Can Feral Cat Be Trained To Use A Litter Box?

[susieqz]

hexiesfriend suggested that i trap n move feral cat indoors.
i dislkie forcing her to do anything, but i could use this as a last resort.

thing is, i see she doesn't bury her scat.
the garden soil is soft so it would be no chore for her.
i bury it for her.
it seems to me that this behavior means she can't be trained to use a litter box.
am i correct?

 

[susieqz]

oh, feral cat is an adult of unknown age. since she only comes in the dark, i know little about her.

 

[danteshuman]

You can give her a couple of litter boxes filled with potting soil (and maybe a scoop of the garden soil from where she goes.) Then gradually add in unscented old fashioned clay litter. Start with a handful. I would also give her a litter box with litter and see if she knows what to do with it. Our indoor/outdoor cat buries his poo. One of my indoor kitties doesn't (it is a dominance thing.) In the wild cats bury their scat. It is instinctual which is why they are so easy to litter box train. Also cats are hunters & prey animals. More reasons to bury their waste. That indoor/outdoor cat was able to use a litter box (with litter) without any accidents for the 2 weeks he was confined inside a bedroom due to extreme health issues (he is fine now.) He went back to going outside and staunchly refuses to use the indoor litter boxes.

 

[Norachan]

Yes, they can be trained to use a litter box quite easily. I live with 19 former feral cats and three that were dumped by their previous owners. The only time we had litter box issues is when I brought home one of the rescued/dumped cats and the other boys felt he was a threat.

As danteshuman human said, giving her a choice of litter boxes and putting some soil from the places she goes in your garden will help her understand what she is supposed to do.

Cats don't bury their poop if they want to let other animals in the area know "This place is mine." Are there a lot of other cats around? Any other wild animals? Once she's indoors in a room that smells of her she might start burying her poop.

 

[susieqz]

there are no other cats for many miles.
only coyotes.
this animal is certainly a hunter. she has been feeding herself for her entirelife.
i don't believe she has ever been in a house or been touched by a human.
she only eats after dark n flees in terror when seeing me.
this is a wild animal n yet does not bury her scat.
she is far more feral than most animals described here.
thank you for your responses, as i have no experience with a truly wild cat.

 

[danteshuman]

If that is true be prepared for her to not be a cuddle bug. I think there is an article on this site about taming ferals.

 

[susieqz]

i don't expect feral cat to be a pet. i'm just trying to keep her alive.
when she hunts my garden she more than pays for her friskies.
problem is, with her around, i now want a house cat too.
they are hard to find on the plains, due to heavy predation.
there are more coyotes here than you would believe .
that's why my first post is IMPOSSIBLE CAT.

 

[susieqz]

THANKS, DANTES, I FOUND THE ARTICALS.

 

[danteshuman]

Good luck

 

[StefanZ]

I think its a big difference between not using a litter, and not burying the scat once done.

Its not unusual among home cats not to bury the scat. Its a sort of dominance thing. So this by itself isnt peculiar.

But its of course handy if they DO their "foul" in the litterbox... Once they do, the most problem is over. Even if it may look a little unpleasant, and smells some extra, compared with the buried poo...

With ex ferales, it may help to have two different boxes, because they often dont want to pee and poo in the same place. In nature they dont do it.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

.
Can truly feral, born-outside to feral Parents, flee-in-terror cats, be trained to use a litterbox? In my experience, no training's required. Most of mine are former ferals, with long histories of living in the wild, and none have ever had litterbox issues - every one has understood from the day they came inside.

Will they ever adapt completely, climb into your lap and demand tummy rubs? Again, in my limited experience (spanning roughly 60 cats "rehabilitated" over the years, and eventually placed in Loving homes), yep - they all do eventually. Here's the wildest of them all - White Tip:

who, when outside, would attack fiercely if you came within a few yards when she was being fed. She required eighteen months of patient waiting and positive reinforcement before she "got it," and finally came into the main house with her Son, Oz. Here are two more:

Friday and Clawed-ya, who now - after 23 months in their own house, will finally be making the transition to the main house within the next two weeks.

There's no magic here, save for the magic of Love, the willingness to wait them out, and the blind determination that you'll not give up on them until they're roaming your kitchen counters demanding salmon instead of duck.

"Cats is cats," as some wise fellow once observed. Even the wildest of feral cats is nothing more than an housecat who's not yet found the perfect sofa to take those long deep afternoon naps as the Winter sun goes flashing down the western sky. If @basscat can relax on what's left of the sofa with Gibbs, his pet Bobcat, Love and patience can fix anything.
.

 

[maggiedemi]

My cats were both feral, living in the woods without humans, and they immediately knew how to use the litter box. Even Demi, who I took in when he was maybe 6 weeks old at the most. It must be an instinct thing. Where are the high plains and why are house cats hard to find?

 

[keeneland]

hexiesfriend suggested that i trap n move feral cat indoors.
i dislkie forcing her to do anything, but i could use this as a last resort.

thing is, i see she doesn't bury her scat.
the garden soil is soft so it would be no chore for her.
i bury it for her.
it seems to me that this behavior means she can't be trained to use a litter box.
am i correct?

I can only relate to our cats but a lady I worked with told us the put the cats scat in a litter box but not to bury it. This was when we had started on the TNR with 5 true ferals and were keeping them in a garage with a recovery cage. All 5 of those cats were instantly litter box trained and to my knowledge they never had an accident or used anything besides the litter box. We may have got lucky but 2 of those cats are in & out of our house pretty much all the time & they always use the litter box. As a matter of fact they will come in the garage to use the litter box if they are outside and the door happens to be open with me doing yard work. These were as feral as feral could be when we started with them so I guess I thought it was easy to litter box train a cat LOL!