As previously discussed, I have taken in a cat and am trying to get it acclimated. The cat has a good disposition and will make a good pet once it gets healthy.
Except for a single accident during the first 24 hours, she faithfully used the litterbox for two weeks and I was scooping on a daily basis. I unexpectedly had to leave town and left a friend to take care of her. My friend did prevent the cat from escaping outside and faithfully feed the cat every day...but my friend used the wet catfood and not the dry catfood like I had said. (I had bought a dozen cans of catfood when it was on sale, but hadn't decided what to do with them yet and they were just stored next to the bag of dry food.)
The worst thing was that my friend did not take care of the litterbox.
I came home to find the cat had just defecated twice in one area of the living room. I checked the litterbox and its condition was beyond nasty. When I pulled the litterbox out I see she had also been defacating on the floor behind the litterbox.
Obviously this was not good, but I am not going to get mad at my friend and I can't blame the cat. She had used the litterbox multiple times so it just bad circumstances and not just a breakdown in training. So I cleaned up everything, used Lysol and baking soda and other cleaning products, before setting up a completely fresh batch of kitty litter. Then I set about re-acclimating the cat to the dry cat food and giving her some attention to make up for my absence.
In the last 24 hours, the cat has ignored the fresh litter and continued to go behind the litter box along the back wall. Also, it is very messy and I don't know if that is all the food changes or environmental issues or what. I am beginning to suspect that the cleaning products might have disrupted the routine, but she is at least trying to use the correct area (near the litter box) so something is amiss but it is not complete breakdown in training.
Any suggestions? I am going to clean up the mess along the wall with water/paper towels and just rake through the kitty litter to freshen it up. What do I need to do to get things back on track here?
Except for a single accident during the first 24 hours, she faithfully used the litterbox for two weeks and I was scooping on a daily basis. I unexpectedly had to leave town and left a friend to take care of her. My friend did prevent the cat from escaping outside and faithfully feed the cat every day...but my friend used the wet catfood and not the dry catfood like I had said. (I had bought a dozen cans of catfood when it was on sale, but hadn't decided what to do with them yet and they were just stored next to the bag of dry food.)
The worst thing was that my friend did not take care of the litterbox.
I came home to find the cat had just defecated twice in one area of the living room. I checked the litterbox and its condition was beyond nasty. When I pulled the litterbox out I see she had also been defacating on the floor behind the litterbox.
Obviously this was not good, but I am not going to get mad at my friend and I can't blame the cat. She had used the litterbox multiple times so it just bad circumstances and not just a breakdown in training. So I cleaned up everything, used Lysol and baking soda and other cleaning products, before setting up a completely fresh batch of kitty litter. Then I set about re-acclimating the cat to the dry cat food and giving her some attention to make up for my absence.
In the last 24 hours, the cat has ignored the fresh litter and continued to go behind the litter box along the back wall. Also, it is very messy and I don't know if that is all the food changes or environmental issues or what. I am beginning to suspect that the cleaning products might have disrupted the routine, but she is at least trying to use the correct area (near the litter box) so something is amiss but it is not complete breakdown in training.
Any suggestions? I am going to clean up the mess along the wall with water/paper towels and just rake through the kitty litter to freshen it up. What do I need to do to get things back on track here?
Hey, i saw something ,a spray or something , that you can buy to keep pets from going in any area you want. So go to the store and look , you will see it. I have a stray doggie too. Bye Rosieace 
