Well, I started feeling guilty

[Mosey]

The battle continues, see Cats, I'm trying to make this work out, but, and Gravel driveway dust. I started feeling guilty that the cats were out in the cold with temps getting to near 0 F at night. So, the night before last, I hung a drop cord light with a 100W bulb in their house to take the chill off. I figured it would only cost about 10 cents a night. They seemed to like it and slept in there the night before last and last night. Before that they never slept in there and preferred to sleep on the lawn chairs in the breezeway, so it must be putting out enough heat to make a difference. My reward was to find more poop in some mulch around some white spruce trees next to the carport this morning. It wasn't there when I got home from work yesterday. I thought I had them cured of using that spot by watering it down good last week before it got cold so it would freeze solid and then putting "Havahart Repellent" on top. But, apparently the sun has been out enough lately to dry it off so they were able to dig in it. The "Havahart Repellent" probably doesn't put out any odor in extreme cold temperatures. Also, where I want them to go, I had loosened up the sand with my tractor and rear blade, so it was nice and soft for about a foot deep. The frustration continues!

[hazmat]

<font color="blue">I figured it would only cost about 10 cents a night. They seemed to like it and slept in there the night before last and last night. Before that they never slept in there and preferred to sleep on the lawn chairs in the breezeway, so it must be putting out enough heat to make a difference </font color>

Minor price to pay to avoid the unpleasant situation of your kids finding kitty frozen solid on the lawn chair.

Just had an idea, since the kids wanted the cats, how about having them scoop the poop as one of their chores?

[Mosey]

"having them scoop the poop as one of their chores"

Thanks for the suggestion hazmat, but I don't want my kids to be the ones who get "trained"! It's not the kids fault that the cats refuse to cooperate.

[kokopelli]

seems like an act of futility.... training the cats where not to go while outside?

i would think it would be easier, quicker and alot cleaner to have the kids clean it....isnt that why you have them around?

[Mosey]

<font color="red">"have the kids clean it....isnt that why you have them around?"</font color>

I hope you don't mean that the reason I have the kids around is so I have someone to clean up after the cats!

I assume you meant that the reason I have the cats is for the kids, which is true. I got them for the kids to play with and I don't mind having the kids be involved with taking care of them, such as feeding. But, allowing the cats to just take a dump anywhere they please and then having the kids clean up after them is not an option!

I know a few people that have outdoor cats. None of them have the problems I have. Their cats go into the woods or somewhere else besides the flower bed, gravel, yard, etc. The woods is not that far, less than 100'. There's sand and leaves for them to go in. They have never been scolded for being in the woods. They are constantly scolded for being in the flowerbeds or gravel. Any animal with a little bit of intelligence would figure it out by now! Yes, cats are untrainable and it's because they are just plain stupid!

[Hayseed]

I guess I am just lucky, Danny. The lot next door is vacant but will soon have a doublewide parked on it. The lady who owns the lot is a widow three times over. Her forth husband is a low i.q. idiot sot that I refer to as Donald the Drunk. (Having a drunk for a neighbor is not the lucky part, by the way.) I feed my outside cats on the porch. After they fill their bellies they immediately proceed across the property line and do their business in what will be my neighbors' backyard! It warms the cockles of my heart everytime I see them fertilizing their lawn! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] I couldn't have trained them better if I had wanted to. [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[Mosey]

Chris - I sure would like to know what attracts them over there! I'm fairly patient, but I'm running out.

[LazyJ_Arabians]

Try moving their house and feedbowl farther from the house. In my limited cat-training experience, they eat, sleep, and poop withing a territory. You can sometimes move that territory by physically moving #1 &amp; #2 then #3 will follow with them. Strange how cats, moreso than any other domestic animal I've experienced, exhibit different characteristics among individuals. Some are loveable, trainable and others are hermits and very feral by nature.

[Mosey]

LazyJ_Arabians - That's a good idea and might help. But, I don't know how to accomplish it. If I move the house out near the woods I won't be able to put the light in it to heat it (without running a cord 100', which I'm not going to do), so they'll just stay up by the house anyway and sleep on the lawn chairs. If I put the chairs away, they'll sleep up by the house next to a crawl space vent where a little heat seeps out (they do that a lot now). I used to feed them out by the sand pile when we first got them, but they still pooped everywhere including up by the house. The only time I was able to successfully get them to poop in the sand pile was when I went out there with them every morning and evening and then gave them treats after they pooped. They go to the closest place, in spite of getting yelled at, kicked, ice cubes thrown at them, and picked up and tossed whenever I catch them there!

It's a lost cause. The main reason I post updates is just in case some other unaware person is considering getting outdoor cats this will warn them not to!

[wingnut]

well, if you do figure out how to potty-train those cats, I'd be interested .... I have 5 barn cats that refuse to go outside and defecate. They sneak along the walls in the stalls and dig into the bedding ... which is ok ... or get into the tack room when I'm not looking or ... worst of all, in the hay. I'm at the point now of saying "if the hay is on the ground, it doesn't get used for feed".
Oh well, I haven't seen a mouse around for years .... and they refuse to wander away ... so I guess I'm stuck with them. At least they don't eat a lot ....