I've had cats all my life, but this is a situation I haven't encountered before.
A bit of background: I'm retired, live alone in a comfortable house, no other pets. My previous long-time companion cat, Zoe, died in January of 2016, which was very traumatic. I just didn't feel up to rushing out to replace her, I figured I would know when the time was right, or it would just happen. Well, the time apparently became right just recently, because I found myself thinking more and more often that I wanted a new kitty. I've always admired Scottish Folds, so I toyed with the idea of getting one. But after more thought, and a long talk with my granddaughter (who's a 30 year old nurse, not a kid! LOL!) we decided it would be better to get a youngish shelter cat who needs a good home. (She promised to take care of it if it outlives me.) Obviously, I'm a senior, with a 30 year old granddaughter!
So, I went to the next Saturday cat adoption event at a local pet store. They had several ncie cats, but I fell for a lovely "blue" one with amber eyes, about half-grown. The only picture I have so far was taken at the pet store on that day. The lady who had fostered her was there, and told me she was shy, but sweet. They had her listed as a "Russian Blue" and had therefore named her Ronya. I learned with more research after bringing her home that she's probably not a Russian Blue, but could be called a Maltese cat, or just a plain old blue DSH. (Which is fine with me!) At any rate, I didn't care for the name, so I call her Rani. (Hindi for Queen, sounds like Ronnie.). She had been spayed, tested, immunized, and has a chip. The shelter folks thought she was almost 1 year old, but the vet's paperwork lists her birthdate as August 25, 2016, probably his best guess. So she's somewhere between 8 months and a year. Altogether, a lovely little cat!
I got her home safely, took her into the master bath, planning to restrict her to that area for a while. This is where I made my first mistake... I opened the carrier and let her out before I had everything set up. Like a shot, she was gone into the bedroom or walk-in closet and out of sight. I went ahead and set up her litter box, food and water in the large master bath. (It's sort of "en suite" with the bedroom, no doors between, only double doors to the rest of the house.) At this point I didn't know where she was within that area... I looked under the bed, behind clothes in the closet, behind furniture... no sign of her. Well, to make this long story a bit shorter... I've only had a couple of glimpses of her since, and that was a week and a half ago. She used the litter box and started eating and drinking the next day, so no problems there. After a couple of days I left the doors to the master suite open but closed the doors to other bedrooms, guest bath, and laundry, hoping she'd get curious enough to explore. I also got a Feliway diffuser set up in the master bath (her place), but I don't really know if it's made any difference. On the plus side, twice now she has found her way down the hall to the living area while I was there. (I'm pretty sure she explores at night.) The first time she looked shocked to see me, then galloped for "her place". The second time she got all the way into the living room and was looking around before I saw her and spoke to her. She looked at me reasonably calmly, then she trotted (no galloping this time) back to safety.
Seems like progress, right? But yet I'm wondering if she'll eventually settle in and allow me to (Shock! Horror!) touch her? Am I doing the right thing in giving her all the time and patience she needs, or should I be more aggressive? Right now if she was to get sick I'd have a devil of a time getting her to the vet, because not only do I not know where she hides, she still runs like demons were pursuing her if I approach her. As I said earlier, I'm a senior, with a pretty severe spinal condition, and not able to move furniture or climb under beds to chase cats. Maybe I don't even have any business trying to take care of one? Oh, that sounds pitiful! If worse came to worse, my granddaughter would come and help. (Pause for self-administered slap... I needed that!)
Since she was pretty thoroughly checked out by a vet already and seems in good health, do you think it's OK to wait until she's more socialized before forcing that visit? I know it's recommended ASAP, but it would be difficult at this point.
So... any suggestions?
PS: While I was writing this, I heard a couple of little kitty sneezes from the hallway.. then Rani peeked her nose into the living room and gave a a little "mew" at me. Then she was gone again. (I hope the sneezes are just from dust!)
A bit of background: I'm retired, live alone in a comfortable house, no other pets. My previous long-time companion cat, Zoe, died in January of 2016, which was very traumatic. I just didn't feel up to rushing out to replace her, I figured I would know when the time was right, or it would just happen. Well, the time apparently became right just recently, because I found myself thinking more and more often that I wanted a new kitty. I've always admired Scottish Folds, so I toyed with the idea of getting one. But after more thought, and a long talk with my granddaughter (who's a 30 year old nurse, not a kid! LOL!) we decided it would be better to get a youngish shelter cat who needs a good home. (She promised to take care of it if it outlives me.) Obviously, I'm a senior, with a 30 year old granddaughter!
