Litter box lament

[freckledimple]

We added a new cat to our family 2 months ago. She's a few years old and had always been an outdoor cat before. The person who gave her to us did so because their older cat kept beating up on her. We have four other cats that she ignores, unless they get too close. They have learned to give her her space. She likes people a lot. The problem is she will not use the cat box. She will go near or in between the boxes, but not in the box. We have three cat boxes; two covered and one open. We thought it might be the mats so, we moved those out. We've tried clay and crystal litter, no good. We're still trying different locations, like putting a box where she has gone before. All the other cats use the boxes, just not her. Anything else we could try to get her to go in the box. Thank you.

[kittycats_delight]

Have you tried cat attract litter? worth a try. Aside from that I really don't know cause I have never had a problem like this. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[Catlady711]

Best recommendation is to take her to the vet and make sure this isn't some kind of urinary tract infection, that can sometimes cause them to stop using the box.

Are all of the cats spayed/neutered?
Is the cat alot older like over 10 years?

At home, make sure to clean the areas she's using with a product designed specifically to eliminate pet urine odors, not Fabreeze (although it's a safe product I can tell you from experience it doesn't totally eliminate the urine odor). Cats sense of smell is way better than ours and if she smells any odor there she might continue to think it's her potty.

Add more litter boxes. Rule of thumb is 'one box per cat plus one extra'. Some cats are really fussy about sharing a litter box. Make sure to scoop out the boxes every day.

Do not use any cleansers when you wash out the boxes, only use HOT water. Cats sometimes don't like chemical smells, or pretty smells that we humans tend to like.

You've tried outright switching litter, have you tried just having a different litter in each box so she has a choice? Make sure at least one is totally unscented.

Beyond that try a product called Feliway, it's a cat hormone spray that makes them think they've marked the area alread and then they won't urinate there anymore.

But first thing should be to see the vet to make sure this is not a medical problem.

[Catty1]

If she was an outdoor cat, maybe she never learned to use a box.

Use the "training the kitten method": Set her gently in the box, and take her front paws to make a scratching motion, to mimic the covering-up part. You may have to do this a couple of times.

Talk nicely to her when you do this, encouragingly, and give her a treat afterwards...and when she DOES use the box, praise her a bit.

Hope this helps!