Barn cat turned house cat

Question
I have recently brought in our old (10 years old) tom barn cat as a younger neighborhood tom as gotten him a few times and we cannot stand to have him hurt.  We felt he deserved an indoor life at this stage in him life.  He will be neutered and declawed in a few weeks and I will then let him start to interact with the other house pet.  However, I am having a problem with the litter box issue and getting him to use it.  He has a room of his own, a gate when we are home to start getting to know the others (he has not even tried to jump out or the others to go in).  I am using Feliway and have had no spraying.  What do I do to get him to use the litter box??  Help!!  

Answer
Sue,

The difficulty is, at 10 years old and cats being creatures of habit, if he was not used to using a litter box outside, he probably has no idea what it is for!!!!!!!!!! It will take him a while to get to using a litter pan.

There may be a couple of things you can do.  First is to crate him with a litter pan until he gets the idea that this is where he should do his business.  Eventually, most cats do figure it out as they hate living in their own filth.  Secondly, I would try "Cat Attract" litter to see if he will use that.  Between being crated and the "Cat Attract" litter, he should figure it out.  Once he is using a litter pan, have him stay in one room with the litter pan until you are sure he is using it constantly.  After that, you can let him roam farther and wider depending on his consistency in litter pan use.

Here is a link to a series of articles on litter box problems which may have some further hints:

http://www.geocities.com/heartland/pointe/9352/litterboxhelp.html


No matter what, wherever he messes inappropriately, the area should be cleaned with an enzyme based cleaner specifically for pet stains and pet odors (available from most pet supermarkets or farm stores).

Please let me know how he does.

Best regards... Norm.