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Cat in a flat
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
My Mum is moving house this weekend, and has just found out she can't take the cat to her new place.
She's 16 years old and has always been in the family. She also suffers from some sort of illness and has to take medication, tablets crushed up in her food.
So I've said I'll have her...I hate the idea of her being in a home locked up in a cage and don't think anyone would want to take her on due to her age and the medicine.
Trouble is, I live in a flat with no direct access to the outdoors, and I'm a bit of a hygiene freak.
How do you deal with the whole litter tray thing? And any other advice so I can make sure the cat settles in well and doesn't get all traumatised?
The idea is I will have her for a few weeks and see how it works out, and if it doesn't work, I will keep asking around for someone who will take her on.
She's 16 years old and has always been in the family. She also suffers from some sort of illness and has to take medication, tablets crushed up in her food.
So I've said I'll have her...I hate the idea of her being in a home locked up in a cage and don't think anyone would want to take her on due to her age and the medicine.
Trouble is, I live in a flat with no direct access to the outdoors, and I'm a bit of a hygiene freak.
How do you deal with the whole litter tray thing? And any other advice so I can make sure the cat settles in well and doesn't get all traumatised?
The idea is I will have her for a few weeks and see how it works out, and if it doesn't work, I will keep asking around for someone who will take her on.
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Cats don't like it if the tray is throughly cleaned more often as they like to know, from the smell, it's their own little area. Ooo and put some newspaper down around and under the tray in case of any accidents.
TBH things like Catsan and the other overly priced litters, tray liners etc are a waste of money. Follow what i said and it should be smell free, ours is. You can get special shake 'n' vac type stuff for the tray if your cat's poo/wee is a tad strong.
Ahh, i'd disagree, we like catsan lots. But my cat's male and despite being neutered i think that his urine is rather... pungent.
I would advise getting a covered litter tray, she's less likely to kick litter out of it that way and you don't have to look at her poo.
To be honest, given that she's rather old and stuff, i wouldn't imagine that it'll be too much of a problem. She might be upset for a while but she'll get used to it. Just give her time to settle in, don't hound her and give her lots of strokes and cuddles. And maintain as much continuity as possible - keep familiar items like food bowls, scratching posts etc. And make sure you give her the same food as she usually gets.
As for litter, it depends on what the cat likes. Our Bastard detests clumping litter, we get the basic lightweight litter (gravel, like Catsan) and we clean it out every day or two. We use plastic litter liners to avoid having to clean the litter tray so much (you can get about 20 for 69p from Wilkos) and we just pick the liner (like a placcy bag) out of the litter tray and pop it in the bin.
The shake n vac stuff for litter trays is very expensive, and if you get decent cat litter you won't need it. Avoid the Value stuff, and you'll be fine (we get Asda's own brand usually).
Ah could be then, we've got girls. We had a covered litter tray when i was a kid and the cats hated it. The one we bought for DoS has a dttachable collar round it and they don't make a mess apart from the dropping the odd bit that gets lodges in their paws,
I'm a bit nervous, my flat isn't very big and my sister seems to think the cat will slip over (it's got laminate flooring in most of it)
I've got a litter tray, litter, food, and food bowl, not sure what else I need. She maults everywhere, I will have to cover things up, I hate cat hair everywhere.
How can I train her to use the litter tray? She has never had to use one before.
For the litter tray, carry her to it and plonk her in it so she knows where it is and give her some privacy. She'll know what it's for.
I wouldn't bother with toys, by that age they aren't that interested in chasing stuff around unless you're dangling some string.
As for the laminate flooring, we've got laminate and wood flooring and ours are fine on it.
You didn't mention water bowl, did you get one ?
Completely disagree with this, tbh. If you are using clumping litter you should clean out the clumps more regularly than that. You should also clean the poo as soon as you can - it's not nice for the cats to have to use a dirty toilet. And it smells.
We use the catsan (not clumping) litter. It absorbs the smell and is quite hygenic. The clumps used to annoy me, as I was quite anal about them. I also clean the trays out about once a week (we have 3 trays for 3 cats). Much more than that and the trays smell and they don't poo as they don't like dirty litter trays.
As for the outside stuff, our cats were indoor for over 18 months for one reason and another. They were fine as long as they had some stimulus - lots of toys, scratching posts and attention.
Our cats are fine on the laminate. The only time they slide a bit is when they are *really* chasing each other, but we've never had any real issues with it.
Of course the clumping litter is a personal chocie, just easier for wee removal
Hehe, just because that is what they say, doesn't mean it's right
I, personally, think it is too little. I *always* clean poo as and when I can - ie I never leave it as I don't like it and the cats don't like it - they won't poo if there is lots of poo already there. And I completely clean and disinfect the trays ever 7/8 days as any longer than that and they smell. And the cats will not use it.
I don't like leaving the trays dirty - at all. I am very particular about them, and the cats are too. I also don't like the smell that they leave if they aren't cleaned on a regular basis.
I always see it as I don't like using a dirty toilet so don't reckon the cats would either, and much more than that and it is a dirty toilet.
But then, I can be OCD about things like this.
I feel sorry for her not being able to go outside and being stuck in my small flat.
I think there's a couple of views about it. Some people think it's mean to keep them inside all the time. But others say when cats go outside they can pick up diseases, get pregnant, get run over or run away.
Cat poo stinks. I felt so sick this morning cleaning it out.
The kittens won't use a mucky litter tray, so as soon as they've used it, somebody has to scoop it out. They aren't so bad with wee, but it just means we only put a bit of litter in each tray (they have two) and change them completely every 3/4 days.
te he, I meant to say outdoors, that my cats spent most of their time outgoors, bu tI guess you got that? One of my friends has just taken over looking after another friend's mother and kitten cats coz she's just about to drop a sprog herself (they thought she'd been spayed :crazyeyes was a surprise litter). Anyway, she's intending to keep them all outdoors in a little dog kennel type shed type thing, I think that's equally as weird as housecats. I suppose when a cat is old it wants to be in the warm indoors more anyway, no more jumping for wool, chasing birds, bringing home mice presents an all that malarky.
:eek: