbootsandcats · 03/12/2018 13:02

Wow, this all seems a lot of fuss about nothing.

Once during a storm I let my cat stay in for the night. He usually preferred staying out doing cat things. He shit in my bedroom! He didn't need the vet, he just didn't want to go out in the storm for his poopie time. I didn't have a litter tray for him as he hadn't used one indoors for years.

Sounds like the same thing as the OP, seeing as her cat hasn't actually used the tray she's provided since.

The garage sounds lovely, and I'm sure he's just fine in his snug bed.

Mine still alternates between being out all night and staying in - and waking me up at 6am to be let out. I don't have a cat flap for the same reasons, I don't want gifts. He has shelter in the shed but it's full of crap so he doesn't even have a bed in there, the horror!

It's also hardly freezing weather here at the moment, I've only just started wearing a coat myself.

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 13:08

It might not be the that old yet but the op has said the cat will be in the garage at night for the entire winter. I don’t recall a winter when it hasn’t gone below freezing in this country.

CaliHummers · 03/12/2018 13:11

Well, if a wildcat can live happily in the Scottish winters with a 25% thicker coat, a domestic cat will be more than happy in a garage with a double duvet

Were you reading in a hurry? It has a thicker coat, amongst other adaptions. The cat itself is 25% bigger. Bigger bodies maintain heat more easily.

Rattinghat · 03/12/2018 13:22

Disagree. I worked on a farm and we had a mouser called The Cat that lived in the barn, winter and summer. Healthy adult cats with unrestricted access to the outside do not 'need' a litter tray except maybe when they are right at the end of life and can barely move. They do need a warm bed up off the concrete floor and out of draughts, and access to fresh drinking water at all times. If the cat is now living in the garage, does it have access to the outside or is it shut in?

tabulahrasa · 03/12/2018 13:33

Even if it was a Scottish wildcat, it wouldn’t have a winter coat if it had been in a house until December...

skybluee · 03/12/2018 13:48

It's locked in, that's the issue. If it was choosing to sleep in there and it could come and go there wouldn't be a problem.

I would try putting the cat back in the house and see what happens.

I have read that a good rule of thumb to follow is if your home is too cold for you, it’s most likely too cold for your cat. This worries me.

It's fairly obvious the cat would be happier in the house. from reading this thread it feels like it is being punished?

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 13:52

The op also seemed pissed off that it had shit in it’s bed when it had no litter tray in the house. If the weather was too bad for it to go outside and it has no cat flap anyway then what did she expect it to do? Hold it in and explode?

Rattinghat · 03/12/2018 13:53

People definitley let cats get too soft and pampered, and then they misbehave when luxuries are taken off them. A cat that won't go out in a drizzle to shit is spoilt IMHO.

Sounds like a catflap in the garage would help with this situation.

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 13:58

I’d hardly say the ops cat is spoilt 😂

skybluee · 03/12/2018 14:04

I agree with bum - I find the whole thing sad. Cats would hate to poo in their own beds. It was probably desperate. You can't blame it for pooing if it's locked in. I doubt a cat would choose to poo in its own bed rather than going outside unless something was wrong.

Rattinghat · 03/12/2018 14:12

The OP said the cat shit the bed because it was raining outside.

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 14:13

If it would rather shit in its bed then I would suggest it was more than a bit of drizzle. Giving a pet somewhere dry and sanitary to go to the toilet isn’t spoiling it - it’s basic care! Like I said no-one forced the op to have a cat if looking after it is too much trouble for her.

empmalswa · 03/12/2018 14:19

The OP said the cat shit the bed because it was raining outside

The OP said that to and justify doing fuck all about her cat.

The cat didn’t shit in the house for 18 months without a littler tray. Suddenly within 3 weeks that cat shits in the house twice.

Fuck all to do with rain. Unless it didn’t rain for 18 months before hand.

CatAndMice · 03/12/2018 14:46

For everyone who has a cat and no litter tray, you do realise that you are expecting your cat to shit in other people's gardens, don’t you?

Of course you do. And there may be children playing in those gardens with your cat's shit. But what do you care when you don’t need to do anything with it?

Get a litter tray. One indoors and one outdoors. Or don’t have cats.