Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Toileting on the lawn

5 replies

Herecomethedaffodils · 24/10/2021 14:11

We have 2 six month old sibling kittens. They are adorable and have been a dream from the moment we brought them home. They used the litter tray from day 1 and never so much as an accident anywhere. They are both now neutered and once they'd recovered we started letting them venture outside. They love the garden and learnt how to use their cat flap quickly so tend to just come and go as they please now. The first 10 days or so, they carried on using their litter tray indoors but now don't use it at all. They are doing all their business on the lawn!!! I mean, everything. We've owned cats before and have never had this. I thought they would automatically take to the soil, dig a bit, perform and then cover up (as they did with litter!) Everybody I've mentioned this to, agrees that it's quite unusual for cats to just deposit their number 1's and 2's on the grass. Has anybody experienced this and more importantly, does anyone have any wise advice how we can stop it? I'm thinking we need to move a litter tray outside to a sheltered spot or put some litter into the soil?? Any advice very much appreciated. Picture for attention.

Toileting on the lawn
OP posts:
AppleButter · 24/10/2021 14:14

My cat does this when the neighbours’ cats encroach on her territory. One of them bullies her and then she marks her territory. Then it passes and she returns to the loose soil in the corners, bushes and litter tray at home.

thecatneuterer · 24/10/2021 15:33

This should be quite easy to sort out in theory. So what's your garden like? Do you have flower beds? Is there any earth that isn't grassed or full of plants? Cos that's what you need. Make a metre square approximately patch of soft, loose earth and they will use that rather than the grass.

If you already have that, more or less, and they're doing it on the grass still then I've got nothing ...

thecatneuterer · 25/10/2021 10:12

@Herecomethedaffodils namechecking in case you missed the replies

Herecomethedaffodils · 25/10/2021 14:41

Hi. I'm here!! Thank you for replies. We have borders around the garden but I guess they are quite full with plants and bushes so it might mean they're struggling to find a large enough area to dig. I shall create a large area of loose soil and perhaps encourage them there by initially putting some of their cat litter there. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

OP posts:
Beamur · 25/10/2021 14:44

It can be a scent marking behaviour too, especially if there are lots of cats in the area.
I tend to leave a bit of my garden with bare soil that's loosely dug so it's easy for my cats to use.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page