Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi

We have two 6 month old kittens who have recently been allowed outdoors.

Whilst indoors, they happily used the litter trays we provided, but have now decided that they would rather use my veg patch. They seem to have chosen one area which makes it easyish to clean, but obviously I'd rather they used the trays.

I've never had this problem before as my previous cat used the tray throughout her life.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks

Dear 456cat, once they find their feet outside they should use your neighbours garden.

Good for you, not so good for them.

Have you tried putting the cat tray near your veg plot.

I'd rather they didn't use anyone's garden and if they have to, then I'd prefer it to be mine.

I'd assumed that if they were trained to use the tray and had never experienced outside toileting, then they would continue to use it.

I haven't tried putting the tray outside as I would probably forget to bring it in when it rained!

Cats always seem to like freshly dug earth, especially in vegetable patches! I can only suggest that perhaps you try and keep a small area of finely dug earth or chipped bark available near your kitchen door. Then perhaps they might use that instead. Since they don't really like getting their paws dirty, perhaps one of those metre square kids sand trays, with a few holes drilled in the bottom for rain to drain away, and filled with chipped bark might be an alternative. If you first fill your indoor litter tray with forest bark for a couple of days before your outdoor tray comes into use, they may get the idea. But your cats,perverse creatures that they are, will probably still prefer your veggie patch or your neighbour's garden! Our last kitten when being toilet trained, would howl outside our kitchen door to be let in to use his litter tray, rather than piddle outside.

Be grateful they are using the veg patch and not the beds - inside sleeping beds, I mean!Our old cat makes a particular statement every time something upsets her - like someone coming to stay. last time it was 2 beds - duets - the lot!! We get round it by leaving her in the utility with access through a cat flap to the outside, and only having her in when we're in and able to monitor her.

An often suggested solution is to plant branched twigs between your veg - no one like to squat on a twig...

a variation I have had success with is with wire 'flowers'. Take a stiff wire, such as old coat hangers, and bend 2/3 into a flower or star shape and bend the last 1/3 down into a stem. Once planted the flowers float and wobble a few inches above the ground. They get in the way of landing pidgeons too.

I used to have a lot of trouble from next-doors' cats. I told them that the 'rabbits' in the garden were getting so bad now that I'd be setting traps for them. Never had any more cat problems after that and caught a few rabbits!

Sorry this doesn't help your problem, 456.

John

Thanks for all your suggestions. I've sectioned off an area near to the main place they were using and am encouraging them to use that.

It's not too bad at the moment as I haven't got a lot growing, but I might try the twig/wire flower idea when I start sowing!

456cat