When To Move The Litterbox?

[samppa]

Hi,
my girlfriend and I adopted a cat a few weeks ago. Our cat is still very shy, hiding all the time and coming out only at nights, but I know this is normal and it might take a long time for him to get used to us. He eats normally and uses the litterbox. The problem however is that because he's hiding under our bed (the best hiding place in our flat) we have put the litterbox there in the bedroom as well, mainly because he's too afraid to come to the living room to use it (where we would like to have the litterbox). The problem is that using the litterbox really keeps us awake so we have thought to change its location, but I'm not sure whether this is a good idea. They told us in the rescue centre that our cat will find it, no problems, but would it make him even more stressed? He's very shy, took him many many months to get the courage to come out of hiding in the rescue centre. What would your advise be? Cheers!

 

[jcat]

Could you get a cheap litter box, put it where the current one is, and move the one he's using to the living room? With any luck, he'll (eventually) use the one in the living room, and you can remove the bedroom box. It could still be a while before he ventures into another room, but he will.

 

[danteshuman]

I would wait until he was more confident. Is your cat tame? I ask because a cat that was socialized has a kitten tend to seek humans out for affection. Did he let you pet him when you went to look at him at the shelter? There is a HUGE difference between a pet versus a feral/wild cat. Unforgently that difference is made when the cats are little kittens. I don't recommend adopting semi-feral cats. They may come to like being petted on their terms but I have yet to see one that is as affectionate/interactive as pet house cats. Our semi feral took YEARS to become as affectionate as he is now. I have only adopted kittens and they were glued to my side. I found a lost adult cat that I took in for a while and he did not hide at all.
You can help by scattering scent soakers in the room (an extra litter box, cat scratcher, cat tree, towels under the bed, so it gets his scent on them) after a week or so place some of those items in the room closest to your bedroom. I'm tempted to say block off all his access to under the bed, under dressers, under couches etc. If you do, be sure to giving a place to hide in your room and in the living room. Like a box on it's side with a towel draped over it, or a dining room chair with a a couple of towels draped over it (forming a t or an x) so your cat feels secure. Be sure to ignore the cat when it is in it's hiding spot. Good luck

 

[gingerbaby]

I am having similar problems with my two kittens. One kitten somehow is picky about the location of the litter box and I too get nervous he wont find it in the spot I like, I was told by someone what you can do which helped with my kittens last night is to train your cat to look for the scent of the litter in the place you want. I took an aluminum pan with litter and placed it by a play area of my room near where i moved the litter box to its new location. It seemed to have worked but good luck, i am sure the cat will find the litter box and use it especially at night when you are not watching