Well I've been reading further and it seems my scolding was not a good thing to do. It sounds like I may have to confine her in a room again for weeks. Gad, I just hate to do that because she couldn't stand being in there alone - cried and cried. Maybe you have other ideas/advice.

Yes, scolding a cat for anything is an exercise in futility. My advice would be to place her own litter box back in the room you originally confined her to, but leave the door open so she can come and go. It seemed that she was comfortable with this system. If that doesn't work I would confine her again for awhile, but I would not under any circumstances move her litter box again once you let her back out.

Even when cats get along or coexist peacefully, they often have their own territories mapped out, including their own bathroom spots. Perhaps your new cat used the other cats litter boxes when they were not around, but was not comfortable using these boxes when the other cats were in proximity, or maybe one of them threatened her.

When I had my two old cats and also my (then younger) cat who is still with me, I had a separate room for the two old timers with beds, food, and litterbox. I had a gate across the door so the cats could come and go, but my dogs couldn't squeeze through. However my younger cat never went into the old cats' room. For my younger kitty, I kept a litterbox in the upstairs bathroom, and I fed her in the kitchen.

When my old cats "Ms Fluffy" and "Squiggy" died, I tried feeding my young cat "Plywood" in their room, thinking that it could become her room now, and that I could move the kitty litter out of my bathroom. Well she was mortally insulted that I should attempt to feed her in the old cats' room, and I knew that expecting her to inhabit the "other cats'" space was not going to fly. She actually hissed at me, and she is usually very even tempered! Thus I still have her litterbox in my bathroom 8 yrs later, which is an inconvenience for me, but less of an inconvenience than if she decided to use a scatter rug or a corner of the livingroom for a bathroom, and as upset as she was, I'm sure that would have been the result of messing with her bathroom preferences. If I decide to get another cat someday when Plywood is gone, I will set up the old cat room again, but I'm not going to make the mistake again of attempting to get my now 20 yr old kitty to adapt to change.

Cats just don't like change. I would pick up the rug she used as a bathroom, launder it thoroughly (which I'm sure you've already done) and put it away until new kitty's bathroom routine is re-established.

I hope that your new kitty will revert to her former housebreaking habits. I think she's probably confused and intimidated right now and is looking to establish a new territory. Good luck.

Are you sure it's the new cat?

Yes it was her - caught in the act, everyone else is too big to get behind the dresser, and the size of the poop was the size that the new little kitty produces not what the big cats produce.

I'm sure she is confused as she has been through all kinds of change in a short time but things should be quite settled now. Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to leave her litter box permanently in the original location. Just not a situation we can live with long term. Temporarily yes but not for the next 20 years. So hopefully I'll find another solution that works....

If the location of new kitty's litterbox is not going to work for you, I'd recommend finding another location away from the other cats' facilities for her box. She's made it very clear that she's not comfortable using the same bathroom facilities as your other cats. Perhaps a different room, or the basement maybe?

That's the arrangement we've had for the last day. Unfortunately I can't keep the other cats out of her box and they find the location to be quite convenient. I did change the litter to scoopable from the more coarse clay stuff. That's what's in the other cat boxes. Something I read said if they are going on smooth surfaces (which she is except for one rug incident) that they may not like the texture of what's in the box. My other cats much prefer scoopable over clay so maybe she does too. I did take her to the box a few times tonight and she went once. I profusely praised her and loved her up. Working on the positive reinforcement vs punishment.

Don't they say to have one more litter box than the number of cats that you have? Maybe you need one more?

Well, the change of litter didn't seem to be a good idea. We put her in the box before heading to bed and she jumped out of the clean box and pee'd on the towel that was under the box. So I put the regular clay litter back in since she seemed to do better with that and I think the other cats are less likely to use her box with clay litter. At the moment I'm considering where to confine her for the night and while I'm gone during the day. I just don't think I can leave her out any more. From more reading it also sounds like this may be necessary to get her to use the litter box consistently.