So, I went to the next Saturday cat adoption event at a local pet store. They had several ncie cats, but I fell for a lovely "blue" one with amber eyes, about half-grown. The only picture I have so far was taken at the pet store on that day. The lady who had fostered her was there, and told me she was shy, but sweet. They had her listed as a "Russian Blue" and had therefore named her Ronya. I learned with more research after bringing her home that she's probably not a Russian Blue, but could be called a Maltese cat, or just a plain old blue DSH. (Which is fine with me!) At any rate, I didn't care for the name, so I call her Rani. (Hindi for Queen, sounds like Ronnie.). She had been spayed, tested, immunized, and has a chip. The shelter folks thought she was almost 1 year old, but the vet's paperwork lists her birthdate as August 25, 2016, probably his best guess. So she's somewhere between 8 months and a year. Altogether, a lovely little cat!
I got her home safely, took her into the master bath, planning to restrict her to that area for a while. This is where I made my first mistake... I opened the carrier and let her out before I had everything set up. Like a shot, she was gone into the bedroom or walk-in closet and out of sight. I went ahead and set up her litter box, food and water in the large master bath. (It's sort of "en suite" with the bedroom, no doors between, only double doors to the rest of the house.) At this point I didn't know where she was within that area... I looked under the bed, behind clothes in the closet, behind furniture... no sign of her. Well, to make this long story a bit shorter... I've only had a couple of glimpses of her since, and that was a week and a half ago. She used the litter box and started eating and drinking the next day, so no problems there. After a couple of days I left the doors to the master suite open but closed the doors to other bedrooms, guest bath, and laundry, hoping she'd get curious enough to explore. I also got a Feliway diffuser set up in the master bath (her place), but I don't really know if it's made any difference. On the plus side, twice now she has found her way down the hall to the living area while I was there. (I'm pretty sure she explores at night.) The first time she looked shocked to see me, then galloped for "her place". The second time she got all the way into the living room and was looking around before I saw her and spoke to her. She looked at me reasonably calmly, then she trotted (no galloping this time) back to safety.
Seems like progress, right? But yet I'm wondering if she'll eventually settle in and allow me to (Shock! Horror!) touch her? Am I doing the right thing in giving her all the time and patience she needs, or should I be more aggressive? Right now if she was to get sick I'd have a devil of a time getting her to the vet, because not only do I not know where she hides, she still runs like demons were pursuing her if I approach her. As I said earlier, I'm a senior, with a pretty severe spinal condition, and not able to move furniture or climb under beds to chase cats. Maybe I don't even have any business trying to take care of one? Oh, that sounds pitiful! If worse came to worse, my granddaughter would come and help. (Pause for self-administered slap... I needed that!)
Since she was pretty thoroughly checked out by a vet already and seems in good health, do you think it's OK to wait until she's more socialized before forcing that visit? I know it's recommended ASAP, but it would be difficult at this point.
So... any suggestions?
PS: While I was writing this, I heard a couple of little kitty sneezes from the hallway.. then Rani peeked her nose into the living room and gave a a little "mew" at me. Then she was gone again. (I hope the sneezes are just from dust!)
) or plain meat baby foods (no garlic/onions). Warming them to bring out the aroma will make them even more irresistible 
With these, work towards her eating closer and closer to you - feeding her from a spoon ( the first step towards hand feeding) if you're able. It's a great way to build trust 
Use a wand type toy (such as Da Bird) and really get her engaged and moving. Her natural hunting instinct should take over, and she'll be playing with you very quickly. Shy cats will often engage in play like this way before they're confident enough for any kind of closer contact. The beauty of wand toys is that they don't require a lot of flexibility or even movement on your part, so your spinal issue shouldn't be a problem 
:high5: I forgot to say, meowing to nervous cats is a wonderful thing to do, and is a trick I used when staying to gain the confidence of a couple of ferals I was trying to trap. Meowing is very commonly used when working with ferals - it's a great way of telling them you're friendly and not a threat 
Be patient, and think baby steps. She will come round in time. 
