Male changing litter habits

Question
Dear Norman,  We have always had several cats in the home, all inside cats.  Three died within the last 1 1/2 years and the young companion to our eldest female passed on in December 2012.  Now we have one male, about 10 years old and the female, about 19.  We adopted a new cat in hopes of it being a companion for the elderly female. This new cat is about 1 1/2 years and very gentle. For the moment, it is staying by its choice in a downstairs room near the room with litter boxes for all cats.  Ahh..the male is refusing to go downstairs to the litter and has used potted plants!  I gave him a temporary box upstairs but he has not used it. He has only seen the new kitty and hisses. I believe once they are acclimated litter will be no problem. But for now, it is a huge problem!

What do we do to get these cats together and how to get the male back to using the normal litter box downstairs?  He seems afraid to venture down there because of the new kitty.  Believe me, he has nothing to fear but he does not know that.  Help!

BTW, I am an expert in Jewelry, Gems and Minerals on this site.

God Bless and Joy. I hope you can make suggestions.  Thomas.

Answer
Thomas,

Whenever a new cat comes into the household, it turns things upside down for a while.  This includes litter pan habits.

You can try the Cat Attract litter (available at pet supermarkets) in all boxes (just sprinkle it over the existing litter) and see how that works.

As far as cats getting to "like" each other, you just have to be patient and wait for them to sort out how they are going to interact with each other.  This "getting to know you" process can take weeks and even months, especially with their ages.  The best thing to do is to stay out of it and let them find their own way, which you seem to be doing. Any human intervention is usually counter productive.

Please keep me posted.

Best regards... Norm.