The bathroom is an okay idea, but remember, this eliminating in
litter/sand/soil comes naturally. Are you under the impression that
cats are hard to litter train? All I have ever done with my strays in
place them in there gently. They seem to get the idea via instinct,
even if they have always gone outside. Instinct tells them to cover it
so that they are not easily tracked and eaten, see?

P.S. Bless you a thousand times for taking care of this cat. Please
let us see a photo.

The litter should be placed in an area where it is quiet and where she does
not feel cooped up or trapped. The box should be large and have no hood. I
would use unscented, scooping litter. Cats use litter boxes usually without
being trained. You should not have a problem. Also, is she lets you pet her
and play with her, she is not feral.
Gail

She will probably just use it as long as she knows where it is. If you can
find a spot she has gone outside, dig it up and put it in the box. You might
also mix a bit of real dirt in with the litter. Really, cats know to use the
box pretty instinctually. They want to go where they can dig, and if that is
the only place with diggable stuff, she'll get the idea.

Karen

Hi Mitch,
Is she leaving your furniture alone now?

As for the litter box, all the cats I've acquired, rescued, feral, or
otherwise, seem to know how to use a litter box right from the start.  This
includes cats born and raised outdoors until brought indoors.  When you say
this cat has not used the litter box yet, do you mean that she has been
doing her business elsewhere in the house? Or is it that she hasn't gone at
all in the house and you are waiting for her to use the box so that you know
that she will use it?
If she has not gone at all in the box or anywhere else in the house, she may
just not need to go when she is in the house.
If she is going in the house but not the litter box, that is more
complicated.
Does she know where the box is?  You can put her in it, but don't force her
to stay there.  That is just to let her get the feel of it and let her know
where it is. You can attract her to it by scritching around with a scoop.
When I scoop the boxes, a cat usually shows up to make some sort of
donation.
She may object to the location of the box, if it is in too public an area.
She may want some privacy.
If the box is covered, she may prefer uncovered.  Or visa-versa.
If the litter is perfumed, that may throw her off.
We use unscented scoopable litter and have not had any problems.
If you know what she uses while outdoors, you could sprinkle some dirt or
whatever on top of the litter.
If the cat would not have access to toxic things like antifreeze or other
products, you could try a night or two in the garage with a litter box.  I
suspect that you could be pleasantly surprised.
Some cats like to use two litter boxes, one for pee and one for poop.  We
have not found that to be the case with our cats. However, we have a
two-story house and have one box on each level.
One more thought: generally, you will want to keep the boxes scooped.
However, for a little while, it might be a good idea to leave a some behind,
just as a reminder.
It's really not as complicated as it seems.  You are doing a great job.
Annie

IMHO --  Cats seem to "instinctly" know what a litter pan is for.
Quite a few years ago when I was feeding ferals, one of the mothers
brought her six kittens -- toddler age  onto my back patio.  I decided
to prepare a litter pan -- just in case--  yes, these wild little
kittens instinctly knew what it was for and all used it.

If you can pick up the cat, place it in the pan and take one paw to
show scratching movements then press her hindquarters down .  I'll bet
you will be surprised how fast the cat catches on.

On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 20:19:50 +0000, Mitch wrote:

One thing I learned as a child was that as soon as you get a cat, the
first place you put them is directly into the litter box, and if you
don't do this, put the cat into the box when s/he starts to use the rug
for the wrong reasons.

With the exception of territorial spraying and that one cat I sold to
that family, I have had no problems getting this to work - and it seems to
also serve as a suitable reminder for kittens as well.

Hi Mitch,
So far, I've had 3 stray cats happen upon our household since June, one of
which was much wilder than the other two and I found no problems
particularly with litter training; they do instinctually seem to get the
idea.  I mostly use the non-clumping clay litter (Exquisicat from Petsmart)
(unscented is best for us we found) but I also found out about this really
great litter called "World's Best Catlitter"(also at Petsmart) which is
corn-based and I like it and 2 of my 5 cats like it but the others like the
clay so I have both.  I also found a brand of cat litter called CAT ATTRACT
(also at Petsmart) that I used a few times and it worked quite well at
getting everyone into the litterbox also.
Good for working with this cat -- from what I've learned this summer, my
best advice is be very patient, take your time, and use positive
reinforcement rather than negative (treats and praise to model and reward
and I was working with a feral whom I met via a catbite!).
Best wishes,
Christine

Mitch,

Often cats that have lived exclusively outdoors all or most of their
lives have no idea what to do when presented with a litterbox with the
expectation that they pee/poop in it. They are used to going in dirt and
have no idea what litter is. Your best option, and one that I have used
many times successfully, is to put her in the bathroom at night with two
boxes. Put dirt from outside in one and regular unscented litter in the
other. Do this every night and gradually add litter to/remove dirt from
the box until it is chaged over enough that you can dump the contents
and use plain litter. You may find that she starts to use the box with
plain litter in it right away, and keeping her in the bathroom at night
for several nights will reinforce her using the box to pee/poop.
It's always a good idea to provide two litterboxes for a cat as some
like to poop in one and pee in the other, and it is extremely important
that the boxes be scooped daily and disinfected every few weeks and
filled with clean litter. One of the main reasons a cat won't use a
litterbox is because the human failed to keep it clean. A cats reaction
to a dirty litterbox is often the same as how we would react if we were
to walk into a public restroom and the toilet had been used but not
flushed. :-P  Litterbox care takes only a few minutes a day and is one
of the best ways to avoid innappropriate elimination problems.  HTH.

Megan.