Do most owners of outdoor cats provide a litter tray indoors?

[SylvanMoon]

I was just listening to Sliced Bread on Radio 4 about kitty litter. The woman who was being introduced as wanting to know which type of litter was best to use said that she was new to having to deal with kitty litter as this was the first time she'd owned an "inside cat". The implication was that she'd previously owned "outside cats" and didn't ever provide a kitty litter for them. I was quite surprised by this and wondered how common it is that cat owners just expect their cats to defecate on other people's property. My neighbour has two cats who roam around outside, but have a litter that they use inside. (They also poo outside.) I don't have a cat or dog, but I do have a front and back garden where I grow fruit and vegetables. And it's cost me quite a lot to cat-proof my soil with scat mats and netting so that the neighbourhood outside cats don't use it as their toilet. Are cat owners comfortable with that or do they think their cats are considerate and only poo on wasteland rather than in their neighbours' gardens?

My cats always went outside. They bury their shit so you seldom see it anyway.

We don’t.
We did for about 6 years. They used it the first 1 year as kittens and when mainly inside. Once free to go outside whenever they never ever used it, and it became a clean ornament for the next 5 years in our downstairs bathroom.

I finally got rid of it from house, seeing it’s not used. ( I do actually have it and small fresh bag litter for emergency In case he has to be locked in if ill)

I doubt he poos in someone else’s garden. He doesn’t travel far alone and we are detached house surrounded by woodland and fields

I don’t have a cat but dealing with cat shit has never been a problem in my life 🤷‍♀️ Fox poo? Yes. My dog’s poo? Yes. Not random cats. And I say this as someone who’s ndn’s cats are always hanging around our house and there are lots on the estate. I love seeing them roaming and sunbathing on the patio, they’re very friendly.

People need to stop feeling so entitled about having pets and realise their impact - on other people, their gardens, and wildlife.

This goes for both cats and dogs. Cats are decimating wildlife, dogs shit all over playgrounds and pavements, maim and even kill people.

They are lovely - we had an adored family cat - and are a lifeline for lonely people. But they are also destructive. Getting a pet for amusement is not justification enough.

Yes, I have a cat that goes outside, he has a litter tray inside and actually comes inside to use it, as in galloping about in the garden - comes in to use the litter tray and pops outside again as he chooses to.

Same, he hates doing his business outside, I don't think he even wees outside.
I'm happy though, I'd rather clean up after my own cat.

(no training happened, he's just likes things how he likes them)

Mine has a litter box but she only uses it at night.

No. There’s no point as cat won’t use it if they can get outside.

@Chocolatefreak - not ours. No neighbours nearby to poop at, and he’s terrified of birds! He runs inside if birds get too close.

He’s also really lazy.
He’s currently terrifying nobody asleep on the sofa.

"So to those of you who have outside cats and don't provide an inside litter or they don't use it, are you comfortable that your cats are shitting in your neighbour's gardens?"

Yes

I got rid of ours because he never used it once he was going outside. As almost everyone round me has cats, they probably all use each other's gardens. So no it doesn't bother me if mine goes next door as next door's is coming over here.

Delightful post. We share this planet with a wide variety of animals and creatures. And if anything, there are too many of us. We ‘shit’ on animals a great deal of time in a wide variety of ways. I think we should look to ourselves if anything.

My cat did not need a litter tray once trained.

My cat only went in our garden. She had a couple of spots she would use.

Male cats who have not been ‘done’ will likely spray anywhere. But these are often feral or semi feral. Farm cats etc. They have not been trained at all.

Be careful that what you think is cats poo might well be something else. Fox in particular. Cats are animals that have very set patterns of behaviour and territories. Most are unlikely to randomly ‘go’ anywhere.

My cats are well-trained. They don't go on the kitchen worktops when they know I can see them. 😆

I find that most cat owners literally don't give a shit that their furry predators are leaving stinking surprises in other people's flower and vegetable beds. I like the idea of cats and they are beautiful creatures but in cities I find then incredibly irritating and they upset me a fair bit with their mess and killing of birds and toads in my small garden.

You're surprised that I might be a "bit" annoyed that I have to spend a small fortune on things to ensure that the vegetables and fruits I'm growing remain edible? You may not be able to do anything about where your cat is doing its business, but at least you can have a bit of empathy in understanding how your neighbours may be being affected by that.

Yes, they "hide" their stools amongst my vegetables and fruits, which is disgusting frankly.

Oh the irony when your cats just shit anywhere they want and you don’t even pretend to make the effort to clear it up? Is cat shit somehow different to dog shit?

If there were no pet dogs, there'd be no pool of dogs to select disabled people's assistance dogs from.

Most of the prey items that CatOfHate has brought back have been Rattus Norvegicus, an invasive species originally from Mongolia that is legally classified as vermin. He is doing his job: pest control.

I used to provide an indoor litter tray but it would go unused for months at a time. She prefers the outdoor litter box… I call it my raised flower bed, but she prefers it as a litter tray. Bloody cat! 😆

Birds shit on your veg and brown rats piss on them.

I have 2 outdoor cats and have 2 large litter trays for them as I keep them in overnight. When I get up and go for my morning wee they get up also and do theirs as well. Synchronised tinkles

Are you not washing everything anyway? It will be covered in bird excrement, which isn’t always visible, and carries many more diseases than cat poo.

The cats around here "bury" their shit by digging up my bulbs and contaminating the soil used for food growing. I'd rather see it so I can at least clean it out.

No I wouldn’t, I currently have kittens so I don’t let them out but I’d love to never have to have a litter tray ever again I honestly don’t know how people cope with them the smell of sh*t is vile

Cats are allowed to roam. I understand that you don’t like this and I understand why. But the fact is that in this country it is considered acceptable that cats roam.

cats will dedicate where they want. Perhaps there is some country where cats are not allowed to be outside, I do not know. But as cats are allowed to roam outdoors and humans can not control where they deficate, it’s a ‘suck it up buttercup’ situation I’m afraid 🤷🏻‍♀️