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The litter tray

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

Original poster

Don't laugh but can I train my cat to...

31 replies

kittielittie · 24/04/2023 21:44

Stay in my garden. It's a decent sized garden and so far we have only let our 5 month old neutered boy out when we are with him. He occasionally shimmy's up the fence to get to behind the neighbours bins (goodness knows what is fascinating behind them!).
When he does this we bring him in. When he comes in without a fuss he gets a treat.
In the main he just mooches about, bounces on the trampoline and sits under the bbq watching for passing flies and leaves.
He has a floor to ceiling cat tree indoors so gets the chance to climb and he has a mean technique for getting up the banister.
If we persist will he get it? There's a busy road about 50 yards out of the estate so we can't let him roam but he seems to really enjoys the fresh air.

OP posts:
APseudonymNeeded · 24/04/2023 22:30

Probably not, but you cat attach a cat fence to the top of any walls/fences, or you could get a catio?

Hawkins003 · 24/04/2023 22:37

Nope

Wolfiefan · 24/04/2023 22:38

Cat proof your garden.

Toddlerteaplease · 25/04/2023 06:26

I thought my two didn't leave mine or next doors garden. Until I realised that the neighbour left his gate open sometimes.

DifficultBloodyWoman · 25/04/2023 06:30

Cats are untrainable. You just have to make your garden nicer than the others.

That said, my two now stay in our garden. Probably because they have been shouted at every time they tried to jump the fence. They were only allowed out when I was downstairs and could see them. They also come in when I call them …and I don’t even have to rattle the dreamies for them!!!

TakeMe2Insanity · 25/04/2023 06:32

He’ll only stay in the garden when he’s an old man and he wants to defend the territory. By this point all the other will be desperate to claim your garden as theirs and he’ll probably want to stay indoors!

reallyworriedjobhunter · 25/04/2023 06:41

You get what you get with cats. Either they are puddings who stay close to home or wanderers who roam. It will also depend on how many cats there are in your area and what their (overlapping) territories look like.

Mollyplop999 · 25/04/2023 07:10

Mine didn't go out for the first 18 months and then only for a few hours at a time when I was in the garden. They never go far and come in for their tea at 3 pm and then are in overnight. I'm not going to say that they stay in the garden but they generally only go next door.

Original poster
kittielittie · 25/04/2023 07:54

The perimeter of my garden is about 50 meters so cat proofing is 💷💷💷 and a decent sized catio are also very expensive.
I have a neighbour at one side who has dogs that my little fella is already deeply suspicious of. There's one neighbour out the back who's bins he's interested in and then the small estate road before the row of houses and the busy main road on the other side.
I haven't priced the roller style cat proofing so that may be an option.

Interested when people say cats can't be trained but they can be trained to use a litter tray and we are having reasonable success in getting him not to fly up the curtains and leave the carpets alone.

OP posts:
YetMoreNewBeginnings · 25/04/2023 07:55

No. You won’t be able to train him to stay in the garden. Instinct will take him wandering

lkkjhg · 25/04/2023 07:58

He's a cat.
Either make him a house cat or let him roam

Kanaloa · 25/04/2023 08:01

Are cats trained to use a litter tray though? MIL cat never ever did it, she just went outside. I think it’s more that cats want to go in certain places.

I wouldn’t say you could reliably train him to stay and that’s the problem. You’d always be worrying just in case he got out.

Clusterfunk · 25/04/2023 08:03

No. We let ours in the garden supervised and stay with him; I was convinced he knows not to go any further but recently he tried to sneak over the wall without DP spotting him so he’s back on the cat lead for garden jaunts.

He’s a rescue who was kept indoors for 5 years so he has no sense or survival skills, and we have a busy road. Bottom line, they can’t be trusted. Cats do whatever they bloody want.

Nimbostratus100 · 25/04/2023 08:05

no, you cant prevent him getting out of the garden and into danger.

training to use a litter tray, isn't training, it is instinct.

and you can train cats to some extent, to obey specific instruction while you are there, but not to obey them while you are not there. You can divert behaviour, for example you have diverted from curtains with scratching posts. But no, you cant train them not to do something while you are not there. In fact, trying to often increases the unwanted behaviour, because they learn there is no comeback MOST of the time, so think this behaviour is ok, even desirable.

You will need to catproof some or all of your garden, or supervise whenever he is out, or let him roam.

I appreciate your dilemma. We lost a cat outdoors, and it is so upsetting. we have house cats now

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 25/04/2023 08:12

Interested when people say cats can't be trained but they can be trained to use a litter tray and we are having reasonable success in getting him not to fly up the curtains and leave the carpets alone.

