If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 22:50:55 -0400, animzmirot wrote:
Can someone please solve this mystery? Ringo is currently mostly an indoor cat, with the spring to summer desire to go outside and hide in the bushes surrounding our house. He has a couple of acres of manicured lawns to stroll around, well away from any street or cars other than in our long driveway. Not that he does stroll, because he doesn't. He only sticks to the foundation and to the hole under our screened porch. No dogs, no other animals to speak of (and yes, we're cognizant that coyotes do hang around the surrounding wooded area at night, be he's only out in the daytime and in from early afternoon on). There are plenty of opportunities for him to use the outside as his litterbox, however.... he yelps to come in and runs to the litter box to pee and poop. WHY? Does he not understand that the world is his litterbox or is there something more attractive about his box than the great outdoors? Be thankful you have a well trained cat. On the plus side, you can keep tabs on his health from observing his litterbox habits. MLB |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 22:50:55 -0400, "animzmirot"
wrote: Can someone please solve this mystery? Ringo is currently mostly an indoor cat, with the spring to summer desire to go outside and hide in the bushes surrounding our house. He has a couple of acres of manicured lawns to stroll around, well away from any street or cars other than in our long driveway. Not that he does stroll, because he doesn't. He only sticks to the foundation and to the hole under our screened porch. No dogs, no other animals to speak of (and yes, we're cognizant that coyotes do hang around the surrounding wooded area at night, be he's only out in the daytime and in from early afternoon on). There are plenty of opportunities for him to use the outside as his litterbox, however.... he yelps to come in and runs to the litter box to pee and poop. WHY? Does he not understand that the world is his litterbox or is there something more attractive about his box than the great outdoors? How long have you let him outside? He may have engraved an indoor-defecating pattern before he was let outside. We've let our cats out on leads for years, and I've only once seen our Bengal squat and poop outside (and this, I think, was due to the smell of a neighborhood cat pooping in the same spot). The thing that concerns me is the fact that your cat cringes at the edges of your house. Cats are not as easily typed as dogs. They have fears and phobias like people, and it could very well be that your kitty is just scared of being outside. To me, this is a good thing. I had a cat that HAD to go outside sneak out, and was subsequently torn apart by neighborhood dogs. While I was watching, and beating the dogs with a golf club. My suggestion would be not to let the cat out if he/she's happy inside. Tiger wants to go out all the time, and we let him out on a lead, but no way is he roaming free. Cats seem like self-reliant beasts, but I think that's our own projection - in fact they are bred to be domicile animals, and are ill-equipped to manage outdoors. Just my 2c BLink |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
"animzmirot" wrote in message ... Can someone please solve this mystery? Ringo is currently mostly an indoor cat, with the spring to summer desire to go outside and hide in the bushes surrounding our house. He has a couple of acres of manicured lawns to stroll around, well away from any street or cars other than in our long driveway. Not that he does stroll, because he doesn't. He only sticks to the foundation and to the hole under our screened porch. No dogs, no other animals to speak of (and yes, we're cognizant that coyotes do hang around the surrounding wooded area at night, be he's only out in the daytime and in from early afternoon on). There are plenty of opportunities for him to use the outside as his litterbox, however.... he yelps to come in and runs to the litter box to pee and poop. WHY? Does he not understand that the world is his litterbox or is there something more attractive about his box than the great outdoors? My parents' cat does this. It's like he comes in for a pit stop. Uses the box, gets some food, some water, and goes right back out. -Kelly |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
"Brian Link" wrote in message ... On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 22:50:55 -0400, "animzmirot" wrote: Can someone please solve this mystery? Ringo is currently mostly an indoor cat, with the spring to summer desire to go outside and hide in the bushes surrounding our house. He has a couple of acres of manicured lawns to stroll around, well away from any street or cars other than in our long driveway. Not that he does stroll, because he doesn't. He only sticks to the foundation and to the hole under our screened porch. No dogs, no other animals to speak of (and yes, we're cognizant that coyotes do hang around the surrounding wooded area at night, be he's only out in the daytime and in from early afternoon on). There are plenty of opportunities for him to use the outside as his litterbox, however.... he yelps to come in and runs to the litter box to pee and poop. WHY? Does he not understand that the world is his litterbox or is there something more attractive about his box than the great outdoors? How long have you let him outside? He may have engraved an indoor-defecating pattern before he was let outside. We've let our cats out on leads for years, and I've only once seen our Bengal squat and poop outside (and this, I think, was due to the smell of a neighborhood cat