Don’t know it this is possible or not! I’ve got a (now) semi-feral cat. He’s got a shelter and bed on the porch, but I feed him inside the house. And last night, when it was in the 20s, he stayed inside. I don’t know if he wants to be an indoor cat, but how do I introduce a litter box? Will he ever adapt?
Get the largest box you can find, add unscented litter, and after he eats, take him to the box and gently take his paws and dig with him. It usually doesn’t take long for them to get the hang of it; any barn cat I brought in over the years, maybe one try and that was it. First one I did this with was Frog and he was 2 and learned instantly and the oldest one I brought in is 7 this year and he had no problem learning where the boxes are either. I have read about some litter called Cat Attract for tough cases or sloppy cats.
Honestly, they figure it out real quick. With owning a farm we get a lot of cats dumped here. When we bought the place we inhierted 5 barn cats-thankfully all spayed and neutered.
Anyway, most all of the cats have become indoor or indoor/outdoor cats. They all used the litter box without me having to really do anything. Our cat’s food and litter boxes are in the same room-out mud room. They have access to the whole house so it’s not like they are shut in there. Never had a problem and nearly all of these cats were adult cats. You should be fine.
I recently captured & took in a feral kitten that was born at our local dump.
(http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=331276)
When I first brought him home, I confined him to a jumbo-size dog crate, in which I fed him & in which he had a small litter box. (But in the absence of a jumbo-size dog crate, a bathroom would work just as well.) As soon as he proved to me that he knew what the “sandbox” was for, I released him into the 2nd floor bed & bath, where the bathroom has a spare litterbox for our other cats. He now uses both boxes - no accidents. And this is a kitten that was born at the dump, so no “training”.
If I were you I’d definitely give him the opportunity to show you that he knows what a litterbox is for. Sounds like he’d love to be an indoor kitty. I’d give him a chance. 
I also took in a feral cat and put her in the bathroom with a litter box. She used it that day and once she was inside she never looked to go back out.
Good Luck.
We never had new normal kittens or grown cat NOT use a litterbox, but we kept newbies confined to a very small space, most times the bathroom.
Seems that cats come wired for that, if given half a chance.
If you already have other cats inside he will figure it out from them.
I have a formerly feral cat named Diva that is asleep on my couch…
I trapped her at my friends farm Oct. 31st. At first she stayed seperate from my other cats and didn’t really understand the litter box… instead she took liberties with my hosue plants.
I put her ahem business in the litter box and put the plants around it and she figured it out.
Now she lives with the other cats and has adapted extremely well. She is still skittish, but much better than when she got her. When I trapped her, no one at the farm had ever touched her and she had had 9 kittens over the course of the summer (I adopted them out).
She just happened to come at a good time for me and the other cats- my heart cat had just passed, and helping her has kinda filled a void.
Quasi-domestic
Thanks to all for the advice and suggestions. One problem is that I can’t pick this guy up…I can pet him, but that’s as far as it goes. So maybe I use the “confine to small space” trick and hope he’s a quick learner. I sort of hate to confine him, however, because he’s just gotten comfortable with my closing the front door.
I think the confine method is the most effective and humane. If you don’t confine him you might be starting another thread on here in 2 months saying “rescued a feral cat and now she is peeing all over my furniture.” Most cats pick up on the litter box really quickly but if you don’t confine him, he will go where it makes the most sense to him which might be a bathtub, houseplant, pile of clothes, etc.
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Thanks to all for the advice and suggestions. One problem is that I can’t pick this guy up…I can pet him, but that’s as far as it goes. So maybe I use the “confine to small space” trick and hope he’s a quick learner. I sort of hate to confine him, however, because he’s just gotten comfortable with my closing the front door.[/QUOTE]
Confinement to a small area is your best bet. Like I said - we captured “Ming the Merciless” at the dump, & he wouldn’t let us even touch him originally. Close confinement is your tool, as well as patience. It doesn’t take long for cats to realize where shelter, food, & love is coming from.
Get some dirt from where he would have been going (if you don’t have access get dirt where you think other cats might have gone). That would be clean dirt though, no need to bring in excrement! Sprinkle that over the litter in the box (make sure the box is BIG, like use a storage container instead of the regular size commercial box) and he will recognize it as material to go in. Cat attract also works but is more expensive than dirt! =)
I don’t think it’s necessary to go that far. Frankly, I’d be concerned with parasites/disease coming in via “dirt” from anyplace where stray cats were toileting.
Just give the cat a chance! Chances are EXTREMELY good that the cat knows exactly what to do. Unless illness is involved, it’s pure instinct.
