Hi! I haven't been on here in forever, but this is the first place I thought of for my dilemma.
My friend recently moved out of the country and had to re-home her cats. She had a 10-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy. The boy ended up going to a shelter, but I took the girl. I thought she'd have a harder time getting adopted. I have a 12-year-old boy who loves other cats, so I wasn't too worried about them getting along, although I tried to take the proper precautions anyway. Surprisingly, the two of them getting along isn't the problem.
I'll mention first that every time I went to my friend's house in the past, I never saw the cats. They'd both hide the whole time. Now, when I brought the new cat home, I sat her in the kitchen and left the carrier flap open. She didn't move for about an hour, and then I walked in when she was sniffing around right outside the carrier. Of course, she ran back in, and didn't come back out. I ended up setting her up in my daughter's room with food, water, and a box. When we left the house, I'd close the bedroom door. When I was home, I'd go sit and talk to her, but I never tried to pet her. She did sniff my finger once. A couple of times, I let my cat into the room to sniff around, but since the new one was hiding in the closet, they never saw each other.
Fast forward a week: I decided to leave the bedroom door open all day. Got home, and she was gone! Finally found her in the basement, where she's been hiding for the past 8 weeks. Her spots are behind the washer and dryer, behind my storage shelves, and squeezed in behind my trunk. She does have to come to the top of the basement stairs to eat and drink, which she does when we're gone or asleep. And she uses her box (both cats have kept to their own boxes). If I get too close to her, she'll run to one of the other spots. She doesn't look scared - she's not hissing or striking, ears are normal, no flinching or anything like that. She just looks like she's trying not to get caught. I go and talk to her every day, but I don't know if I'm helping or enabling her. I know hiding is normal, but this seems like a long time. I'm starting to think she'll never come up out of the dark basement. That's no way to live.
My friend recently moved out of the country and had to re-home her cats. She had a 10-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy. The boy ended up going to a shelter, but I took the girl. I thought she'd have a harder time getting adopted. I have a 12-year-old boy who loves other cats, so I wasn't too worried about them getting along, although I tried to take the proper precautions anyway. Surprisingly, the two of them getting along isn't the problem.
I'll mention first that every time I went to my friend's house in the past, I never saw the cats. They'd both hide the whole time. Now, when I brought the new cat home, I sat her in the kitchen and left the carrier flap open. She didn't move for about an hour, and then I walked in when she was sniffing around right outside the carrier. Of course, she ran back in, and didn't come back out. I ended up setting her up in my daughter's room with food, water, and a box. When we left the house, I'd close the bedroom door. When I was home, I'd go sit and talk to her, but I never tried to pet her. She did sniff my finger once. A couple of times, I let my cat into the room to sniff around, but since the new one was hiding in the closet, they never saw each other.
Fast forward a week: I decided to leave the bedroom door open all day. Got home, and she was gone! Finally found her in the basement, where she's been hiding for the past 8 weeks. Her spots are behind the washer and dryer, behind my storage shelves, and squeezed in behind my trunk. She does have to come to the top of the basement stairs to eat and drink, which she does when we're gone or asleep. And she uses her box (both cats have kept to their own boxes). If I get too close to her, she'll run to one of the other spots. She doesn't look scared - she's not hissing or striking, ears are normal, no flinching or anything like that. She just looks like she's trying not to get caught. I go and talk to her every day, but I don't know if I'm helping or enabling her. I know hiding is normal, but this seems like a long time. I'm starting to think she'll never come up out of the dark basement. That's no way to live.