Litter training a cat -- HELP! (Long...)

[tperes]

This summer a very sweet black male cat adopted us. We named him M.C., and he is between 1-3 yrs. of age. It seemed that someone dropped him off on the farm b/c he was very clean and friendly (and very meow-y), and came up to us after we "talked" to him (in his language, of course). My husband, whose only exposure to cat ownership was my very old, lovable, and well-behaved late Wanda (approx. 3 yrs. of living with the DH), decided we needed to feed the cat. Fine. He feeds him canned salmon. Surprise, the cat sticks around. That is fine. We eventually would get another cat.

Here is the problem...we are moving in less than 3 weeks (I have already moved ahead of DH and the animals). M.C. has been a strictly outside cat. He used to be skittish inside, but DH has coaxed him to be more comfortable in the house (in my absence). So, DH put a litter box out for M.C., showed him where it was (on my instructions -- the life-long cat owner), and M.C. wouldn't use it. Occassionally, DH would keep the cat in at night, or he would sleep with him at night on the couch (we live way out on a farm so it is no problem to keep the front door open to the screen porch). However, M.C. urinated in the house twice, both times on the bathroom floor rug. UGH!
I told DH not to keep him in the house at night if he wasn't going to use the litter box. DH keeps showing him the litter box.

I go home for the weekend and discover that M.C. has urinated on the couch that MIL gave us! EEK! It is a very nice couch. Luckily there was a slipcover on it that soaked up most of the urine. However, the cushion covers will have to be soaked. Double UGH! DH thinks it happened the night the wind blew the door open. Whatever...

So, last night, DH shuts the cat in the bathroom, sans rugs, towels or anything else absorbent, with the litter box. After much meow-ing, he settles down. DH even hung out with him for a bit (the bathroom is not big or glamorous!). This morning...M.C. urinated on the floor, not in the litter box.

So, to make this long story short...can an adult cat be litter-trained? Any suggestions on what we can do? I am sure it is not a UTI, b/c he has been to the vet twice, etc. We want him to move with us, but he is going to have to been inside for a few days to adjust to the new surroundings so he doesn't just take off. Not to mention, we will be living on an actual paved street, unlike our no-traffic dirt road now.

Someone please help us!

Thanks so much!

Tanya

[aggie94]

Yes, it can be done, but there are challenges. I have struggled with our adult cat and litter box issues for several years. When we got her, she was a strictly outdoor cat (adult) and had never had a litter box. Now she is an indoor/outdoor cat (she only goes out when we're home, and only in the backyard), and she uses a litter box now, but there are still struggles.

My response post will be lengthy, and I'm pressed for time right now, but I will sit down this weekend and pull some old threads I've posted for you, plus offer some additional thoughts and suggestions that I've learned over the years and ideas that have/haven't worked for us. Also, AZLorena has a lot of experience with litter box training, as she has fostered many MANY cats, so if she doesn't pop in right away, you might try PMing her.

[tperes]

aggie94 -- Thank you, thank you, thank you!

All suggestions are much appreciated. This cat is too sweet to give up, and I think my DH would be crushed if he couldn't come with us.

Looking forward to your longer reply.

Tanya

[sandyv]

I can't help much with the training, but I can tell you that when I started packing to move, one of my cats started urinating outside of the box at both old and new home. Thankfully, he quickly stopped after everything was unpacked. I'm surprised your vet didn't offer suggestions. What about changing the brand of litter? I know that sounds silly, but you never know.

[Beth]

I was going to suggest trying other kinds of litter too -- maybe the feline pine since he's used to being outdoors or an unscented. I have a cat with sensitive skin and the scented litters burn her paws. We can only use the Arm & Hammer unscented.

[kgraham]

It could definitely be a the kind of litter. We are currently having some problems with our indoor male cat and it was not immediately apparant whether it was a medical or behavioral issue. Our vet recommended trying Cat-Attract litter - there are herbs in the litter that appeal to cats. We tried it and it worked like a charm until we tried switching back to our old litter :rolleyes: We immediately went out and bought more Cat-Attract and so far no more urine outside the litterbox.

[tbb113]

No personal advice since I don't have cats...but this article (http://www.phsspca.org/training/litterbox.htm) might help you

[hollysmom]

The Cat-Attract litter is simply litter with catnip. You might try mixing some dry catnip in with the regular litter. That other stuff is expensive and only available at Petco, etc.

[mbrogier]

My first thought was where is the litter box? I would think that an outside cat would be very conscious of where he does his business--from what I've seen. Perhaps your new cat doesn't like the location or openness of the box. He could be telling your DH of his displeasure by peeing on the rug or bathroom floor.

[Peweh]

I'm surprised by this because I thought using the litter was almost instinctive to cats - my cats Axl & Slash were feral kittens but they took to the litter right away; they are now happy adult housecats. I'm in agreement with the folks who say it might be the litter; maybe something more sand-like would please your outdoor guy?

Good luck, and keep us posted!

[Beth]

The Cat-Attract litter is simply litter with catnip. You might try mixing some dry catnip in with the regular litter. That other stuff is expensive and only available at Petco, etc.

