Help!! Adopted cats - one is not adjusting well at all!

[christina514]

Hi! I could really use some advice!

3 weeks ago I adopted 2 beautiful 7 year old male brothers from a nice elderly woman who could. I longer care for them.

One of them took maybe 2-3 days to start coming around, and now he's a full fledged member of our family.
However the other one has been hiding under my bed for 3 weeks.
Comes out when we are asleep, and if he happens to come out for whatever reason, if he sees us or hears us, he BOLTS.
We have feliway, doesn't seem to be helping.
He's been pooping on our carpet when nobody is around... he actually came out once to poop on the carpet when we were all sitting around it. He even held eye contact while he was doing it! I swear he was telling us off in his own way.

I want so badly for him to adjust like his brother.
I leave him treats under the bed and try to extend my finger to him to smell... he just turns his head from me.

If I manage to get near him on a rare occasion that he's out from under the bed, he lets me pet him, but then leaves to go hide. Not in a hurry or anything, but he just doesn't seem to want to be near us.
He's not aggressive at all- no hissing or anything... he just doesn't want to come out... he's afraid I guess...

I don't know what to do

 

[cray4cats]

Hello, so glad you adopted two adult cats that were in need!

All cats are different as you know and some take longer to come around and want to be present in your life/family. I have a few tips to help that you can try. I have my own kitties and I foster/volunteer for a local rescue.

Play time is a great way to increase confidence in cats. If you can try to find interactive toys that you can use to spend some time with him and encourage him to come out and play. Try to get low to the ground with him, don't stand over him as he will see this as possibly threatening.

Laser pens are great, Toys with strings.

Also sometimes with a very scared cat I just will sit in the room with them and just read a book out loud or watch some tv on my ipad (low volume) so they just get used to me and my voice.

Feeding time is also a good time to interact with kitty, don't just put the food down and walk away, hang there and just be present when he eats. Then

you can get closer within a few days and work towards petting him while he is eating and putting the food bowl right next to you. You could offer him some tuna or warm chicken.. a treat of sorts.

Grooming time could be a great way to connect with your kitty. If you can get to the point were you are close to him try to get a nice brush/comb and he might be receptive to that.

You could try the "slow blink" approach, google it if you don't know what that is.

Lastly with the pooping issue, consider adding a litter box.. people say you should have a litter box for each cat plus 1 extra box.

Also consider moving the litter box to areas where he is currently pooping and slowly moving it to a preferred area once he is going in the box.

It could also be the type of litter, cleanliness of box, size of box, etc. Some kitties are finicky. Maybe you can reach out to the previous owner for some tips about his pooping habits

Please don't give up just yet on this boy! Hope some of my recommendations help! Good luck!

-Kellie