"Barn" breaking the feral cat

[Simkie]

We trapped and neutered this LOVELY boy kitty perhaps 6-8 weeks ago. He is super, super sweet but has obviously been living rough for quite some time.

He spent a few weeks in a crate healing, and he’s been loose for a little while. He was great about the litter box in the crate and immediately after being let loose. Now, he’s just peachy using my barn floor, which is dirt. ARGH.

His box is clean. If I put his box where he wants to go in the barn, he goes a few feet away. If I pop him back in his crate with the box, he has NO problem going in the box.

Is there ANY solution here? I’d really love it if he would just go OUTSIDE somewhere, but I’ll keep a box clean for him for indoors if he insists.

How on earth do people teach feral cats polite bathroom habits?

[Reign]

Here’s the issue. The barn floor is very similar to the litter. You’re basically working with an enormous litterbox, but wanting him to only use a 1X1 section. Have you tried spraying the cat-attract stuff in the box? A lot of people praise it and it may work… Only other option I can think of is stalking him and when he starts pottying in the barn, chasing him away. Cats like to potty in undisturbed places.

[Simkie]

Yeah, I do realize the problem. It’s just so frustrating. I wish we had the $$$ to just concrete the whole thing, but that’s not in the cards. As it is, I think we’ll probably try to cover every dirt surface with stall mats.

He’s SUCH a good kitty and GETS the litter box, for the most part. Unless there’s a nice, clean barn floor for him. There’s not even a lot of “digging” in the floor, because it has been tamped. Not a lot of loose stuff for him to scratch in. But he still finds it preferable :sigh:

[Gainer]

There is a kitty litter called Cat Attract (I believe there’s also a kitten version). You may want to try that.

He’s just doing what comes natural to him. It may take awhile to break him of the habit. You may want to shut him up somewhere with the litterbox for a week or two to get him used to using it.

[danceronice]

…We OFFER litter boxes in the tack room, for when they’re shut in with their breakfasts (they get locked in the tack room for their canned food and while the horse and goats are eating, then can come and go the rest of the time) or when the ground’s frozen, but otherwise…cats is cats, they’re going to go wherever they go.

[Kimstar]

I had one barn cat who would use the litter box exactly once, when it was clean. After that, forget it. (He had to be confined at night for medical reasons on a couple of occasions. Otherwise, he used a stall, outside or wherever.)

Is there any way you can make absolutely sure that his box is cleaned as soon as it’s used? (Impractical I know, however you might be able to do this.) Or get him several boxes so that he always has a clean one to use? Because he was feral, he’s used to going in a clean place every time.

[LadyBug]

I wish there was a solution to this problem, but I haven’t found one.

My barn cat uses her litterbox in the winter when she spends the majority of her time in the tack room and doesn’t venture outside (why would she…it’s heated, she has beds, food, water, and a litterbox!). In the summer she thinks my indoor is a huge litter box and won’t bother with the one in the tack room…