Before putting her out, do take her for a vet check. There may be something brewing that hasn’t fully manifested in a clear way yet. I had a cat with a UTI that had normal looking/smelling urine at first.
Though I truly think this is a reaction to the enviornment, not an infection. But please check.
I forgot to ask, is she spayed?
Thanks…no she is not spayed. Guessing, she may just be three months old, if that. The local spay/neuter clinic has specials I am waiting for. So far, she’s been very good now that she’s crated. I wonder if that was part of the problem…she was crated before me, for sure one home, possibly another, before I got her (i.e., I am definitely her third home, possibly her fourth) and maybe I just gave her too much freedom and it confused her. So far, so good tho. Keeping fingers crossed!
Oh spaying may help a TON if it’s a territory issue. A ton! 3 months old is old enough to spay. And you can’t let her be outside pre-spay anyhow.,
I definitely will not set myself up to have litters. 
Plenty of dairy farms around that have cats having kittens all the time, and usually one or two end up here (caught and spayed/neutered). She’s too young to go into heat anyway. Like I said I am waiting for the spay clinic to happen in a month or so. Thanks!!
Well I would definitely still get her to the vet and get her urine checked for abnormalities. You will feel terrible if it turns out that she has had an infection this whole time.
Just keep her in a routine of in the crate at night with her box, out during the day, until you can get her spayed. When she’s spayed she will need to be exercise restricted anyways for about 10 days. Then try transitioning her again. By that time, between age and being spayed, she might start going in the box just fine.
Now that I know about the spaying and more about the house composition-- I have a very good feeling that the spaying may help. Also, make sure you keep an eye when she is “free” to see if there are behaviors of the other cats that could be keeping her from the litter box-- they could be just wanting to play but they may be making her feel insecure in the box.
Thanks! The one older cat ignores her completely; the other plays with her all the time. Kitten is the one who starts it, too - I do watch for clues (I also watch My Cat From Hell for ideas). And you may be right about the spaying; I usually take adult cats in that are already spayed/neutered. The kitten that I took in before Kismet I had spayed and was kept in the garage with my other two kittens I got that year; I brought her into the house as she was terrified of being outside, but she had a good month after spaying before I made her a housecat. I’ll keep that in mind. So far so good with the crating!
Edit to add: I am not collecting kittens; I had lost some elderly cats over the past year or so and felt ready. Journey, the now house cat, just appeared in my garage after my husband towed a car home from St. Louis and put it in the garage; we think she was sleeping in the car and rode all the way to MI from St. Louis.
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