Recently neutered male cat stays hidden

[sonny4638]

It has been 6 weeks since we captured and neutered a 5 yr. old male cat and have him in a medium sized bedroom. He come out from under the bed for meals and seems to enjoy being petted, rubbed and fussed over for about 20-30 minutes and then goes back under the bed.

There are many comfortable places not under the bed. He has a cat condo, a nice mattress pad across a 6 ft. wide piece of furniture next to two side by side windows with plenty of sun and a double bed. We place treats around these areas to inspire him to explore.

Are we being soon in thinking he would spend more time out in the room? We are wanting to add another bedroom to his estate and then some supervised tours of the rest of the house while our resident cat is sequestered.

Any opinions would be appreciated!

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• sonny4638
• Apr 15, 2016

 

[molly92]

What is his history? He feels safest under the bed because it's protected and covered. He probably does his sleeping there because he's still being cautious and doesn't want to risk being exposed while he's not awake. Taking things slowly is important so he doesn't get too uncomfortable, but spending all that time under the bed isn't going to help him get comfortable being around you any time soon. 

You might want to provide him with some cozy cardboard boxes or similar containers that he can hide in, but you can still interact with him to a degree. You'll probably need to block off under the bed to encourage him to try these new places. 

This is a very thorough guide that you can probably use pieces from to speed up the process a bit: bestfriends.org/resources/socializing-very-shy-or-fearful-catsbestfriends.org/resources/socializing-very-shy-or-fearful-cats

He's already advanced enough to accept petting and eat in front of you, but doing more sessions where he's interacting with you safely and being rewarded with treats can help broaden his comfort zone and level of trust.

A Feliway diffuser plugin might also help him relax.