Based on my inspections around the house I'm now suspect that she may have pee'd outside the box even when I had her in her own room. So possibly she's never been a consistent litter box user?? Maybe the story that the new baby was allergic to the cat wasn't the real reason someone surrendered her.

The saga continues. I'm starting to think I'm not meant to have another cat.

Ya, they say that though I've never had more than three for three cats. I don't think that's the problem.

Speedigrees covered all the basics but I just want to add that I think you made too many changes too quickly. As you now know, changing the litter in addition to moving the box was too much for a cat adjusting to a new home. She's only been in your home 12 days and that is too short a period to expect her to adapt to a new environment that also has other cats.

You're going to have to go back to square one, and start in the original room or else find another room you can keep her in. I'd invest in a black light and check the room you kept her in initially to see if she did go outside the box, and if you move her into another room check it also to make sure there are no previous accidents in there.
After a few weeks, or maybe months, you could try to slowly move (a few feet at a time over many days) her box to another location but since she's prone to go elsewhere I would train her in a room where the box can be left long-term.
Give her time and patience.........I think she'll come around.
Why can't she have that room for the next 20 years..........that's what my DH would say. : )

Thanks everyone for your advice. I do now have her confined in a guest bathroom where she can stay indefinitely other than a day here and there in which case I'll put her back in the other room. She stayed in there last night and was really good about it - no crying - so I didn't feel quite so bad confining her again. I let her out for a little while this morning and will let her out when we're there to monitor what she's up to.

This did lead to a new discovery that might be a clue to the problem. She used the litter box but pooped in a corner - this specimen had blood and mucus in it. Plus it looked like she pooped in the box a few times which seems "excessive" for one night. She has had formed stool but she definitely has loose stool as well so I think something's up. Though she just had a negative stool test, I know there are plenty of false negatives so I have a call in to the vet. It would be good if there's a manageable, medical situation that's causing the problem.

Picking up some prescriptions tonight. Hopefully it's bowel distress/discomfort that's causing the aversion to the litter box.

It sounds like you have it covered, Gibby. I was about to suggest that there could be a medical reason why your new cat has been going outside the box, but you arrived at that conclusion yourself. A UTI might also account for her peeing in various locations. They are fairly common in cats.

I think you are on the right track. I feel for you, having gone through so much, losing your old cat and having so many troubles getting a new cat to fit in. May luck be with you and with your new cat.

She's going back to the vet in about 10 days for vaccination. I'll talk to the vet about checking for a UTI too.

Well we've started the GI meds and she gave her urine specimen tonight. Since being isolated in the bathroom she's pooped in the box except for the bloody/mucus stool. But she pees on the floor. I cleaned and treated the floor and put something in the corner so she couldn't go there again. Tonight I added another box with lower sides and unscented scoopable litter. A second option different from the other one and an option to poop in one and pee in the other one.

After we got home from the vet I put her in the room for a little while in case she had to go. She promptly used the new box and pooped a normal stool. Then a short time later she pee'd on the tile floor a few feet from the bathroom.

Never seen anything like this. I really wonder if there's hope for this situation.

Ray of hope - she pee'd in the new litter box while she was in the bathroom over night.

Gibby, if the urinalysis does not turn up anything, I would ask the vet for a course of antibiotics anyways. Frankly I'm surprised that he did not send you home with a broad spectrum antibiotic based on the symptoms alone. That is what my vets would have done. In a small space like a bathroom, for your cat to still be peeing on the floor, sounds like definitely a medical issue rather than behavioral.

No UTI. She is taking metronidazole. I am slightly encouraged by the fact she did pee in the new box with the different litter last night.

The vet said she could have some kind of kidney problem but at this point wants me to finish the metronidazole and continue to see if there's progress in a positive direction with the new litter and box.

I understand not wanting to prescribe antibiotics if there isn't a confirmed infection that warrants it. She's terrible at taking the meds so I'm kind of relieved I don't have to give her yet another one for a UTI.

Another ray of hope. I grabbed her as she was heading into one of her previous pee areas. I put her in the new litter box and she jumped out but then she went right back in and pee'd. YAY!!