The litter tray is usually trained by their mother and there’s two benefits to it - they don’t get biffed by mama cat and also they like cleanliness and feel vulnerable when toileting so learn that it’s a clean and safe place to go.

The curtains and carpets take much longer, and as a PP said doesn’t always work 100% of the time, but work because they either get something better than the carpets or curtains or get a negative consequence.

it’s a bit like training them to come for food - they will do it because they get a benefit that they want. If someone else tempts them with something better at the exact same time you’ll soon see that it’s not remotely guaranteed

SorePaw · 25/04/2023 08:12

You're really not 'training' them to use a litter tray, you're just facilitating them to go to the toilet in a way they find acceptable. They'd rather go in a litter tray then in an exposed area without anything to cover over their 💩

'training' them to come when called is an illusion. They'll come IF the reward for coming is good enough to do so. (Whether that's good or attention). They are not dogs.

Same as training them not to go on beds etc. they're small gains and they will do as they please when you're not watching them 🐱

you can make staying in your garden their preferred option, but it's always a choice & not something you can rely on.

catios can be expensive & IMO unattractive. I'd rather cat proof the garden or a kind of hybrid catio/cat proof garden.

FormerlyPathologicallyHappy · 25/04/2023 08:14

No and 50yds is commutable for a cat. Why didn’t you consider his safety until now?

You can diy cat proofing much cheaper than buying it in.

Greentree1 · 25/04/2023 08:19

It does depend on the cat we've had a few, some disappeared as soon as you let them out and came back when hungry or if it rained! Others always seemed to be just around and under foot, although they may well have wandered into neighbours gardens as well, you can't watch them all the time. We always tried to keep them in at night, I think when it's quiet they are tempted to go further. But one would disappear for days at a time and I would be out shouting all round the neighbourhood for her, she was a menace.

WildFlowerBees · 25/04/2023 08:20

Cat proof, we have a large garden and used Catzecure. Never had a problem, wasn't cheap but I know they're safe. Both are older and one has always preferred being close to home the other just likes a sunny patch. Lots of things to interest them and safe plants for enrichment.

Original poster
kittielittie · 25/04/2023 17:12

FormerlyPathologicallyHappy · 25/04/2023 08:14

No and 50yds is commutable for a cat. Why didn’t you consider his safety until now?

You can diy cat proofing much cheaper than buying it in.

If you want to look at my other posts you will see I have been considering this for some time. When we got him the intention was for him to be a house cat but from very early on he has been an escape artist and the bigger and faster he gets it's a logistical headache to get us all out of the house without him bolting for the great outdoors.

Im trying to find solutions that keep him as safe as possible but within the constraints of available cash while he clearly shows he wants to be outside.

OP posts:
SomeRolyPolyLittleBatFacedGirl · 25/04/2023 17:41

You can't train a cat not to be an arsehole, that's the whole point of them. The more you want him to stay in the garden, the more likely it is he'll wander off.

stayathomer · 25/04/2023 17:43

We have a huge wall down one side of our garden, and a lower fence the other side. We were very pleased with the set up when we got her, as the side with the wall was the side all the dogs on the road are. She leaps up nightly. Cat proofing does not exist!!!

Northernlurker · 25/04/2023 18:42

My neighbour cat proofed their garden for their pedigrees. It looks like Alcatraz. But they're safe I guess. We have a kitten as well as an old lady. She doesn't go very far, he's not outside yet but I'm hoping he will find our garden too thrilling to leave too.

scochran · 25/04/2023 18:59

I've cat proofed one side of my garden and put a catio the other side so there are 2 areas for being outdoors.
The cat proofing was a DIY kit which I put up myself. Not too expensive.

MadCatLady27 · 25/04/2023 22:57

One of my parents house cats (she was moggy but we suspected she had Norwegian or Siberian in) in her later years would happily just stay in the garden and tootle round it. You could leave her in it while you were sat with the back door open in the dining room. She was never left alone just in case. Their fence was also fairly high so more of a deterrent

One of my parents current ones - not a chance! He has to be VERY heavily supervised when out, he will bide his time then bolt at the fence. The other is very flighty, so would likely stay in the garden but not worth risking

My 2 only go out with us on their harnesses. The fence is much lower and also if they clear one they have direct access onto the road. Although the harness didn't stop my ragdoll suddenly leaping up the fence when I wasn't paying attention one time and disappearing over the other side. She didn't even Scrabble up it! Thank heavens the harness stayed put and I could reel her back in like a fish in a line. I felt myself age, a lot.

I'd make yours a house cat, with supervised garden visits. I don't think I could have another free roam cat - the roads are too busy and too many nasty people around