Mom is a feral cat, now Inside with Kittens - Need help with mom vs litter box usage.

[mazie]

My alpha cat, Suzie gave birth to her third litter at 1:00 this morning in my backyard.  (I promise I am going to get her spayed this time, Will bring that subject up a little later.)  She is approximately 2 years old,  I have been caring for her since January of last year, when she got pregnant the first time.  I have no idea where she birthed her first litter, she brought them home to me when they were about 4 weeks old, I came home from work, opened up by back yard patio door and there they were, mom and 4 healthy kittens nursing.  Talk about SURPRISE!!   Needles to  say, I got the kittens great homes after they were old enough to be weaned.  Story repeated again last spring and the latest is now.  My present situation is,   I was outside on my patio in my lawn chair, Suzie on my lap, last evening.   The two of us relaxing when she started contracting, To make a long story short, she jumped off my lap and walked into the yard and was having  a lot of contractions.  I ran inside, got a child size pool out, padded it up, added  a large bath towel on top.  I placed this "nest" I made under a shelter in the back  yard  Suzie jumped right in, the contractions got stronger, she gave birth to 4 beautiful kittens!!!.  This was the first time in my 62 years I now can say I  have had the privilege to witness a beautiful animal (not human) birth!!  Suzie again is remarkable, now to my problem.  Suzie and the babies are inside.  Even though I have a tall wood fenced in back yard, and the kittens would be safe out there, the temperatures gets up to 100 degrees farenheit each day now, for the past 3 weeks.  I have brought momma, kittens and the nest into the house.  I set up a litter box with potting soil (learned from a fellow cat site member this this is the best way to get a feral to use a litter box), but this technique did not work a year ago, and is not now.  When Suzie needs to relieve herself, she sits in front of the door, I let her out, she goes into the back yard, comes back in when finished.  The problem is, I took today off of work, but tomorrow, I will not be here to let her out to go potty.  How do I teach an adult feral cat to use a litter box in less than 24 hours??

By the way, I happen to have several litter boxes and do have regular cat litter, not just potting soil.  Please someone, advise how do I teach this very bright Siamese momma beauty in a crash course how to use the box?   I never made a big deal  about this before because Suazie in the past  would come inside in the evening, cuddle with me, and then want to go back outside.  In good conscious, those kittens are remaining inside all of the time and when the time comes, be adopted out as "indoor cats".  Suzie for some reason, (and I am eternally greatfull) decided to have this litter (her final) with me included.  Please advise, and I thank you all.   

 

[ondine]

The only thing I can think of is Dr. Elesey's cat attract.  It is available at PerSmart and Petco.  It smells a little funky but they do use it.

And a BIG thank you for having her spayed this time.

 

[mazie]

Thank you, Ondine and, yes Ma'am, I have promised myself she will be spayed!!  Appreciate your suggestion, will check that product out.

 

[inklaura]

When I brought Sky inside after his trip to the vet, he had NO clue how to use the litterbox.  He peed in the corner and pooped on the floor near the door.  After some cleaning up, I laid out one of those blue puppy pee pads on the floor in the location where he had peed before.  I brought in some dirt from the backyard (not clean potting soil, but dirt from the flowerbeds etc..)  I tried to pick a location to get dirt that he would have used to eliminate when he was an outdoor cat so hopefully some of his scent was on the dirt.

Thankfully he chose to pee & poop in the dirt pile instead of the floor.   Cat training is really about giving them options they want.   Day by day I was able to  use less dirt and more litter on the pee pads.   Eventually I moved the pad into the box and then finally was able to remove the pee pad all together and slowly move the box to the desired location.   

If Suzie needs to go badly enough, she'll have to choose a spot inside.  The key is making the spot you want her to use an appealing choice to her vs the floor.

Wishing you good luck!  Let us know how things go.  

 

[inklaura]

Oops, I meant to add that he wouldn't use the box at first no matter what.  I don't think he liked climbing into that box even though it was large and not covered.   The pee pad helped him transition from a flat pile of dirt to the box filled with litter.   And the pee pads were easy to clean up!

 

[StefanZ]

 
When I brought Sky inside after his trip to the vet, he had NO clue how to use the litterbox.  He peed in the corner and pooped on the floor near the door.  After some cleaning up, I laid out one of those blue puppy pee pads on the floor in the location where he had peed before.  I brought in some dirt from the backyard (not clean potting soil, but dirt from the flowerbeds etc..)  I tried to pick a location to get dirt that he would have used to eliminate when he was an outdoor cat so hopefully some of his scent was on the dirt.

Thankfully he chose to pee & poop in the dirt pile instead of the floor.   Cat training is really about giving them options they want.   Day by day I was able to  use less dirt and more litter on the pee pads.   Eventually I moved the pad into the box and then finally was able to remove the pee pad all together and slowly move the box to the desired location.   

If Suzie needs to go badly enough, she'll have to choose a spot inside.  The key is making the spot you want her to use an appealing choice to her vs the floor.

Wishing you good luck!  Let us know how things go.  

Nice tip, if the cat is totally unused to a litter box,  let it be just a pile on the floor, using the litter or some dirt from outside...  Good thinking.    I will hereafter buy this tip, and myself promote it in desperate cases.  Tx.

 

[mazie]

Thank you ink laura, sometimes you have to "think outside of the box" and that you did, I appreciate the advice and will try that!!

 

[ondine]

Someone else here suggested placng the poop or the tissue you wipe up the pee with into the box.  Her own smell may give her a hint as to what the box is used for.

 

[mazie]

Yes, I got that message as well, it makes such good sense, I am definately going to try this technique. I went ahead and ordered the Kitty litter you suggested from Petco yesterday. I looks as though in a few weeks, I will be litter box training both kittens and their mom at the same time, and that is when this technique will come in handy for I do not want those kittens to be leaving the in of doors. For right now, the kittens are in day 2 of their young life, not leaving the nest of course yet, so while I am here at work, I have left the screen open in a way where mom and come and go in and out of the house at will. I started this yesterday to see how it will work, and she immediately got the message that all she had to do was press the screen either way and she can ge out and back into the house to do her business and come right back. The new litter should arrive at my home by this weekend and look forward to using it for both mom and kittens when the kittens are ready. I have a 3 day weekend coming up, I want to start off with Suzie with this technique and her new litter. I will keep you posted on how it goes. I guess though I will have to wait until she relieves herself indoors before I can "scooop and drop" into the litter box in order for her to understand what those boxes are for. I know this won't be easy because when I am at home, she just sits in front of the door and waits for me to open it up. I will have to ignore this and wait for and accident I guess?? Please advise ondine what your thoughts are, I appreciate the feedback, and Inklaura as well, thanks ladies.

 

[ondine]

When you start training the kittens, make sure to use non-clumping litter.  Like human toddlers, they tend to taste everything and the clumping litter can cause tummy troubles.  Dr. Elsey makes a kitten attract that is non-clumping, so if that works, you can use the kitten version.

 

[mazie]

Thank you so much, I understand