My cats do NOT have a litter box ~ EXCEPT the great outdoors. They are very good about letting me know when they want out. They come find me & talk to me while heading back to one of our doors. [Began by training them on newspaper on kitchen floor for when they were too little to let me know they needed out. When they would head for the paper, I would take them outside & stand there with them while they went to bathroom. They graduated to walking farther away from where I was, to knowing to tell me they needed out. First they would just walk over to the door. Now they come to me & talk at me to let me know they want to go outside.]

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Thank you for the article.

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My cat's an outside cat. I want him to be an inside cat, but my mom and dad refuses since they say that my dearest cat would make us all sick, and my sisters, well, they're just not the animal lover kind of type. But in typoons or storms, whether they like it or not, I let my cat in.

We don't have a litter box, but we do have a small garden in the front yard. I saw my cat do his thing on one of the flower boxes. of course those contained soil. Our garden, was his litter box. We don't have to clean it since he buries it after he's done just like all cats and at the same time, its serves as a fertilizer for the plants.

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I found pros and cons of different litters, how clumping litter gives you clues about your cat's health, and help with litter box issues - see The Litter Box (From Your Cat's Point of View) on info site Catinfo.org by Lisa Pierson, DVM.
I WOULD like to see a non-allergic, low dust, unscented, economical, environmentally friendly clumping cat litter available. It is VERY important that your cat likes to use the litter you provide.

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I use a corn-based litter for my cats, and they like it fine. Except for one of my guys. He has apparently toilet trained himself. I started seeing evidence of someone's use in the toilet, and as I live alone and knew it wasn't mine, I decided to stake my bathroom out.

Lo and behold, my three-year-old (who began life with me and had never been encouraged to use the toilet) jumped up, settled himself, and peed. When I came around the corner and exclaimed my approval he acted as though he had been caught doing something forbidden. We worked through that, and now he uses the toilet rather than the box.

I wish my others would follow suit but at least they cover, and that is about as much as I can expect.

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For the record, testing your cat for Toxoplasma is pretty much useless. A negative test doesn't mean that he doesn't have it (it could be early in an infection) and a positive test only means that he has, at some point in his life, been exposed. In addition, Toxoplasma can "hide out" in the brain, waiting for a stressful period in the cat's life to re-emerge and re-infect. Therefore a test for Toxoplasma is not going to give you very much information :(

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My cats were OK with Swheat when I could find it, though I found it got gluey on the corner they pee. They refused the Feline Pine (thank goodness I only bought a small bag to try it) and I haven't seen the corn cob stuff yet. I've been using Sams Club "all natural clumping with herbal odor control" - it is clay, but it clumps, it is reasonably priced and my cats love it. If the corn stuff shows up I'll try it in one of their two boxes and see if they take to it. FYI - all my cats are rescues, and many were outdoor cats to begin with, but with patience and love they all adapted to the indoor life in time.

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I really liked Swheat Scoop but when corn was diverted to make fuel, the price of wheat skyrocketed and I could no longer find it in my area. Stores quit selling it because of the cost. I haven't seen the pine litter that is not pelleted and my cats are not fond of the pellets, they are difficult to dig in. The A&H Essentials works well but doesn't last, soooo...

I blend some clay in with the Feline Pine and then about half is the A&H Es. That keeps them both happy to dance in the litter box. By the way, I don't buy them "litter boxes". I use a morter pan (less than $5) from the home supply store. If they wanted to, both cats could fit in it at the same time, plenty of room.

At the risk of getting off topic, I want to take a moment to support Amanda Duncan. It has been more than 12 years since I had a cat that went out doors, and I only allowed him out because he was an adult barn cat when I adopted him. Except for him, there has been no problem adjusting my cats to indoor life, but I do make a serious effort to adapt my/their home for this. Cats are NOT native here and are very destructive to smaller native wildlife, especially birds, frogs, lizards, and young rabbits. As much as I love my kitties, I will not allow them to hunt outdoors. They are of course welcome to any mouse that finds its way in. That is in addition to all the hazards to their health mentioned by Amanda,,, cars, fights, poisons, parasites, diseases, dogs, coyotes and so on. Th

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My cat hated the yesterday news and I also did not like it when it got wet, gross. We tried a corn based litter and my cat loves it. It's so soft and i find it sweet smelling, keeps odors away too. My dog also likes to dig into the litter box for some goodies so if he does get one (if i haven't gotten there first) i feel better with him not eating clay.

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I find 'Amanda Duncan's comments a bit worrying, yes the world is a scary place and we all want the best for our animals, children and loved ones, but we have to let them live. As we all know with any captive animal or human, both suffer mentally and physically if confined in unnatural environments. An indoor environment is unnatural for a cat. I fostered 2 blind kittens as I knew my flat was not the ideal environment. No homes became available for them, so I have kept them, but they desperately want to go out, even though they have never even seen what it is beyond my windows. Unfortunately the safest I can offer one day is a fully enclosed garden, but at least then they can feel the changes in the weather, the grass beneath their feet, the wildlife crawling and fluttering around them (even blind animals are very capable) this all adds to their mental enrichment. Plus the cat safe plants and grasses that they eat in gardens are very beneficial to their health. If you have to keep cats indoors you need to provide grasses, plants, a constant change of toys and plenty of exercise so as to stop them suffering mentally and physically, obesity in pets is on the increase, a silent killer itself. Life is not easy for many humans and animals, for some a small flat is a palace and well needed sanctuary from the world, but that doesn't mean those of us who are able to give a better life for our animals e.g. access to the outside, should except it's ok to encage them in our homes.

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