Moving a litter box

[Aeoh]

Hello!

We brought in a stray that had kittens, and we are keeping one of the 3 kittens. For the past 3 months, we’ve had the kitten litter boxes upstairs isolated in a tent to minimize the mess.

The two adult cats use the cat door to the basement where we have their bigger boxes. When the other kittens leave and we have the one that is staying, we want to transition her to a basement litter box, too.

She can use the cat door with no problem, but we tried one day to move the litter boxes down there and it just didn’t register for 2/3 of the kittens: they just used the bathroom on the living room floor instead of using the cat door.

Of course, we want to avoid messes if possible but accept it’s probably inevitable at least for a short time. But what is the best method to transition the area of the box?

(see Lucy below when she OFFICIALLY became our foster fail)

 

[di and bob]

I transitioned my cats to box moves by moving the box slowly towards where they were to go. Feet at a time, or a little further as long as it was in sight. That way there were no accidents and they learned where the box was. Leave it a few days at a time, 2-3, in the new spot. Slowly get it to where it will be permanent.

 

[Aeoh]

I transitioned my cats to box moves by moving the box slowly towards where they were to go. Feet at a time, or a little further as long as it was in sight. That way there were no accidents and they learned where the box was. Leave it a few days at a time, 2-3, in the new spot. Slowly get it to where it will be permanent.

So how would you think to do this when you have to go through the cat door and down some stairs? I was considering leaving the door open for easier access, but like I said, she uses the door for exploratory purposes so it’s not like she CANT use it, I’m just not sure she will put two and two together lol.

 

[Maurey]

Honestly, if she’s currently reliable using the box, I’d just move the box and be done with it. Just show her where you’ve moved it. That said, I wouldn’t move the box until she’s a bit older and has a larger bladder, so that her bladder capacity lasts her long enough to remember to get to the box. I live in a flat, and regularly take my cats with me to the suburbs, and I’ve never bothered gradually moving boxes.

 

[di and bob]

I would put the litterbox right in front of the basement door (temporary) for a couple of days then leave the basement door open with the box moved to the bottom of the stairs so they can see it, until they are used to going there. If they know it is at the bottom of the stairs, and get used to it, they will go there.

 

[vince]

With all the cats we've had over the years, I've been able to move the box at least one room over at a time with only one day at each spot. We were able to move ours from an unused bedroom to the basement in three days or so. One day in the front room, another in the dining room, the next on the stair landing and final spot at the foot of the basement stairs.

With my current cats, I routinely move the box out of the spare bedroom into the adjoining room (a common room between the two upstairs bedrooms) if I have a house guest. Never had a problem.

 

[Aeoh]

Honestly, if she’s currently reliable using the box, I’d just move the box and be done with it. Just show her where you’ve moved it. That said, I wouldn’t move the box until she’s a bit older and has a larger bladder, so that her bladder capacity lasts her long enough to remember to get to the box. I live in a flat, and regularly take my cats with me to the suburbs, and I’ve never bothered gradually moving boxes.

She is only very recently reliable I would say...her and her one littermate really struggled. Like I said, we tried moving it once and it was....a disaster to say the least.

I wasn't sure if waiting until she's older would make it a harder thing to change.

 

[Aeoh]

With all the cats we've had over the years, I've been able to move the box at least one room over at a time with only one day at each spot. We were able to move ours from an unused bedroom to the basement in three days or so. One day in the front room, another in the dining room, the next on the stair landing and final spot at the foot of the basement stairs.

With my current cats, I routinely move the box out of the spare bedroom into the adjoining room (a common room between the two upstairs bedrooms) if I have a house guest. Never had a problem.

I might try to move it towards the basement door (about 10 feet away from where it is at, but directly across and easy to see) and then leave the door open a little and try it on the basement landing.

I'm just nervous because of how awful it went last time, LOL! I want to make sure she gets comfortable with it while she is young but at the same time, I don't want to stress her and confuse her. She is 12 weeks this week, for reference.