Got rid of the litterbox

Daisy liked the litter box just fine. Used it. He was a bit messy with it. I did not like vacuuming around it all the time, or cleaning it out every day. If I ever forgot, the smell would be quite bad. The thing is, Daisy lives in the country and there is plenty of soft dirt all around. We put in pet doors for him and our dog. Once he trained onto the pet door, he was free to come and go. So out went the litter box. So, so nice to be done with that!

 

Unless it's winter and the ground's too hard for my cats to dig in, they also go outside. My house has a couple of litter boxes for them to use overnight if need be, but most of the time they hold it til morning then go outside when the doors open. It's kind of fun haha. I mean, everyone always grumbles about cleaning the cat box, but cat's are intelligent and can be taught to relieve themselves in a variety of ways. My grandmom even had a cat that used the toilet, which was impressive.

 

We tried to potty train Gemma with the toilet seat system. A series of trays that sit on the edge of your toilet bowl and after several weeks you trade it out with a tray with an opening in the middle (to the toilet water). It takes about 8 weeks (so they say) because you also have to train the cat to climb up to the toilet to do their biz. It got messy, my wife didn't want to give up the half bath for the babies so we returned everything to the old way. Both cats like the "World's Best Cat Litter" and we do too.

 

Oh I would love to get rid of the cat boxes. I have also bought the toilet training kit. It worked for a few of them actually, but I had an older cat at the time that just refused to do it. I still have the kit in the garage. I'm tempted to try it again because I'm learning that although I love my new cat litter, 2 of my cats won't dig, and they will balance themselves on the edge of the box so they don't have to touch the litter.

 

That's interesting they don't like to touch the cat litter. What type are you using?

 

I've been thinking of doing the same if I get a new cat in the future, but then I worry about having a semi stray cat (like my in laws's cat). But it does sound like a very tempting option! Other option would be teaching the cat to use the toilet (doable), but my husband think that is gross

 

When I lived in my apartment, I had my cats inside and I wouldn't let them outside because I lived in town and the street was right next to the apartment. When I moved to the farm, I started letting my cats outside for part of the day so they can explore the great outdoors. Since they were inside cats ever since they were kittens, my cats don't know they can use the bathroom outside. I have watched every one of them come in from outside, use the litter box and then go right back outside. It's kind of funny to me. They just don't know anything about being country cats.

 

That's kind of funny you mentioned them coming in to do their biz. Rosco, the small white cat, we had to feed away from Gemma. We put Rosco's food dish down in the pantry where he can eat without any disturbances. Gemma, we would feed out in the open. This was basically because we have to keep Rosco away from Gemma's food because he's got food allergies. Anyway, we try to feed Rosco in the kitchen now and he veers away from the food dish because we've always chased him away from it in the kitchen. Put the bowl down in the pantry and he's all down to biz eating to his tummy's content.

 

So happy to hear about this. I have to confess that when I started to let my Twinkle go outside I was happy I did not miss not cleaning up the litter box. Sadly the freedom cost him his life. I hope your cat is trained to not far astray.

That's super interesting and kind of funny even.

 

I live in the city so I would never allow my cats to go outside. They would be hit by a car in a minute. As much as I dislike the liter box I would rather have my animals save at home. If you live in the country or have an area where they can come and go then that is great. In the city just isn't the place for my kitties.