need advice

hi all i am new member, i inherited stray female this weekend that is adorable calico colored cat i have named minnie. and as you would guess she is pregnant, lol and worst of all she is blind or almost blind. i have taken her in the house because we had snow this weekend and she is likely to have kittens anytime. but my problem is how to get her to use litter box or paper until my vet is able to see her. thanks very much for any help

Hi and welcome to TCS.

This cat navigates her world mostly through hearing and smell. Because she was a stray, she won't know how to use a litterbox. The best thing to do is get a bag of soil from a hardware shop or garden centre and use it in the litter tray. She will be able to smell the soil and probably quickly learn that that's the place to go.

Minnie shouldn't have too much trouble caring for her litter with her vision problems. She will be able to smell and feel the kittens and hopefully know instinctively to clean and toilet them, even if she can't see them very well.

Keep her in one room with her food and litter box at either end of the room and set up a couple of cardboard boxes with cut-down sides and a blanket inside, so she gets to know and choose her nest now.

As with all sight-impaired kitties, it's important to keep things in the same place in the room so that she knows where everything is.

Just to add, once she is using the soil as litter with confidence, you can slowly and gradually add proper litter to the tray until she is using litter only. When it comes time for the kittens to learn about using the litter tray, make sure you use a plain non-clumping clay litter or a paper/wheat based litter in their low-sided tray.