Litter Pan Training for Elderly Female Cat

[Dove5591]

Hi. I'm new here and have a challenging issue.
A cat showed up at our house just before Christmas. She is prob in her late teens and actually belongs to the neighbor and she is pretty much neglected, plus she's an outside cat. She's very matted and dirty but the sweetest girl ever. She came to our place knowing we would care for her since we had a male cat (RIP 10/29/23) and they were friends. We made an insulated house for her with a heated mat in it which is on our back porch. BUT she poops/pees everywhere--on the porch, in the yard, on the sidewalk, gravel, decorative red lava rock. At the advice of a local rescue expert, she said to get a dog crate and put her in that along with a litter pan. We did get a large dog crate. She does use the pan in there and doesn't seem to mind being in the crate. It's "home" now to her. We let her out for short periods of time to stretch her legs and explore. We were hoping she'd go back to the pan to do her business but when she's out she continues to go anywhere. We have messes to clean up in the morning. She does not dig or cover anything, either in the pan or outside so she has absolutely no training whatsoever. I love having a cat and caring for her. If not for this issue, we'd have her groomed and bring her inside. Would love to hear any suggestions.

 

[iPappy]

First, I'm sorry for the loss of your male cat.
If I'm reading right, the porch she's on has access to the yard? It's possible she's learned outdoors = one big litter box. It's possible she won't do this indoors with supervision and training because it sounds like she just has no real idea what the box is for yet. If you do bring her inside I would keep her in the crate for a few days, then gradually give her a tiny bit of space to explore at a time. I'd keep her confined when you're not around. If you catch her having an accident, you can simply pick her up and gently put her back in the box as a reminder like you would a kitten.
Some cats do prefer two boxes and will avoid a box if it's been used, even once. So you could try that as well.
The fact that she doesn't seem to have any aversion to using the litter box when confined is HUGE imo. That's going to help a ton!

 

[Norachan]

Having cared for an elderly female cat before my first thought is that she might be a bit incontinent. My old girl was litter trained, but towards the end of her life she'd sometimes pee on the floor because she couldn't make it to her litter box in time.

If you do bring her inside it would be a good idea to have a vet check her over. It sounds like she was neglected by her previous family, so might have some underlying health issues.

As iPappy says, bringing her inside and keeping her in a crate at first would be a good idea. Thank you for caring for her, she must be really happy to finally have a loving home

 

[fionasmom]

I am just going to throw this out there. I have rescued a couple of street ferals and made them indoor only cats, and in two cases neither would use a litter box. The problem was that they had only ever used concrete to eliminate because there was absolutely no dirt in their immediate vicinity. One of them did transition over and uses a litter box very faithfully now, and the other one never has. With the one who has not, the answer became to give her a litter box with a dog pee pad in it, which she is more than happy to use. I agree with all of the above suggestions and hope that you possibly can bring her inside and give her a home. Thank you for helping her.

 

[di and bob]

Maybe confine her to a small room eventaully with a litter box, her used one. A crate seems too small. Do not let her explore the rest of the house until she consistently uses the box. Good idea to try puppy pee pads too. Bless you for helping her, she is seeking comfort and kindness in her old age. You are an angel.....

 

[iPappy]

I am just going to throw this out there. I have rescued a couple of street ferals and made them indoor only cats, and in two cases neither would use a litter box. The problem was that they had only ever used concrete to eliminate because there was absolutely no dirt in their immediate vicinity. One of them did transition over and uses a litter box very faithfully now, and the other one never has. With the one who has not, the answer became to give her a litter box with a dog pee pad in it, which she is more than happy to use. I agree with all of the above suggestions and hope that you possibly can bring her inside and give her a home. Thank you for helping her.

This is a very good point about her being used to using concrete.
I've noticed with boarding dogs, they don't automatically assume the outdoor patio/run area is for elimination. I'd say a good 85% of dogs hold it and need to go out on grass. They are used to the scent and foot feel of grass and that is nothing like anything else.
The pee pad in the box is a great idea. Lila has used pee pads in my dogs litter box before, and seems to prefer it to litter. As long as she understands where all the boxes are and what they are for, I'm good with it.

 

[Dove5591]

Thank you everyone for your input. It helps tremendously. I've been reading a lot about this issue online as well. This morning there were 3 pees in the pan and she pooped right in front of her heated mat. My husband and I thought, maybe we're cleaning it up too quickly when she messes. Could this be part of it? Maybe we should just clean the PAN only. Idk. I think another problem is that she was in the neighbors' basement for a while probably off/on and there was a litter pan there. They also have another cat. One day my husband was there and the litter pan was piled high with waste and they couldn't understand why the cats weren't using it. DUH. So...I think at least part of this problem is litter box aversion due to past negative experience with it. Then when outside, she went everywhere, on their deck, etc. When we had our boy, his pan got cleaned everytime we walked by it if there was something in it. As you all know, this is very frustrating and there is no easy answer.

 

[fionasmom]

litter pan was piled high with waste and they couldn't understand why the cats weren't using it.

This could be part of it.

 

[IndyJones]

Oh good grief... some people honestly... they think the box is gonna clean itself?

The poor cat can't blame her. She may need to be retrained to use the box or maybey was taken too young and never learned. You got good advice so far. You may have to train her as if she were an orphan kitten to use the box, place her poop in the box so she gets the idea this is where to go.

Don't leave the area dirty or she will still smell the "toilet" sign and go there again.

 

[IndyJones]

Litter Training — Kitten Lady

Ignore the parts about eating litter as i don't think its aplicable here.