Male older cat, mostly neighborhood cat. He comes in and meows when he needs to go outside. I didn’t move fast enough for him a few weeks ago and he peed in the house. I bought a litter box. He’s used it once. It’s in the living room.
My pet sitter left the cat in the house when he left yesterday and the cat peed on the carpet.
I love the cat. I won’t have my house smell like cat pee. How do I convince the cat to use the facilities? There’s pretty bad weather coming this weekend.
Do not clean the litterbox the moment he uses it. He will associate the smell as to where he should go. Is he neutered? That will make a difference. I would not give him free range of the house until he’s consistent with the litterbox - put him in the bathroom or laundry room.
We use the BIG dog crate when training outside cat to use a litter box. Cat is locked in the crate with a litter box, food, water, milk crate with towels over holes for laying on. Cat is contained, no other batroom options to use except litter box. Just put cat in crate when it comes inside. Then put cat outside when he wants out. You can’t be “too late” to let him out if he is crated.
Sorry, I have not found outside cats to be reliable for potty things if not contained by the litter box. Eventually most cats will use the box reliably, won’t need to be kept contained all the time. Might take several weeks though, so don’t turn him loose too quickly. True that they will often NOT use the box even if cat is locked in bigger spaces, like the laundry room for example. They just never learned house manners.
Is cat fixed? He might want to mark territory by spraying, which is very difficult to train him out of. They can still smell the spot, even if you cannot, likely to remark spot again. Sorry to hear about your rug. Nice of you to try bringing him inside with him being older!
Re: cleaning spots he’s peed
A shelter advised me to use liquid douche to spot clean.
Any “flavor” except vinegar.
Test fabric first, but the enzymes in the douche take away the odor that attracts cat to reuse a spot.
He might like fresh dirt instead of litter. Or a solid sprinkle of dirt on top of the litter.
Get some Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract Litter. It works. You can taper down to regular litter once habits are established. This stuff is magic.
The thing about it, is this is a very vocal cat. If I locked him up, there would not be a moment’s peace.
My sister has an ex-feral neutered male cat that took forever learn to use the litter box. She had him locked in an unused bathroom for at least a couple of months before he figured it out. She even had a litter box in the bathtub and he still pooped and peed outside the box. He would go anywhere BUT the litter box, especially soft surfaces like a rug or toweling.
She asked the rescue group that had helped her with him (loaned her a trap) and they recommended putting dry leaves on top of regular litter, to simulate outdoor conditions. It worked and she transitioned him to shredded newspaper on top of regular litter. It’s a bit of a pain to clean but it worked for her cat.
I’m here to commiserate and wish you good luck. I’m having a similar issue with my own trapped feral. I made a thread about it, maybe some of the posts there can help:
Unfortunately, any time I allow this kitty full range of the house, the behavior returns no matter how long she’d been a confirmed litter-box user in a smaller space. I’ve tried every suggestion in that thread. My guess is she doesn’t feel safe going in the litter box at large, and may benefit from being the only cat in the house or a quieter home. I feel a lot of guilt considering trying to rehome her, and wonder if this is why she was feral in the first place. 
Then I would either put him out when he needs to go ( he tells you) or keep him out and he will be fine as long as you have a place for him to go and get out of the weather?
I will not abide messing in the house.
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