I brought him home 10 days ago now, he's a 10-month flamepoint siamese mix and his previous owner rehomed him to me because he's on a wet food only diet she could not afford anymore, and he was apparently too energetic and annoying for her older, mellow cat. Needless to say, I think he's perfect, but the little guy is scared out of his wits! I grew up with two medium-haired cats that my family got as kittens, so I'm very used to living with cats. I'd never adopted one of my own before though, and especially not at a bit of an older age at 10 months.
Anyways, he's scared of his new environment, and me, obviously. When I first brought him home he wouldn't get out of his carrier, and when he did, he slinked into my tiny half-bathroom and made it his safe room. I live in a studio apartment that's only 350 sq ft, so aside from the bathroom it's very hard for him to have his own safe space to adapt to his new home. Upon being in my bathroom for a few days, he went from hiding behind my toilet to hiding in my shower in between the shower curtain and liner. Problem is, this week, after trying to coax him to another hiding place via food, play, etc. I realized he wasn't interested in leaving my shower on his own and I had to gently sort of force him out once by slowly turning on the water, and when he went back, I had to take away the shower curtain + liner. I felt awful about this and tried to give him other hidey holes to be in, but he dove under my bed and then crawled into my shoe rack by my front door. I stuffed any dangerous or hard-to-reach hiding place that I could, including underneath my oven, which I caught him trying to crawl past the blockade I put in front of it in the middle of the night and, fearful for him getting stuck and as I was literally laying in bed, I had to raise my voice at him to try and get him to stop trying to go under the oven because I was scared he would get stuck.
In his head, I can only imagine he's thinking that I'm trying to purposely scare him out of all his hiding places but he seldom uses the little hidey holes I've given him. When I left for work this morning he had finally settled back in the bathroom in the lower level cubby of his cat tree that I put in there for him, but he's also still favoring my shoe rack. I put pheromone diffusers in the bathroom and out in my main living area and last night tried putting a few drops of kitty CBD oil in his dinner to see if it might help with his anxiety over his new home and new human. In general though, he's not food or play motivated and continues to hide from me. Just two nights ago, he started crying in the middle of the night shortly after the shower incident and it's breaking my heart! I didn't want to force him out of my shower, but my city is going through a large heatwave and I needed to shower, and he absolutely refused to leave by himself even when I gave him alternative hidey holes (also because the bathroom is essentially his safe room at this point). Last night I also pinned a blanket to the walls between my door and my bathroom to try and create a little barrier for more privacy for him. But after 10 days since he came home to me, he's still terrified of me, if not even more so than he originally was because I keep removing his preferred hiding places. I'm exhausted, exasperated, and feel like he hates me! Should I just leave him alone for a week or two or try and sit in the bathroom with him and just hang out/slow blink at him?
Anyways, he's scared of his new environment, and me, obviously. When I first brought him home he wouldn't get out of his carrier, and when he did, he slinked into my tiny half-bathroom and made it his safe room. I live in a studio apartment that's only 350 sq ft, so aside from the bathroom it's very hard for him to have his own safe space to adapt to his new home. Upon being in my bathroom for a few days, he went from hiding behind my toilet to hiding in my shower in between the shower curtain and liner. Problem is, this week, after trying to coax him to another hiding place via food, play, etc. I realized he wasn't interested in leaving my shower on his own and I had to gently sort of force him out once by slowly turning on the water, and when he went back, I had to take away the shower curtain + liner. I felt awful about this and tried to give him other hidey holes to be in, but he dove under my bed and then crawled into my shoe rack by my front door. I stuffed any dangerous or hard-to-reach hiding place that I could, including underneath my oven, which I caught him trying to crawl past the blockade I put in front of it in the middle of the night and, fearful for him getting stuck and as I was literally laying in bed, I had to raise my voice at him to try and get him to stop trying to go under the oven because I was scared he would get stuck.
In his head, I can only imagine he's thinking that I'm trying to purposely scare him out of all his hiding places but he seldom uses the little hidey holes I've given him. When I left for work this morning he had finally settled back in the bathroom in the lower level cubby of his cat tree that I put in there for him, but he's also still favoring my shoe rack. I put pheromone diffusers in the bathroom and out in my main living area and last night tried putting a few drops of kitty CBD oil in his dinner to see if it might help with his anxiety over his new home and new human. In general though, he's not food or play motivated and continues to hide from me. Just two nights ago, he started crying in the middle of the night shortly after the shower incident and it's breaking my heart! I didn't want to force him out of my shower, but my city is going through a large heatwave and I needed to shower, and he absolutely refused to leave by himself even when I gave him alternative hidey holes (also because the bathroom is essentially his safe room at this point). Last night I also pinned a blanket to the walls between my door and my bathroom to try and create a little barrier for more privacy for him. But after 10 days since he came home to me, he's still terrified of me, if not even more so than he originally was because I keep removing his preferred hiding places. I'm exhausted, exasperated, and feel like he hates me! Should I just leave him alone for a week or two or try and sit in the bathroom with him and just hang out/slow blink at him?
You're doing great!
I still think his fear of me is greater than his desire to play, but I'll keep trying to entice him with his toys! I know he loves the feather toy I bought him because I caught him red-handed (or should I say red-pawed) batting it around the other day on the camera. I'll just have to figure out how to get him to play with it when I'm on the other end of it!
