How to stop older cat using lawn as toilet?

[CatGuardian]

My 12 year old cat who's been toilet trained since I got him and who has nicely buried his poo outside all this time, has now started just depositing turds on the lawn. No major changes lately. Worried it's old age having an effect but is there anything I can do? Have seen 'cat granules' for sale that supposedly put them off certain areas, but I have another cat who uses an indoor litter tray and don't want to upset them either if I can help it. Any ideas? TIA

Surely you could just do a daily poo pick of the garden as you would with a dog?

This is often a sign of arthritis as it hurts to dig a hole so getting a vet check would be a good plan.

My cat does this who is a similar age, annoying but we do a daily sweep with a poop a scoop and just sort it for him.

Our issue is he used to like to go outside the garden but is afraid of the neighbours cat, so guess he just feels safer doing it closer to home although not sure why on the grass!?!?

It could be worth a vet check. My cat was older at age 16 but he started doing that and over the space of a few months it got more and more frequent, the vet could feel lumps and suspected intestinal cancer.

I’m not suggesting that’s what yours has but I initially put it down to maybe he couldn’t be bothered to use the soil due to his age.

Offer him something better? My cat has a border filled with topsoil and sand. She likes it clean though so I do have to go out and rake it/poop scoop every day.
As others have said arthritis could be an issue, most older cats have it and can benefit from pain meds. Cognitive decline can also lead to a change in toileting behaviour.

Great, so he used to go in someone else's garden. Wonderful! I hate finding cat poo in our grass....

Errr no he didn’t actually as we live next to open fields. But thanks for your pointless comment and interest in my cats toileting habits. Assuming your cat is perfect, always buries its poo and empties its own litter tray yes?