Covered litter tray

[Littletreefrog]

We are due to move house soon. The cats are 15 and 9 and inside only cats. They have open litter trays in out large hallway at the moment. In the new house there won't be anywhere for the litter tray apart from the spare bedroom/office. Ideally as DH will be using the room as an office a few days a week I want to keep smells to a minimum.

Do you think they can adapt to a covered litter tray? I was thinking maybe with the door removed to begin with then add later? Also the older cat has a habit of pooing just next to the litter tray at the moment. We haven't changed the litter and keep it as clean as possible anyone any clues about this as well?

Our female had a covered tray with deep sides to the actual tray bit and lower at the doorway. She never,ever buries her waste but used to paw at the walls of the cover like a diggy little maniac .Very noisily
Our male has a massive flat tray anything covered scares him

If I was going to try madam with a cover I'd try a big cardboard box first then if she hated it I've lost nothing

That is a brilliant idea, we will have many large boxes left after the move.

Is your older cat having trouble getting into the tray so leaving their bottom out?

Our female sometimes does an outside the tray protest if it's not 100% clean

Maybe do a trial run with a cover before you move or it might be too many changes at once .
If I move their trays a couple of feet to clean the floor theg get so judgey .
"Well when was this decided,I'm sure that was there when I went out"

I don't think it's a mobility problem as she is still up on the kitchen counter at the slightest hint of food. I do think she is maybe being a fussy madam and we will just have to be extra vigilant at keeping the trays super clean.

I'm not sure how they will react to the house move the 9 year old has lived here since 8 weeks and the older cat has been here 14 years.

This is also a great idea, I will see if I can spare a box from packing duty to try it out

We got this litter tray: https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjH26vSpKiKAxXDmlAGHQJKKGcYABBMGgJkZw&co=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA9vS6BhA9EiwAJpnXwyLwodfoEQeIUb2LKfAb2VxNRZbQQPUhbDP3vR0JepMvrpYyMxU0qxoC5nYQAvD_BwE&sph&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESeuD2mR4I4YjoIA29W3EQe2FmxD_yeaE8y-5_TPv3SndWxuqdfSlFBYqMcDuPksTh6fVs-IjPyBho69dmpmXr7ATkz2oLTMUuywmM2FngUuSkVSV2yvLQ23qwmtBqzq1TOHmCO7hpHdjwVV5shoH4doB0q0trMoN56-g0&sig=AOD64_2tDiIf0N7Buij35f81mqTI170ghA&q&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwiGvqfSpKiKAxUuTUEAHaRJHOwQ0Qx6BAgMEAE

I started off just using the bottom half so it is an open but quite deep litter tray, in exactly the same spot as the previous one. After a few days when I was sure the cats were okay with it I put the top on but not the flap and left the whole lid open. Another few days and then started closing the lid (but not with the flap).