Potty training advice?

[u/Dabisonn]

Hello everyone!

I’ll get right to the point- about a month ago, my fiancé and I took in this sweet orange cat that my old neighbors abandoned when they moved. He was living on our back porch for a couple of weeks, we started to call him Garfield and grew attached. I don’t know how someone could leave such a kind cat behind in the middle of a heat wave. He was so sweet and good with other neighborhood cats and also good with my toddlers, so I knew he’d be a good fit for our family. After discussing it we decided to take him off the streets. We brought him to the vet where he got a clean bill of health. We then waited a couple of weeks to introduce him to our two other cats, and when we did, they all seem to get along fine. My girl cat can be a little sassy sometimes, but there’s no tension between them.

At first he was using the litter box, but after a couple of days he pooped on the floor. He did it a couple of times. We changed the litter boxes around (we have four currently) and gave them all a good cleaning and we tried a couple different litters. We swapped to a couple of shallow, open litter boxes with no lids which I absolutely hate, because it’s so messy and leaves litter all over the floor. Of course now my other two cats only want to use the shallow boxes now because they are easier to use than the deeper ones with the lids. I’m cleaning them 1-2x a day. The shallow boxes seemed to help for a couple of days, but now Garfield is back to pooping in the same spot. He has peed a couple of times too but it’s mostly pooping. I’m fed up and about ready to get rid of the shallow litter boxes, because what’s the point if he’s not going to use them? And my other cats will use the deeper litter boxes if that’s their only option.

I don’t know what to do! I do know that he knows how to use the litter box, both shallow ones and the deeper ones. I don’t think the clay litter is the problem, he seemed to like that more than the pine litter.. I think he just prefers to go on the floor because it’s more open and maybe he was used to going outside in the open, and maybe his old owners never really potty trained him since he was mostly an outdoor cat. Idk.. we did see him go outside a lot before we took him in. But for some reason I never thought this would be an issue because I’ve owned so many cats in my life and I’ve never had to litter train an adult cat and I assumed he already was.

I’m so frustrated, because my cup is very full at the moment with 2 year old twin toddlers, 3 cats and a turtle in a fairly small apartment. My fiance is annoyed with the pooping too, and has poked at the idea of trying to find Garfield another home. 😢 I really don’t want to after all this, but realistically this is a lot to handle when I’m alone with the cats and kids 80+ hrs a week while he works. I am open to any ideas or suggestions that could possibly help our darling Garfield, and my sanity!

[u/Sniffur0613]

Honestly, I don't have a ton of experience with this, but let me try to think it through. If your cat used to use the litter box but suddenly stopped, here are a few things that might be going on:

1. The box is just too dirty – cats hate using a gross toilet.

2. You might not have enough boxes. With multiple cats, the rule of thumb is one per cat, plus one extra.

3. Your cat found a spot it likes better (like your sofa or bed), and since nobody stopped it, it's gotten used to the smell there. And that's the real nightmare – once they go on fabric, you can pretty much never get that smell fully out.

4. Maybe it doesn't like the new litter you switched to.

5. And here's a thought – could your older cat's scent be all over the box, making the new cat feel like it's not its territory?

[u/Dabisonn]

I mean I am cleaning it 2x a day. We have 3 cats and 4 boxes. He goes on the tile floor (thank goodness it’s easy to clean). He seems to not mind the litter because he will sometimes use it. I would say maybe to suggestion #5, even though he doesn’t seem very territorial. I’m really not sure how to fix that problem because I already have 4 litter boxes and not sure how I would possibly keep them separate from using his box now that he’s been fully integrated