Advice on cat equipment

Oh, phew Charleygirl! Anyone else?!

www.catbehaviorassociates.com/how-many-litter-boxes-should-you-have/

common advice for cat owners, probably not so important if the cat(s) go out, but essential if they are indoor cats. We have a busy road close by, so ours stay in.

Thanks for the link B9

We have 2 indoors happy sharing a litter tray, it is big though, a under the bed storage box. We use cats best oko plus, last ages, and no smell. All cats are different, and change their minds frequently too!

Mia alternates between the settee, my bed, the landing or back bedroom carpets, and the stairlift, for sleeping at night. At the moment we`re fighting the battle of the stairlift, my need is greater than hers, she doesn`t agree.
I had a scratching post which she ignored, most of her scratching is done on the coir doormat, although she occasionally chances her luck on the ottoman in my bedroom.
I kept her in for 2 weeks after getting her from the Cats Protection League.
I don`t know where she gets her water from, obviously somewhere, because she avoids her water bowl like the plague, I did worry somewhat during the long hot spell, but she seemed OK, but where she drinks from I just don`t know.
Anyway, the best of luck to you and to Reuben, a photo please when he`s settled in.

Just over a year ago I got a rescue cat. Thought (and was told) she was about 5-8 years old. When her chipping certificate arrived turned out she was actually born in 2002, so a lot older. Cat Rescue home were mortified and offered to exchange her, but she had by then been with me for six weeks and we were starting to get used to each other, so she stayed (Two old ladies together).
She had obviously been an indoors cat and was good at using a litter tray, which I moved from the kitchen into the adjacent utility room. In the Spring I moved this into the garden and she has used outdoors ever since. In the good weather she would happily go in the garden when I was out there, and would patrol around the fences. Obviously never learned how to climb a fence. However, she regards this as HER territory and goes mad when any other cat has the temerity to come into it. As she is pretty small animal, it is quite amusing to see how quickly much larger animals run from her fury.
She never goes far from me - follows me from room to room - did not appear to know about stairs when she first arrived, but now comes upstairs when I am sitting at my laptop (as I am now).
The cosy cat bed I bought for her was never used, neither was the special cat cushion, and after several months gave them to the Cat home for their summer fayre. She prefers to sleep either on the rug in the sitting room, or on a cushion on the back of my sofa in there.
She goes in and out of 'tied-up' cat flaps - nothing I have done will get her to push against this herself. And she will not use her scratching post, although I stop her scratching on the sofa and show her this post.
Apart from that she is lovely - will not come on laps, but likes to be very close by me all of the daytime.
I was in a lot of pain recently and was sobbing to myself in my bedroom - I know that dogs get concerned when their owners are unwell, but had not realised this upset cats as well. She came into my bedroom and was miaowing loudly. Later that evening, long after everything had calmed down with some extra strong pain killers from my GP, she followed me upstairs when I went to go to bed, and reassured herself I was actually getting into bed calmly, before returning downstairs.
Yes, over the past 13 months she has trained me well and is very welcome company for me.

My cat's favourite place was any Amazon box he could squeeze himself into!

We had over 20 cats during our married life, all from a mixture of homes where they needed to be found homes. However, last puss was a darling from Cats Protection, who managed to persuade us to buy an assembly of toys, scratching posts, etc. Honey would have none of them, and, a real old girl with arthritis and expensive medication, she was comfortable on an old cat bed, with litter tray for night but she could come and go as she pleased. Lost her a year ago to old age - still miss her terribly. Just follow your instincts and you can't go wrong!

No Squiffy you haven't been failing in your duties.

One tray for one cat is fine. I'm down to my last cat now. I've had sphynx's for years and I lost my boys brother, his litter mate, 3 years ago so now just have one litter tray. It's absolutely fine and as he's a house cat is the only 'loo' he has.

I'm a fan of clumping cat litter as it's easy to regularly remove any deposits during the day. He has a lipped tray, an igloo bed which he adores and a couple of hammocks that hang off the radiators.

What I've never heard before is having the litter tray and food and water in the same room. I've had that arrangement for years.

The first day after I brought Abbi home, I came downstairs the following morning and could not find her anywhere. Very frightening. My ground floor is open plan, no little cubby holes, no way of exiting (at that point the cat flaps had not been installed.). I searched and called for about ten minutes getting more and more stressed. Decided to calm down and have my breakfast and whilst I was eating it happened to notice to little ears high up n top of my units. Cats often go for the highest places when they are scared, although I think I was more frightened than her on that occasion.
Kept her in for about six weeks, and first time I let her out into my small garden I watched her for a bit, but then thought give her time, all back doors were wide open. Ten minutes later went out looking for her and she was nowhere to be seen. Again panic on my part. small squarish garden, nowhere for her to hide. I called her and got a miaow in response. She had got into my nieghbours garden via a small gap at the end of the fence, but could not find her way back to that. I looked over the low (4 ft) fence, but she was very frightened. Unfortunately, i knew nieghbours were away that week, so in the end had to get a chair and my kitchen steps to climb over the fence, to pick her up and bring her back with me. I could hear my children all sighing at me for taking this sort of risks (I am very prone to bad falls).