Cats living mostly outdoors?

[ERN79]

I'm at the end of my tether with one of our cats.
She constantly poo's outside the litter tray. This has been going on since we got her as a kitten 4 years ago.
We've tried different litter types, different trays, we've had upto 5 trays at one point. Calming plug in, calming spot ons.
Had her to the vets & there's nothing physically wrong with her.

I've got home tonight to poo all through my downstairs as the robot hoover has gone through it & spread it all over. Thankfully it's laminate not carpet.
After cleaning all that up I've come up to bed to another poo on my bedroom carpet.
I've had enough.

I'm thinking of making her an area in the shed with a bed & having her mostly outside.
AIBU?!

YANBU.

We did this with an older, originally rescue cat who sprayed inside the house and, like you, we tried everything and £££ of vet etc to sort her out.

It’s ok to not want to live with animal faeces around your home. And the alternative is rehoming her which will be hard.

How did she get on outside?

Rehoming her is a last resort, but I've had enough now. Also who'd want to rehome a cat who poo's everywhere 🤦‍♀️

Some (most?) cats prefer not to live with other cats, so maybe she needs to be an only cat.

Why does she have a litter? Is she is a permanently indoor cat?

Ours just go through the catflap - outside - for a poo. (In our garden.) No need to have cat poo in the house at all.

Your cat doesn't need to be shoved outside to live in the shed! She just needs to be trained to 'go' outside! Get a catflap fitted, teach her to use it, and remove the cat litter from the house.

She lives with 1 other cat, her sister they've been together from the start.
I have thought about the possibility that she'd rather be an only cat. But that obviously means getting rid of one, which I'm trying to avoid.
I'm trying to find other solutions. Though it may come to this.

They've always had a litter tray. She's not permanently indoor no, she goes in & out through an open window. She'll go out but come back in to poo.
I don't want to shove her in the shed! But I'm at the end of my tether with it all & trying to find solutions!

We also don't have a back door, we have patio doors which would mean replacing the glass to put a cat flap in, which when quoted was over £400. Which we don't have lying around at the moment.
If a cat flap was cheaper & easier we'd have done it already.
Unfortunately due to cost we haven't as yet.

Don't do what a PP suggested and get rid of the litter tray, especially if you also have another cat.

What's her relationship like with her sister? And has she ever done poo in her tray or are the accidents just random? I wonder if it could be diet related?

Why have a litter tray at all if you have access to outdoor space?

None of the cats I’ve lived with over more than half a century have ever needed a litter tray beyond the initial settling in period. And we’ve never had a cat flap either. (Think I recall the day this new invention was introduced on Blue Peter!)

We have doors - and if the cats are inside they tell us when they want to go out. But they’re out probably two thirds of the time anyway. They come in for food and company, but they’d be ashamed and contemptuous to be shown a litter tray beyond their first few months.

(Full disclosure; I think keeping indoor only cats is Not A Good Thing.)

Relationship between the 2 cats is fine. They've always been together, no major fighting issues or anything.
She has poo'd in a tray now & then but majority of the time it is outside the tray, usually withing a couple of feet of they tray. Makes no difference whether the tray is sparkling clean or has been used.
She seems to wee in tray fine.
Have tried different types of litter too.

I've changed the food a couple of times over the years, they used to be on hi life wet & purina dry food but stopped eating it. Currently on supermarket own brand & eat that happily.

I'm at a loss. Though have calmed a little since the sh#tshow of last night 🤦‍♀️

We put a cat flap in a wall, is that an option?

Why have a litter tray at all if you have access to outdoor space?

Because it's good practise to provide your cat with somewhere clean and safe to go to the toilet, especially as one day they may be unwell and forced to stay inside for a period of time - having a litter tray available means they're used to it and can use it stress free.

I think because of this ongoing issue I haven't dared to get rid of the litters.
Our cat growing up was like yours & had no tray or cat flap either.
Both cats go to the patio door if they want to go out & we let them out if we're in obviously.
In warmer weather a window is left open & they come & go as they please.
The troublesome cat will go out then come back in & go off to poo somewhere 🤦‍♀️, I just don't understand why. Or what we can do.

If she's peeing in the tray without a problem it's likely not a litter issue - assuming her poo is healthy and normal and she's not rushing for the tray then I'm at a bit of a loss really - especially as she's deliberately coming inside to do it rather than having accidents because she can't get out.

I would try having her outside as long as you can provide a heated shelter area for her.

I have thought about this, I'm assuming it's not particularly cheap either?

I'm completely at a loss too. Thank you for the understanding!
Her poo varies if I'm honest, but she's been checked by the vet a few times, again a few weeks ago, and no health issues.
She's the one that will pinch unattended food if given the chance, so if she does have a runny poo or something I put it down to that 🤦‍♀️
She's out for the day now as I'm out to work but has access to the shed & a bed. Daren't leave her inside after yesterday.

Have you tried having multiple trays? Even cats who get on can sometimes object to sharing a litter tray. While trays all over the house isn't ideal, it has to beat cat shit everywhere! I'd try putting another tray in each of the rooms she tends to use. If she starts using them she'll probably soon develop a favourite and then you can remove the ones that aren't being used. Also try some different types, one of our cats likes a covered tray, the other likes to watch the world go by as they poop!

With her poo being varied, I do wonder if it's diet related and she can't get to the tray on time or just gets the "urge" to go. Maybe she's done a painful poo in the tray before and associates pooing there with pain?

I know he's a bit "woo" but there have been a few episodes of Jackson Galaxy's show where cats haven't pooed in the tray due to pain and they've basically needed to be retrained with positive associations.

She could maybe benefit from grain free or a single protein diet. I do sympathise though - one of mine went through a phase of peeing next to the water bowls 🙄

Yep, we had 5 trays at one point 🤦‍♀️
Currently have 3. All have lids as we tried without & they seemed to prefer the lidded ones. Also tried different types of litter, the silica stuff, pellets, clumping. Did try a tray with no litter too.
I don't know what else to do.

Updated to add, one of my cats won't usuually poop outside (sometimes wees outside though) I think it's because he's anxious about neighbourhood bully cat that he's had a few run ins with and he doesn't feel safe pooping outside.

I was gardening yesterday and he happily pooped in a freshly dug bed while I was there... maybe he thought I was standing guard for him!! 🤣

I'll have a look at the different diets, I'm happy to try anything at this stage.
It's know it's irrational but at this stage I feel she's just being a tw&t about it all, she's got the life of Riley & is well loved, but insists on doing this. We've tried so hard to resolve it & I'm just passed myself with it all now.
How do I train her? Off to go Google Jackson Galaxy videos... 😂

@AltitudeCheck they're terrors aren't they! 😂

His programme is called My Cat From Hell 😂 he's on YouTube or there are full episodes on Discovery+.

He is a bit "woo" and talks a lot about atmosphere and cats picking up on our feelings but underneath all that he does make a lot of sense and seems to make good progress.

I forget which episode but I think it was a Persian? type cat who toileted on the floor and they basically had to make her a litter tray out of cardboard to break the association and then slowly get her accustomed to a normal one again.

It seemed to work but it did take ages 😬

@fieldsofbutterflies I've heard of him & seen the odd episode.
I'll have to search this one out 👍

Putting a cat flap in a wall is the cost of a cat flap plus drilling a hole.