We're making progress - she's consistently using the litter box now for all her business. I do keep her confined to the bathroom at night and I take her in to the litter box every couple hours while she's out and about.

The turning point seemed to be the new litter box with lower sides and different cat litter - unscented scoopable. And confining her to a bathroom though that wasn't completely working until I got the new box/litter.

Okay I think we've definitely turned the corner. She just ran downstairs ahead of me and went and peed in her box. YAY!!

Woohooooo!! Just goes to show that certain type of litter can make a huge difference, plus you can't rule out what role the meds played. I'm sure everyone in the household is much happier!

Well, still not out of the woods. She pee'd twice on the floor outside the bathroom yesterday and I caught her about to do so another time but I picked her up in time and she ran in to the litter box which was about six feet away. She definitely knew what she was about to do wasn't acceptable behavior.

I think my enzymatic cleanup is working as she'd picking new places. I got some carpet runner to help prevent her from going back to previous spots but haven't put that down yet since she's picking new places. Thank gawd this is all happening on a tile floor in my lower level. Fortunately I have very little carpet in my house.

We've only been managing to get the medication into her for the last few days so I don't think that has had much effect yet. Couldn't get pills into her so had to switch to liquid. DH freaked out trying to hold her still so I could give her the medicine and then after getting the medication she ran into a corner and peed while she was spitting out the medication. So he didn't know if he could bring himself to continue to be a part of this torture. We do now seem to have a routine worked out where we take her right into the bathroom after the medicine and then she does something immediately in the litter box after which she gets some treats.

She still has some nasty, loose stools though she's consistently leaving those in the litter box. I'm hoping the stool "problem" is the cause of her overall problem but I don't know.

She does also go in by the other cats' litter boxes though she goes on the floor in some litter that was placed there to soak up anything they do over the side of the box. So she doesn't seem to like their bigger, higher, deeper boxes which is consistent with her improved performance when I got the box with the lower sides. But she does at times seem to know that the vicinity of a litter box is where she's supposed to go.

I think she seems to go a lot. Is that typical for six month old cat? I think my other cats only go a couple times a day. At least when she's confined she's using the box so I can carry on like this for a while in hopes of solving this problem. She is just the sweetest little thing and gets along so well with my other cats that I really want to make this work.

Did they do a stool test for giardia? The Metronidazole should handle it but sometimes it doesn't. Also, is the liquid med you're giving her a compounded one that is flavored? Metronidazole is very bitter but when I had to give my cat the liquid, flavored formula she took it without any resistance.
I do think your cat has something medical going on, especially since she has loose stools. It also wouldn't hurt to offer her a second litter box with a different brand of litter. Maybe one that is a finer texture?
Check the link below.........it may give you other options

Here is a link that might be useful: Litter box

Yes, she had a stool test that came up negative but because of her symptoms they've prescribed the medication anyway. In my experience stool tests an often show false negatives. I doubt that the medication is flavored. I'll ask about compounding with flavor. I did offer her a second litter box with different, finer litter and that's when we made some progress. Before she peed on the floor even when confined in the bathroom. With the new litter she is consistently using the box when confined and often when she's out and about. But sometimes she chooses the floor instead.

Somehow I think this will workout. Last night I got home after DH so she was upstairs eating with the other cats. I got home and went to clean her litter box downstairs and add some fresh litter. She came running down with her little white mouse and dropped it by me. Then she jumped in the litter box and peed. It was like she was trying to make her momma proud. This morning she even used the big cats' box. She just seems so close to figuring this out.

Unfortunately this weekend I have to move her room upstairs for a day as I'm having overnight guests who will need to use the guest bathroom. Hopefully that won't be too disruptive.

We are managing to give her the GI medicine and only a couple more days of that so hopefully once she's done with that it will somehow have a positive impact on her litter box habits.

