Advice on Caring for Our Ferals Habitat

joseph dooley

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Hello,
My wife and I rescued, fixed and now care for several feral cats on part of our property. They are fenced in and are generally well behaved. My problem is some do not use the litter boxes in their shelters. We would appreciate any suggestions on getting all to use boxes and is there something I can spray in yard to reduce odors? Thank you all. Joe
 

cyberkitten

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Do the litter boxes contain earth or typical litter? Ferals tend to like dirt but you cna get them to change by adding a little non clumping litter at a time and they may adjust to it. My grandmother had a feral colony (way before we called them that) and she always used earth but when she organized ger colony, litter was not all that easy to find.

If you are using earth, I do not really know offhand what other advice to give you. Others may have better ideas.
 

eatrawfish

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I have also heard that using dirt, at least on top, and then slowly changing it out helps. You can also use leaves.
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by Joseph Dooley

Hello,
My wife and I rescued, fixed and now care for several feral cats on part of our property. They are fenced in and are generally well behaved. My problem is some do not use the litter boxes in their shelters. We would appreciate any suggestions on getting all to use boxes and is there something I can spray in yard to reduce odors? Thank you all. Joe
Joseph.....I've actually read about individuals who made sandboxes outdoors for the cats to use.

You also could put potting soil in the litterboxes to encourage them....just make sure you buy the potting soil and don't use the kind that is already outdoors.

Katie
 

hissy

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I would use sand, or if you have a feed store close by buy a bag of stall dry. Get a small kiddy pool and put the sand in that, actually two of those would be better. The regular litter pans just aren't adequate for a group of cats especially feral cats.

You can also get some PDZ and some lime (Ag Lime) mix those two together, sprinkle the mixture on the ground and let it sit about an hour, than rake it down into the dirt.

If you use potting soil you will eventually get flies and unfortunately maggots, so be careful. Organic potting soil gives you some protection, but sand works just as well.
 
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joseph dooley

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Originally Posted by hissy

I would use sand, or if you have a feed store close by buy a bag of stall dry. Get a small kiddy pool and put the sand in that, actually two of those would be better. The regular litter pans just aren't adequate for a group of cats especially feral cats.

You can also get some PDZ and some lime (Ag Lime) mix those two together, sprinkle the mixture on the ground and let it sit about an hour, than rake it down into the dirt.

If you use potting soil you will eventually get flies and unfortunately maggots, so be careful. Organic potting soil gives you some protection, but sand works just as well.
Thanks for the information. What is PDZ? Joe
 
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