can you train a cat to toilet outside!

[puddicat]

Have a cat who i took in nearly 8 years ago, she was just a kitten and very traumatised,she uses a litter tray but sometimes in the summer she will stay out in the night for some hours, come back about 5am and still she will go to her tray and toilet rather than go outside when she was out, she must have kept it in for ages,have i any chance of changing her now or just accept it!

[theonlyone]

We have 2 rescue cats and one is
agrophobic .she is better but is still in
a tray ..but she taught the other one
how to use the cat flap ..

[dumber]

hi puddicat, I think at 8 years old you may have to accept it lol one of our cats is 10 and she is really set in her ways

You could try putting the litter tray in the garden sat on soil then if she uses it wait a few nights then take the tray away and just put some cat litter on the soil, if shes not too stubborn she may do it outside then. Thats how we trained our cats when they had been neutered and were allowed out :D

[puddicat]

thanks for your suggestions

[Jugglering]

Awwww, puddicat... your cat is just going where she thinks is the right place to go.... in the litter tray. Here's a suggestion:- scrape some soil smooth in the garden and mix in some cat litter, then place a layer of litter over the top. Show her where the *new place* is by getting her to follow you (use a cat treat). You could also transfer a little of her *toilet* out from the indoor tray to this outside area (ie a little *used* litter), so she would recognise the smell and realise that her new toilet has been moved..... If this works, then just spread a little cat litter in another part of the garden soil and you may find that she gets the hint !

[LoftyLottie]

I also doubt if she will ever change. My eight year old cat does exactly the same thing. She rushes in from the garden almost cross legged and bursting just to use the litter and then rushes out again!! grrrrrrr.

[LoftyLottie]

PS Whilst I was washing the litter tray out in the garden, she rushed over and wee'd in the empty tray. I give up!

[paddywak]

Never kept cats but when Max, my GSD first started going for walks, no matter how long we were out he would always wait til he was home to go in "his" toilet It was several weeks before he got the idea that he wsnt being bad doing it else where. how do you know she isnt going to the toilet outside as well if she's out all night?