Sounds like you could try mixing in some catnip with the litter. You can buy fairly large bags of the stuff dried, and that might be cheaper than buying the special litter. I think you may also be able to buy catnip oil that you could sprinkle a couple of drops or dilute and spray onto plain litter.

[tperes]

I have sent these suggestions off to DH, along with the link to the article provided by tbb113 (Thanks!). Hopefully one of those will work. We have a cover for the litterbox, so if it is privacy that the cat wants, we may need to put the cover on.

I will let you know how it goes, and please keep suggestions coming if something has not been mentioned yet.

Thanks!

Tanya

[jeanrw]

My vet suggested having more than one litter box with different types of litter. If a cat decides they don't "like" a certain litter box or litter almost nothing will get them to use that box or litter again so have a couple of different options. Also make sure the litter box is thoroughly cleaned frequently with non-toxic cleaner and water.

How long has it been since your cat saw the vet? It's possible it could be a different health problem. Often when a cat doesn't use their box it's a health problem of some kind.

Here's a link to an article on litter box training - http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/inappro-elim3.html - and a link to an article on moving with your cat - http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/moving.html .

Good luck.

[donleyk]

I'll apologize ahead in case this has been covered ( :D no pun intended)

He is used to sand or whatever so I would start him out with a pan of sand and slowly start adding unscented litter to it. We had a cat from the HS and he was litter trained with generic clay litter and couldn't take the smell of the other stuff. I couldn't take the smell of the other stuff ;) but it is difficult here to find the old clay litter.

[aggie94]

Stupid browser. I had a big long response typed up and accidentally hit the "back" button and lost it all. :mad: Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this.

First, here's some links to threads I've started in the past for advice on housetraining our adult cat, dealing with marking/inappropriate elimination issues, and general litter box issues:

http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=24742&highlight=sara

http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=34080&highlight=sara

http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=60522&highlight=sara

We had success initially litter box training her using a large, relatively shallow plastic Rubbermaid-type container (like the type of box you would put sweaters in and store under your bed) filled with mostly dirt from the yard. When she switched from being outdoor to being exclusively indoor, we just put the box in a location that was close to the front door and seemed logical for her to want to check out when she was considering trying to go outside, and over time, we switched it from dirt to litter. I'll tell you, though, that as long as Sara had access to the outside, she would NOT use a litter box. It took her becoming a strictly indoor cat (never allowed outside) to learn to use the box. You might need to restrict him to the bathroom or another confined space for several days without letting him out to teach him to use the box.

Even though she is litter box trained, in the past few years, we've developed issues with her marking/inappropriately eliminating in the house. There are a few things that have helped us a lot:

1) Feliway plug-in diffusers. Someone else can probably explain this better, but it's supposed to mimic some pheromone in cats that has a natural calming effect, that somehow leads them not to have the instinct to mark. They're expensive, but they have worked very well for us. We know this because when the refill runs out, and we don't notice right away, Sara will start marking again until we refill it. We have two - one in the room where her litter box is and one in our bedroom, where she also tends to mark. I order multi-packs of the refills online to cut costs on these, but I do always keep them on hand. I also have a spray Feliway bottle too, for other random locations where I occasionally catch her marking.

2) Multiple litter boxes. Sara has her "own room" - it's a separate bedroom where we keep her food and water that is off-limits to the dogs. There is a baby gate in the doorway to keep the dogs out, and she just jumps over. In the closet of that room, we have two litter boxes for her - one covered, one not, just to give her variety. She uses both. Initially, when there was just one box in the closet, we found that she tended to mark in the other corner. Rather than just move her box, we added a second one, and she no longer marks in that room at all. With M.C., you should consider adding litter boxes in locations that he seems to favor when he pees in the house.

3) A good, enzymatic cleaner for the urine spots. You need to get rid of the odor, or he will continue coming back to those spots. You can pick up enzymatic cleaners like Simple Solution or Nature's Miracle at pet stores, and you should also get a black light to help you find the spots. You might be surprised at what you find. I'll tell you, we have gone through GALLONS of this stuff trying to clean up Sara's markings. Recently, in a fit of desperation, because we can never seem to completely eliminate the smell, no matter how much we soak the spots, we tried some stuff we saw on TV called Urine Gone. I have only used it one spot, because we haven't had time to try it on the old spots yet, but it did an amazing job. Again, it's on the expensive side. But it seems to work very well. The true test is coming up.


I hope some of these suggestions are helpful to you. Also, if you haven't heard directly from AZLorena, you might PM her the link. I know she gets busy (especially now that school is back in session - she's a teacher), but she has tons of experience with this, having fostered dozens (or maybe hundreds) of cats. She was a godsend when we were dealing with Sara's marking issues.

[barbara44]

I had the same problem with a cat i adopted from someone. He would use the litter box but most of the time wet on my rugs too. I took him to get "fixed" and he has never done it since. There's something about male cats that make them do that. I didn't read all of the replys so I am not sure if someone already recommended this or if your cat was fixed. Hope this helps.

Barb