my new cat... won't go in her litter?!

Help!! I adopted a beautiful 3 yo female cat who has been a house cat (supposedly litter trained) cat her whole life. Problem is, she's only going to the bathroom in her littler box about 1/2 the time! The other 1/2 the time, she goes on the floor, about 6 feet away from it. She definitely knows where it is, b/c she goes in it sometimes. I have had other cats (have one other cat right now) and have NEVER had this problem before. Any suggestions??

Thanks so much.

If it matters, we use Arm & Hammer litter.

Thanks!

Re: my new cat... won't go in her litter?!

Where is the litter box and how many boxes do you have?

Is she peeing or pooping outside the box?

How new is she?

Re: my new cat... won't go in her litter?!

Cats are very particualr about how clean their liter box is. Are you cleaning it out enough?

My cat will cry if the liter isn't clean enough for him. We change it once to twice a week.

Where is the box located? Is it to close to her food? They don't like that as well.

She may also not be used to the liter you are using. They don't do well with change, so if you're using something different than what she's use to, this may be another reason why.

Is the liter box big enough for her? They need room to move around & such, so make sure she has a big enough liter box.

Good luck

Re: my new cat... won't go in her litter?!

cleaning is a big deal to our cat, we scoop out twice a day to make sure its clean. Then do a complete change out once every 3-4 weeks with the box being soaked in bleach. She seems to like it that way.

she didn't care so much about brands being changed and location being moved just how clean it was.

Re: my new cat... won't go in her litter?!

Could she have a UTI or something?
Sometimes they pee outside the box to let you know something is up.
Has she seen a vet since you got her?

Re: my new cat... won't go in her litter?!

Thanks for the responses.

We got her a week ago Saturday. She went to the vet that very day and got a clean bill of health. And for those who asked, she's going both # 1 and #2 on the floor.

She has a separate litter box from our other cat (even in separate rooms). It is in the same room as her food, but across the room. And, her food is high up on a table, not near the litter at all.

I have been cleaning out her litter every night. However, the pattern does seem that she goes on the floor whenever there is even a tiny bit of poop/pee in the litter box. Maybe she's just THAT picky! I will try to keep up with it better, but it's really hard since we are gone all day. My other cat is not picky at all - we could go away for a 3-day weekend and she would be fine going in her litter box.

Maybe i just got a real princess on my hands