I hate to think about you moving her litterbox just as she's getting used to a routine. Even tho you may have to isolate her in a different room I think you should leave a litterbox just outside 'her' bathroom so that when she goes down there looking for it she'll find a litterbox to use. Your guests will just have to deal with it. : )

I know what you mean. I hate the idea of this disruption too but I have to let the guests use the bathroom. The big cats litter boxes are just a few feet away from her bathroom. I will put one of her boxes with the shorter sides in by theirs while she is relocated upstairs with her other box. I'm thinking this may not be too bad since she has been going in their area. I will probably not let her run around on her own as much during this time which isn't so bad since the upstairs room is much more spacious than her bathroom plus it has a window.

OMG, what a saga.....I'm determined to figure this out though. She is just such a sweetheart. Here's a picture of everyone eating together - for something more upbeat than litter box talk.

Have male and female
Female (Mouse - yes thats her name lol): 3 1/2
Male(Lil Bit): 1 1/2
Each have their own litter box but will go in either one.

they get along fine - NO fights (but they like to have sex a lot- LOL) - but Lil would pee on couches, couch pillows, hall wall-to-wall carpet and NEW cement covered with vinal tiles, my bed (other side where no one else sleeps) and my pillows.

got him fixed when he was 9 months old - 1st mistake - shoulda had him fixed as soon as possible

I started all cats that have been in my home the same way, in my bedroom for about the first week, then moved litter across the hall to bathroom for about another week or two (and keep BR door closed), then down to the laundry room (and keep Bath door closed). Showed them where the boxes were each move and all was fine, sharing three boxes, 2 in the laundry area and one kept in my sons BR in basement ...until this cat....

The move to the basement was fine, he didnt go an pee anywhere but down in the basement. Then after about a month or two he started to pee on my couches. then the hall between my bedroom and the bathroom.

then in March of this year until September, both cats had to have their box upstairs. They share it fine. It gets cleaned out every other day or so. Neither is insistent on a daily clean of the box because sometimes I'd like to go away for the weekend (leave Fri and come back Sun) so I wanted them trained to not have a pristine box. Oh, and its huge with a cover. neither will use it without the cover.

so during March-Sept 2013 ... the box was under my dining table which they used. My basement was being entirely being redone. Understood this activity would get on their nerves. I hated waking in the morning, opening my Br Door only to step in pee.... Lil still peeing in the hallway and on my furniture.

so as soon as the basement was finished, Mouse stayed in basement BR with my son, and Lil Bit stayed in laundry room... (new walls, paint and cement floor) - sometimes with Son putting both cats together. They had a large box with towels for bedding which they shared no problem. The idea behind this was to re-train Lil Bit into using his box all the time.

I went down several times a day to give him attention too...he's a cuddler :)

After 3 weeks, I opened the laundry door to the rest of the basement... also completely redone with new cement floor and vinal tiles. After a week of this extra freedom and demonstrating the continued use of his litter box, I opened the basement door for full house reign, including my bedroom.

Within one day, peeing on the couch and pillows started, also Peed on NEW bed mattress and NEW pillows (had to have pillows thrown out- no bedding was even on the bed yet) and washed and turned the mattress over. (kept the door closed since)

Cleaned out the main litter box, washed and cleaned all floors and then he peed again in the hallway. Seems to be about once a week he does that.

I have concluded that:
1. A clean litter box does not make any difference. Lil will pee upstairs even if I have JUST cleaned out the litter box.
2. There has been no changes in my household other than the re-construction in my basement and Lil was peeing all over before that anyway.
3. NEW vinal flooring getting ruined.
4. He has been to the vet and does not have UTI or even partially crystallized urine.
5. Mouse is the perfect little lady. She does not mess anywhere but in the litter box.

I have read a lot of posts with issues... but no real answers... oh and the shoving their nose in it does work some of the time...only if you catch them and do it right away, then take them to their litter box. I had to do Mouse (and previous cats) this way and she never messed again... and neither did the other cats.

Just Lil Bit... such a heifer too... got fat after getting fixed.
They are both NOT declawed either. Mouse is a mix with calico-like coloring and a tiger face. Lil Bit is a black long-hair and 12lbs.

So... maybe try Prozak or the like with him?