I am having a lot of difficulty training my former stray cat to use the litterbox. When she was confined to one room she did fine after about a week or two, but since she's had the run of the house, she has regressed considerably. I have a litterbox upstairs and, as of yesterday, two litterboxes downstairs (one in the bathroom where I've always kept it and the other on her favorite non-litterbox potty spot).
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I am seriously out of ideas.
What I have tried:
-Cat Attract in the litter. I think this helped initially but it doesn't appear to be doing anything now.
-Enzymatic cleaner, felaway, and No Spray. All of htese keep her from returning to hte same spot, but then she just finds a new non-litterbox spot.
-Putting a litterbox where she likes to poop: She's found a new "bathroom"
-Closing cat in a small room with the litterbox. I tried the bathroom, but she's figured out how to open the door. When she was in quarantine she was confined to my study, and I am tempted to try that again but I would consider it a last resort as it made my other cat very anxious.
-Placing her in the litterbox after she eats or after she goes somewhere else and providing positive reinforcement around the litterbox. So far, not much luck, but I'm working from home for the next couple of months so I'm hoping increased supervision will make it go better.
What worked at first:
She spent her first month with me quarantined in one room and, by the end of that she was using hte litterbox 90% of the time. That litterbox is still set up in my study and I use the same litter.
-Cat Attract
-Putting litterbox where she likes to go then slowly moving it to a more desirable spot
-Dirt and leaves over the litter (this was only necessary for the first two weeks or so--by the end she was using normal litter)
-positive reinforcement around the litterbox
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I am seriously out of ideas.
What I have tried:
-Cat Attract in the litter. I think this helped initially but it doesn't appear to be doing anything now.
-Enzymatic cleaner, felaway, and No Spray. All of htese keep her from returning to hte same spot, but then she just finds a new non-litterbox spot.
-Putting a litterbox where she likes to poop: She's found a new "bathroom"
-Closing cat in a small room with the litterbox. I tried the bathroom, but she's figured out how to open the door. When she was in quarantine she was confined to my study, and I am tempted to try that again but I would consider it a last resort as it made my other cat very anxious.
-Placing her in the litterbox after she eats or after she goes somewhere else and providing positive reinforcement around the litterbox. So far, not much luck, but I'm working from home for the next couple of months so I'm hoping increased supervision will make it go better.
What worked at first:
She spent her first month with me quarantined in one room and, by the end of that she was using hte litterbox 90% of the time. That litterbox is still set up in my study and I use the same litter.
-Cat Attract
-Putting litterbox where she likes to go then slowly moving it to a more desirable spot
-Dirt and leaves over the litter (this was only necessary for the first two weeks or so--by the end she was using normal litter)
-positive reinforcement around the litterbox