Hi I am new to this site and i really need some help with my cat Jonah! He is about 11 months old. I adopted him as a kitten in October. When i got him, i knew eventually I would plan on letting him outdoors a few hours only during the day when someone is at home. I decided I would wait until late March to start gradually introducing him to the outdoors just supervised for short time every now and then. That way he will recognize his home and get comfortable. (he was very shy and didn't have social skills when we first got him home and took him a while to come out of his shell. Anyways, since the first day home, he was using his litter box just fine. So since he's been going outside, he stopped using the litter box. He goes to the bathroom outside. The problem is, I don't let him out all day whenever. I have set a curfew to make sure he's not out at night. So he has a routine to go out at 6 am for an hour or two. I get him inside before i leave for work at 8 am . Then i come home for lunch at 12 and he gets to go out until 1:30ish/2. The days I am off he might go out again around 4 for a little while. But my goal is to make sure he's inside by 6 or 7 pm the latest. Some days he can't go back out after 2 pm. So my concern is, he is not going to the bathroom once he is inside! And I am worried about health problems this could cause. Especially on the days that he's home by 2pm. That means he is not going to the bathroom until 6 a.m the next day. He wakes me up early morning crying from 5 a.m,sometimes earlier because he needs to go to the bathroom. I have been taking him to his litter box and scratching at it to show him to go there.. And placed him inside it. It's like he knows what it's for but refuses to use it now. And i cannot let him out that early in the morning because we have skunks around here and raccoons. So that's why i wait until 6. Sometimes i let him at 5:45 but I feel that's still pushing it! I don't know what to do. Also, i need to make sure he starts using it soon because i live in Michigan and he has not experienced winter yet outside. So he won't be going out as much once winter comes. Especially since it doesn't get light out until later in the morning. Do you guys have any suggestions on what I could do? I had an outdoor/indoor cat before and he was still using the litter box normal and going to the bathroom outside also. I don't think him not using it is from any health problems. He just started doing this since going outside more. I feel bad for him and I really need to figure something out for my fur baby. Should I try filling the litter box with sand or soil?? But then i can't scoop it. He is very particular about his litters and litter box. I tried switching his litter system to the breeze box with feline pine and he refused to use it at all (this was before he stopped using it) so i had to switch back to his old litter. Thanks in advance! - Nicole
Yay, Jonah. 
