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- Aug 30, 2012
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Hello everyone,
About a month ago I took in two rescue cats from my friends dad. They were living in a house with about 15 other cats, weren't neutered, and not socialized. They were taken to get neutered and then brought home to my house. I have currently have two cats of my own, and my roommate has one cat. I did what I was supposed to do which was leave them in a quiet room with a hiding spot, complete with their own litter, and food and water, and toys etc. They were separated from my other cats and had the bathroom plus a walk in closet in the bathroom all to themselves. For three weeks I'd in there and sit down, read a book out loud etc. They started coming out of the hiding spot in the closet in the bathroom for affection and play time. I slowly introduced them to the other cats. It got to a point where all the cats were playing together nicely and I thought I'd let them out for the night to see how it went. This was about after a month of slowly working with them. Anyhow, when I awoke the next morning three of the cats were out, but the littlest one was nowhere to be found. I finally remembered that there was a crawlspace up above my kitchen that he probably got to, and sure enough he was hiding under the boards of the crawlspace. He wont come out for food, at least not while I'm around. I've tried leaving tuna, which he liked and would eat before. I am not sure if he's going down at night to use the litter, or if he's just staying up there all day and night. I'm going to try some Feliway, but I was wondering if anyone had any input on what I should do. I'm not sure if I should try harder to get him out of his hiding spot, or if I should just put food and water up there and hope he comes down on his own time. I worry that left alone he'll never come down and start to play and interact. The second cat that came with him is getting integrated into the family and comes down to play, eat, sleep etc. It's just the littlest one that wont come down. My instinct is to try to get him out of the hiding spot and put back in the bathroom alone until he can get comfortable with humans again. However I worry that the extra trauma of me trying to get him out of his hiding spot will just make things worse. He's already pretty traumatized cat, before he came to me he was attacked by a dog, until the former owner saved him. Again, any help or tips would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Nerissa
About a month ago I took in two rescue cats from my friends dad. They were living in a house with about 15 other cats, weren't neutered, and not socialized. They were taken to get neutered and then brought home to my house. I have currently have two cats of my own, and my roommate has one cat. I did what I was supposed to do which was leave them in a quiet room with a hiding spot, complete with their own litter, and food and water, and toys etc. They were separated from my other cats and had the bathroom plus a walk in closet in the bathroom all to themselves. For three weeks I'd in there and sit down, read a book out loud etc. They started coming out of the hiding spot in the closet in the bathroom for affection and play time. I slowly introduced them to the other cats. It got to a point where all the cats were playing together nicely and I thought I'd let them out for the night to see how it went. This was about after a month of slowly working with them. Anyhow, when I awoke the next morning three of the cats were out, but the littlest one was nowhere to be found. I finally remembered that there was a crawlspace up above my kitchen that he probably got to, and sure enough he was hiding under the boards of the crawlspace. He wont come out for food, at least not while I'm around. I've tried leaving tuna, which he liked and would eat before. I am not sure if he's going down at night to use the litter, or if he's just staying up there all day and night. I'm going to try some Feliway, but I was wondering if anyone had any input on what I should do. I'm not sure if I should try harder to get him out of his hiding spot, or if I should just put food and water up there and hope he comes down on his own time. I worry that left alone he'll never come down and start to play and interact. The second cat that came with him is getting integrated into the family and comes down to play, eat, sleep etc. It's just the littlest one that wont come down. My instinct is to try to get him out of the hiding spot and put back in the bathroom alone until he can get comfortable with humans again. However I worry that the extra trauma of me trying to get him out of his hiding spot will just make things worse. He's already pretty traumatized cat, before he came to me he was attacked by a dog, until the former owner saved him. Again, any help or tips would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Nerissa