pooping in the same spot). The thing that concerns me is the fact that your cat cringes at the edges of your house. Cats are not as easily typed as dogs. They have fears and phobias like people, and it could very well be that your kitty is just scared of being outside. To me, this is a good thing. I had a cat that HAD to go outside sneak out, and was subsequently torn apart by neighborhood dogs. While I was watching, and beating the dogs with a golf club. Cringes? No, that's not so. He doesn't cringe. He's a scaredy cat. It's his personality both indoors and outdoors. He spooks very easily. He reminds me of a horse we once had, aloof and very very tense but when he slept it was like a coma sleep. Ringo begs to go outside. He loves being out if the weather is good. Even when it is pouring he'll ask to go out and then will sit on the back porch and whine, willing it to stop raining. He definately wants to be outside. If he didn't, he'd be inside and I'd be perfectly happy about it. He stayed indoors for many months until it got warm, and then he started marking up the entire house until we let him out. From that moment on, not one single spray indoors. As I said, we don't have neighborhood dogs. Well, we probably do somewhere, but we live in a very isolated spot up a large hill quite far from the road. We've never seen a dog off leash around here (quite steep fines) and very few on leash. In order for an onleash dog to go up to our house, his owner would have to brave our hill which isn't for the feint of heart, and be willing to trespass on very marked private property. Dogs are the least of my worry. And our cat is the only pet in our compound of 4 residences, much beloved by the neighbors who welcome him into their homes if he's ever over visiting, which is quite rare. Cats seem like self-reliant beasts, but I think that's our own projection - in fact they are bred to be domicile animals, and are ill-equipped to manage outdoors. I wouldn't say that either. He's perfectly well equipped to handle his outdoor environment. He has a safe hiding place both indoors (linen closet) and outdoors (under the porch) and he tends to spend a lot of time in those places. But when he's outdoors he loves to trim his catmint plant, eat around the chives, sniff all the flowers, and wander under the bushes where it's cooler than in the direct sunshine. He has killed a couple of field mice, so he's capable of being remarkably catlike when the mood strikes him, but mostly he's a very watchful, careful, serious animal. That doesn't mean he's not begging to be outside. Just my 2c BLink |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
"animzmirot" wrote in message ... Can someone please solve this mystery? Ringo is currently mostly an indoor cat, with the spring to summer desire to go outside and hide in the bushes surrounding our house. He has a couple of acres of manicured lawns to stroll around, well away from any street or cars other than in our long driveway. Not that he does stroll, because he doesn't. He only sticks to the foundation and to the hole under our screened porch. No dogs, no other animals to speak of (and yes, we're cognizant that coyotes do hang around the surrounding wooded area at night, be he's only out in the daytime and in from early afternoon on). There are plenty of opportunities for him to use the outside as his litterbox, however.... he yelps to come in and runs to the litter box to pee and poop. WHY? Does he not understand that the world is his litterbox or is there something more attractive about his box than the great outdoors? The cat likes the feel of the litter in the box and is used to using it. My first cat, Mabel, would do that. She was always an inside/outside cat (she tried clawing through drywall to get outside) but in her later years would exclusively use her box. We used to joke that it was too cold, hot, wet, dry, hard, soft, outside for her so she came inside where it was just right. W |
#16
|
|||
|
|||
"animzmirot" wrote in message ... he yelps to come in and runs to the litter box to pee and poop. WHY? Does he not understand that the world is his litterbox or is there something more attractive about his box than the great outdoors? Move the litter box outside to the required spot, and then at some point empty his litterbox at the spot and he should start using it, if he's outside for long enough. Ours is an outside cat and hasn't peed or pooped indoors since we did this. |
#17
|
|||
|
|||
wrote in message oups.com... It's just his personality. Some cats do want to use the box exclusively--that's really a good thing--monitoring litterbox use is a good way to detect illness. It really kind of fits the personality you've described--he doesn't sound too adventuresome and isn't a roamer. ( a good thing, too!) He likes the comforts of home. Out of my five, I have only one who is like Ringo. The others do their bizness outdoors if they happen to be out at the time. Sherry I think you're right there, he might feel vunerable and confident enough to "go" outside. Kim uses her litter tray and the earth patch dug for her , near the back door. Alison http://catinfolinks.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ http://doginfolinks.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Kitty Cat Litter Box Cake recipie | dgk | Cat health & behaviour | 16 | July 8th 05 03:20 PM |
Introduction #1 (long) | Mischief | Cat anecdotes | 1 | June 18th 05 05:31 AM |
Fisticuffs | Christina Websell | Cat anecdotes | 18 | November 18th 04 11:40 AM |
Picture of my kitty..... | Gandalf | Cat anecdotes | 22 | May 8th 04 04:43 PM |
A Gift from Mai Kitty | David | Cat anecdotes | 20 | May 2nd 04 09:50 PM |