Hi all, hoping to get some help with my kitty. I've had her for about four months now, and when I adopted her she was around one year old.
Her name is lala and she is a beautiful calico kitty. The foundation I adopted her from showed me pictures of her interacting with other cats and being cuddly and playful with humans. They even said she likes to play fetch!
When i brought her home I put her in a room of her own with food, water, a litter box, toys, and boxes to hide in. I have another cat in the house, Annabelle. They are separated entirely, Annabelle does not go in the room lala is in.
I noticed from the beginning it was going to take lala a long time to be comfortable and I was okay with that. However, it is going on four months now and I am getting worried she will never come out of hiding. She is eating and drinking and using the litter box, but only when I am not in the room. If I am in the room she will stay in her box and not let me get close. If I try she hisses and swipes at me and I can tell she is very scared.
At night she is very active. I know because I placed my laptop in the room to record her and i can see she is confidently exploring the room and playing with the toys she has.
Something else that is weird, is about 2 weeks into the adoption she started to let me pet her. She still wouldn't come out of her box but she would let me pet her and she would even slightly lick my hands. That lasted for about a week and then when I tried another time she hissed at me and was visibly shaking. I havent tried to interact with her in awhile, other than sitting in the room and speaking quietly to her. I want to respect her "safe space" and not force my self in there if she is afraid. My plan has been to sit in the room for 30 minutes or so a few times a day and hope that she will come to me. When she is comfortable coming to me is when I planned on introducing her to Annabelle.
Can anyone tell me if I am doing the right thing? Is there anything else I can do to make her more comfortable? From night time recordings I can tell she is a very playful cat with a lot of personality.
Everything I read online says it could take "weeks" for a cat to be acclimated. It's been four months for lala.
Her name is lala and she is a beautiful calico kitty. The foundation I adopted her from showed me pictures of her interacting with other cats and being cuddly and playful with humans. They even said she likes to play fetch!
When i brought her home I put her in a room of her own with food, water, a litter box, toys, and boxes to hide in. I have another cat in the house, Annabelle. They are separated entirely, Annabelle does not go in the room lala is in.
I noticed from the beginning it was going to take lala a long time to be comfortable and I was okay with that. However, it is going on four months now and I am getting worried she will never come out of hiding. She is eating and drinking and using the litter box, but only when I am not in the room. If I am in the room she will stay in her box and not let me get close. If I try she hisses and swipes at me and I can tell she is very scared.
At night she is very active. I know because I placed my laptop in the room to record her and i can see she is confidently exploring the room and playing with the toys she has.
Something else that is weird, is about 2 weeks into the adoption she started to let me pet her. She still wouldn't come out of her box but she would let me pet her and she would even slightly lick my hands. That lasted for about a week and then when I tried another time she hissed at me and was visibly shaking. I havent tried to interact with her in awhile, other than sitting in the room and speaking quietly to her. I want to respect her "safe space" and not force my self in there if she is afraid. My plan has been to sit in the room for 30 minutes or so a few times a day and hope that she will come to me. When she is comfortable coming to me is when I planned on introducing her to Annabelle.
Can anyone tell me if I am doing the right thing? Is there anything else I can do to make her more comfortable? From night time recordings I can tell she is a very playful cat with a lot of personality.
Everything I read online says it could take "weeks" for a cat to be acclimated. It's been four months for lala.