Outside cats and litter

Hi - who here keeps a litter box indoors for their indoor/outdoor cats? I've stopped keeping litter boxes (we have 5 cats so its a relief!!!).

And what will happen in the winter? It may be ferocious outside with sleet and snow, and they'll have no good place to go.

I think it's a good idea to keep indoor litter boxes even if your cats go outside. There may be occasions when you have to confine them indoors (eg after moving or following surgery) and it will be helpful then if they are used to using a litter box. If you keep them indoors at night (recommended) it's also a good idea to provide a litter box in case your cat needs to go and can't get outside. If your cats will actually use a litter box instead of/as well as outside it might also help to keep them close to home, not to mention making it easier for you to identify if they have a health problem and making it less likely they will use someone else's garden as a litter tray!

yeah, I see your point about keeping an eye on their health. I live in the UK, so weather is not a problem, we have on average something like one day of snow!

We used to keep them indoors at night so had a litter box then, think we will start doing this again, though it is hard getting 5 cats indoors at once!

Thanks!

all my cats use the outdoors for toileting, and in fact they wont even use a litter tray now.

i dont bother putting cat litter trays out as the dogs would just play in it, no other use for it.

Mine are indoor/outdoor but I have litter boxes on each floor of the house, which are used by all cats. If it rains and they don't go out, then I notice quite a difference in the state of the boxes! But if one is sick I need to be able to get a sample easily, also they use the boxes at night.