A house move changes everything a cat uses to feel oriented: floor smells, room layouts, the route to her tray and the sounds outside each wall. When tray avoidance starts in the middle of that upheaval, she is rarely being stubborn or spiteful. More often the new tray position feels exposed, the new litter feels wrong under her paws, or the journey to reach it crosses a room that currently worries her. Retraining means removing those obstacles one by one until using the tray is once again the obvious choice for her.
Rule Out Pain Before Retraining
Because her avoidance began suddenly, arrange a vet check early rather than treating this as a training problem alone. Straining, visiting the tray often while passing little, crying while urinating, blood in the urine or licking herself more than usual all raise the urgency, because pain linked with urinating is one of the possibilities a vet can investigate, alongside other causes an owner cannot see from behaviour alone. Take a note of when the accidents happen, where she goes instead and whether her appetite, drinking and energy have changed, since that pattern helps the vet narrow the search. If she strains repeatedly and passes no urine at all, treat that as urgent and contact a vet the same day.
Recreate the Setup She Trusted
Give her a large open tray, big enough for her to turn around in comfortably, because covered boxes trap odour inside and many cats dislike ducking through a flap into a confined space. Put it in a quiet place she can reach at all hours, away from washing machines, slamming doors and heavy foot traffic, and never beside her food and water, since cats prefer distance between eating and toileting. Fill it with the unscented litter she used happily before the move, at a depth that lets her dig and cover, and remove waste daily so the tray stays inviting. Adding a second tray in another calm spot gives her a choice while she learns the new house, and choice often ends accidents faster than correction ever will.
Shrink Her World, Then Grow It Slowly
For the first days, keep her base area small: one calm room or a quiet corner zone holding her tray, food, water, bed and a scratching post. A smaller territory is easier for her to map, keeps the tray close wherever she rests and lets you confirm she is using it reliably before the whole house opens up. Praise her calmly when you see her use the tray and let her leave in peace, rather than lifting her out or making a fuss. Widen her access room by room once she has used the tray consistently in the base area, keeping the original tray exactly where it was so her anchor point never moves.
Clean Accidents So They Stop Advertising
Wherever she has urinated outside the tray, clean the spot with an enzymatic cleaner made for pet messes, following its instructions and letting it work on the residue your nose can no longer detect. Ordinary household cleaners can leave scent markers a cat can still read, and a marked spot invites a repeat visit. Block access to any favourite accident corner temporarily with furniture or a closed door while retraining is under way, and never rub her nose in a mess or shout at her, since fear makes a worried cat hide her toileting rather than fix it. If accidents continue in one particular place despite a clean bill of health, try placing a spare tray there and adjusting the house around her answer.
Consistency across the household carries this retraining, because one person moving the tray or skipping a clean undoes another person's careful routine. Setting out who checks and cleans the tray each day through Care Teams inside the KinsLe app keeps her setup identical, whoever is home.