Hello everyone!
Approximately 48 hours ago (Saturday afternoon), I brought home a 4 year old(ish) female cat from my local SPCA. The shelter knew very little about her history, she was brought in on March 31st by a woman who found her in her neighborhood after the cat (Biscuit) approached her for affection. Biscuit was pregnant when she was brought to the shelter, the kittens were non-viable, and the pregnancy was terminated and she was spayed. She was living in a community room at the shelter, and was VERY relaxed in that environment. When I went in to meet her, she just laid in her cat bed and purred nonstop while getting pets and she was completely non-reactive to all the activity of the other cats around her. The shelter staff said she had just been chilling out in her cat bed since her surgery, and she was equally happy to receive pets by all staff members and visitors. Given her recent surgeries and pregnancy, we acknowledged that she was probably a bit "out of it" as she recovered.
I brought her home Saturday afternoon, she was understandably upset at being in the carrier and during the car ride home. My bedroom was her designated "safe space" (I set myself up in the living room to give her space), she immediately crawled under the bed and stayed there Saturday afternoon/night and all day Sunday. I moved her litter box and food/water bowls into the bedroom right by the bed and would go in to say hi every few hours and offer treats but wouldn't linger long. Last night (~30 hours since coming home), she woke me up making a ruckus with the blinds over the bedroom window. When I went in the bedroom, she was very agitated and trying to escape out of the 2-inch opening at the bottom of the window (there is a mesh screen in the window preventing actual escape, she also still has her cone on). She was jumping and meowing a lot and hissed when I approached to close the window. After closing it, I left the room to let her calm down, and when I went back in this morning, she was nowhere to be found. I searched my room for about 30 minutes but couldn't find her, I assume she found something non-obvious to hide behind or is squirreled away on a high shelf somewhere. She has not yet ate or drank that I can tell since coming home (not even treats left out), and hasn't used the litterbox. I also haven't seen or smelled any accidents.
So the question: when should I be concerned about the behavior, and is there anything I can do to make her less stressed? I know hiding and not eating is normal for a new and stressed kitty, but the agitated escape attempt last night coupled with the new hiding place this morning make me nervous, and I want to make sure I'm on the lookout for the right signs of real problems. I am at work all day today so she will be interruption-free today but since she moved from under the bed I don't know where to put her accessories so they're easily accessible from her spot. Thank you!!
Approximately 48 hours ago (Saturday afternoon), I brought home a 4 year old(ish) female cat from my local SPCA. The shelter knew very little about her history, she was brought in on March 31st by a woman who found her in her neighborhood after the cat (Biscuit) approached her for affection. Biscuit was pregnant when she was brought to the shelter, the kittens were non-viable, and the pregnancy was terminated and she was spayed. She was living in a community room at the shelter, and was VERY relaxed in that environment. When I went in to meet her, she just laid in her cat bed and purred nonstop while getting pets and she was completely non-reactive to all the activity of the other cats around her. The shelter staff said she had just been chilling out in her cat bed since her surgery, and she was equally happy to receive pets by all staff members and visitors. Given her recent surgeries and pregnancy, we acknowledged that she was probably a bit "out of it" as she recovered.
I brought her home Saturday afternoon, she was understandably upset at being in the carrier and during the car ride home. My bedroom was her designated "safe space" (I set myself up in the living room to give her space), she immediately crawled under the bed and stayed there Saturday afternoon/night and all day Sunday. I moved her litter box and food/water bowls into the bedroom right by the bed and would go in to say hi every few hours and offer treats but wouldn't linger long. Last night (~30 hours since coming home), she woke me up making a ruckus with the blinds over the bedroom window. When I went in the bedroom, she was very agitated and trying to escape out of the 2-inch opening at the bottom of the window (there is a mesh screen in the window preventing actual escape, she also still has her cone on). She was jumping and meowing a lot and hissed when I approached to close the window. After closing it, I left the room to let her calm down, and when I went back in this morning, she was nowhere to be found. I searched my room for about 30 minutes but couldn't find her, I assume she found something non-obvious to hide behind or is squirreled away on a high shelf somewhere. She has not yet ate or drank that I can tell since coming home (not even treats left out), and hasn't used the litterbox. I also haven't seen or smelled any accidents.
So the question: when should I be concerned about the behavior, and is there anything I can do to make her less stressed? I know hiding and not eating is normal for a new and stressed kitty, but the agitated escape attempt last night coupled with the new hiding place this morning make me nervous, and I want to make sure I'm on the lookout for the right signs of real problems. I am at work all day today so she will be interruption-free today but since she moved from under the bed I don't know where to put her accessories so they're easily accessible from her spot. Thank you!!