[Cowgirl13]

My mother had a stray cat come to her house and have kitten's. We are very animal friendly so we keep all the cats we couldn't give away. Needless to say one of the cat's we keep was a female who after almost a year got pregnant. She only had two kittens. One died the other I brought home when it was ready! Well my husband who has a bigger heart surprised me with the momma cat. Keep in mind this cat has been living outdoor's all her life and now she has to use a litter box due to use living in an apartment. Neeless to say she will not use a litterbox, the kitten will but not the momma. What do we do? I'm tired of picking up and scubbing. I have a small child who I am afraid will accidentally get into the mess. Help please! I have a big litter box and all...

[morgaine300]

Three things come to my mind. One, that she doesn't like using something other cats have been in. When you have more than one cat, it's good to have a box per cat. Doesn't mean they'll call dibs on their own or something, but if there's a different one, she might use it. (And keep them cleaned out daily. Cats are very clean creatures, so this not only respects the cat, but some cats get very picky about less than clean boxes.)

Try a different litter. Sometimes cats just don't like whatever litter you're using.

It also may not be about not using the box, but more about wanting to mark her territory all over the house. For something like that, you may want to try a thing called Feliway. The spray works best. Worked pretty well for my one cat - in her case cause she was marking areas where she was ticked that the other cat seemed to have taken over. But it can work for a variety of things. (It's expensive, but a bit cheaper at like eBay or Amazon.)

Which reminded me -- once she's gone some place, she'll smell it and maybe decide that's the place to keep going. You might want to get something like Nature's Miracle to help clean the smell out. You might even try putting a box near one of those places - maybe she'll come to associate the smell with the box and get the idea. Then you can slowly move the box where you want it and hope she follows it. (That's kind of what I do with new cats - make sure one is out in an easy spot and slowly move it to its home in the basement.)

But I'm out of ideas past that. I'm sure someone else will have more.

[hheath541]

Morgaine's ideas are all very good. And I don't really have a lot to add to them. I will say that a big part of litter training is picking the cat up and putting them in the litter box every time you see them about to go on the floor. It takes time and patience and then a little more patience, and possibly a little more time.

Some adult cats can't/won't litter train. Either they don't understand the concept, or they just refuse to change how they've done something for their entire life. With cats, it's sometimes nearly impossible to tell which it is.

You've heard the saying, 'can't teach an old dog new tricks.' well, it generally goes double for old/adult cats.