Hi there.
I'm still a newbie... just joined today (I've posted in a couple of other places already though).
We brought a cat home last night. We had been visiting some family in another part of the state and they have a bunch of "barn cats" running around. Well, we fell in love with Cami, and brought her home last night. Before 7pm last night, she had never seen a litter box. She's about 5 months old and has always lived outside.
Anyway, we put her in it several times before we went to bed, hoping she'd get the idea. We thought she MIGHT have used it once, but weren't sure.
When we went to bed, we closed off the upstairs, downstairs bedroom, and bathroom, so she just had the living room, staircase, and kitchen. I figured that way it would be easier to discover where she was going, if she wasn't using the litter box.
So, today I went home from work at lunch to check on her, and she pee'd on the rug in front of the stove. I took her directly to her litterbox, but she just hopped right back out. I called my mom for advise and she said to put her in the downstairs bathroom, take all of the rugs and towels out of the room, and just put her food at one end and her litterbox at the other (it's a long narrow room) and leave her in there until SO and I get off work tonight.
So that's where she is now.
But, what now? What can I do to "train" her to use the litterbox? Any ideas and suggestions would be great.
I thought about taking the rug she pee'd on and (after I've washed it, obviously) putting it under her litterbox. Would that be helpful, or would that cause more problems?
HELP!
I'm still a newbie... just joined today (I've posted in a couple of other places already though).
We brought a cat home last night. We had been visiting some family in another part of the state and they have a bunch of "barn cats" running around. Well, we fell in love with Cami, and brought her home last night. Before 7pm last night, she had never seen a litter box. She's about 5 months old and has always lived outside.
Anyway, we put her in it several times before we went to bed, hoping she'd get the idea. We thought she MIGHT have used it once, but weren't sure.
When we went to bed, we closed off the upstairs, downstairs bedroom, and bathroom, so she just had the living room, staircase, and kitchen. I figured that way it would be easier to discover where she was going, if she wasn't using the litter box.
So, today I went home from work at lunch to check on her, and she pee'd on the rug in front of the stove. I took her directly to her litterbox, but she just hopped right back out. I called my mom for advise and she said to put her in the downstairs bathroom, take all of the rugs and towels out of the room, and just put her food at one end and her litterbox at the other (it's a long narrow room) and leave her in there until SO and I get off work tonight.
So that's where she is now.
But, what now? What can I do to "train" her to use the litterbox? Any ideas and suggestions would be great.
I thought about taking the rug she pee'd on and (after I've washed it, obviously) putting it under her litterbox. Would that be helpful, or would that cause more problems?
HELP!