What Was Your Cat's Behavior Like In The First Day?

[Desertmouse]

When I first got Sadie I was told she was 4 years old. Sadie is the type of cat that gets very attached to one person (which is something I enjoy) and the person she was currently attached to was the husband of the couple I adopted her from. This couple loved her, but the husband had been diagnosed with cancer and they were having to downsize to place where they couldn’t have animals.

Once I got her home she hid under my bed and wouldn’t come out. I ended up putting her food slightly under the bed and the litter box right next to the bed. I made my room “her room” (the room of the house for her to stay in, as we also had a dog at the time). She would cry a mournful cry from time to time for about a week, I personally believe she was grieving for the husband she was so close to. I would spend my time on the floor in my room whenever possible doing whatever I would normally do (read, work on the laptop ect). I would also try leaving a trail of treats to where I was hoping she would join me, though for the first week or so she would only eat the treats up to a point where she felt “safe” from me. She would only use th litter box when I was out of the room and would only eat if I was a safe distance from her for that first week.

After the first week she started to come around slowly. And today we are very close. She is almost consistently with me when I am home and loves to curl up next to my pillow to sleep at night. I couldn’t be more blessed.

 

[2rescuekitties]

Stella was actually, what you can call, a wonderful spur of the moment tug at my heart strings. I initially went to the shelter to see if they were in need of volunteers, and in the process came across a tiny black kitten who was the last of her litter. The lady told me it was because she was shy and always in the back of the cage, also the fact that she was the only black colored one probably didn't help her case. I walked up to her cage and spoke sweetly, she came right up and licked my finger...I asked to hold her and she just laid in my arms the way a baby would and looked up at me with her pretty green eyes and that, ladies and gentleman was it...I paid for her, put her in the carrier and took her home. On the way home was when out of no where the name Stella popped in my head so that would be her name.

She was only 10 weeks old and barely at the 2lbs mark.

When we got home she came out of her carrier and was a bit scared of my boyfriend at the time, but a little Tuna on the hands did the trick . Since it was a spur of the moment adoption we still had to go get her a bunch of stuff. I decided since our apartment wasn't that big that we could leave her out while we went and got supplies. By the time we got back she was napping on top of the couch. Once she saw her bed, toys, cat tree, she just went crazy playing and exploring everything. She would do zoomies around the house and jump from one couch to the next. She has been my best friend since day one. My boyfriend used to tell me that she would sit at the window and cry when I would leave for work. And when I would get home it was always MANDATORY to let her cuddle onto my neck and meow and tell me all about her day. I do not, for one second, regret getting her and she has honestly been amazing.

Also she took to her litter box right away and was always so so smart. She also got kitten milk formula for a while too just because she was so thin I could feel all her bones. But now shes a happy little chubby girl who loves to cuddle and go on walks with me and she is still a shoulder cat to this day

 

[abyeb]

I brought Charlie home in July of 2009. He was a shelter rescue, and a kitten at the time. I’m unsure of his exact birthday; the adoption papers from the shelter said he was four months old, but the vet said he was probably closer to six months.

I kept Charlie in my room for the first few days, until he seemed more comfortable with his surroundings, and then I began to introduce the rest of the house to him one room at a time.

When I first brought Charlie into my home, I opened up the carrier, and he dashed under the bed. Where he hid for about 15 minutes. Then he cautiously came out and started sniffing around. I just sat in the corner this whole time, I knew that Charlie was probably a bit stressed being in a new environment and all, so I wanted to let him come to me, when he was ready. Which he did! I pet him a bit, and then offered him a ping pong ball, which he batted around the room eagerly. Afterwards, I fed him lunch:

Charlie was pretty relaxed the rest of the day. He looked out the window into the garden, and played some more. I showed him his litterbox and scratching post, and he used both, no problem. After a couple days, it was time to start exploring the rest of the house!

 

[kissthisangel]

I brought Mojo home when she was 8 weeks old, In a cardboard box with a towel in it. I remember having to wait ages for the taxi, and my friends kids were looking at her and asking about her new home. She kept popping her head out of the box in the garden whilst we were waiting. When I got her home she was unsettled and stayed in the box for what seemed like an age. later in the evening she was asleep in my shoe and within a few days she was all about and settled in straight away.

She ate allright, she ate me out of house and home, I'd bought a box of kibble, and a 12 box of pouches of the same make that the friend was feeding, thinking it would last a while, but she just ate and ate and ate. I think by day 3 I had gone and bought a box of 48. I didn't want to give her the kibble really, but I put some down wanting to offer her options, and she cleared all the bowls whilst I was at work. Turns out she is just greedy, even now so I worried over that for nothing.

One thing she hated was this big feather wand toy I bought, she was afraid of it for a good week, then her hunting needs kicked in and away she went.

Having never had a cat before, I had purchased litter, I was concerned she wouldn't know where to go ( thanks to that cat san advert with the little white kitten holding in a wee), so I asked my friend for some used litter and put that in the box so she would know it was her box. I have had 0 litter problems with her ever and she is very fastidious and covers her poo.


Charlie was a different kettle of fish. We picked him up from about 40 miles away, and I held him on my lap in the car, in a crate. He started to salivate very badly, his eyes closed and his little body went limp. He was starting to shake and we were really concerned. My partner stopped the car, we opened the doors and gave him some air he looked a little better, I took him out of the crate and held him just in a towel. It was clear he wasn't going to be leaping around the car. when we got home, I dried him off with a clean towel and put him straight in his kitten room in the bed put down food and got him to lick water and a bit of gravy off my fingers. He went to sleep for a bit, and when he woke up he was bouncy and ready to play.

That was how we found out that he gets car sick. ( Neither of us said in the car but we both had private thoughts that he may well die because he was foaming at the mouth and looking so limp) The main thing was that he was really outgoing and desperate to explore the house, but we had to do a semi slow intro and transition his litter from wood pellets to gravelly stuff.


He's never been as hungry as Mojo, but he can definitely eat a fair whack, he especially likes food off our plates like some haddock from fish and chips without the batter. He's not really a snuggler so we do give him scraps to get his attention. Mojo prefers savory snacks, like crisps, she will eat a bit or poppadom or prawn cracker she gets all angry when I don't share.

 

[2rescuekitties]

I am making a separate post for Toby because well..he's just too cute and deserves his own set of pictures.

Toby was a totally different story than Stella. I got him as a friend for Stella. He was 11 weeks old His shelter name was Mr. Grumpy because he was just terrified of everyone and everything and constantly crying. The car ride home was absolutely crazy haha he screamed and yelled the entire time as if he was on his way to his doom.

When we got home I had the spare room ready for him and he ran straight under the couch. I grabbed a can of wet kitten food and placed it in a bowl, and what do you know...the way to win over Toby's trust was food LOL
he started purring while he ate and afterwards came and cuddled onto me. I kept him in the spare room for about 2 weeks while him and Stella got used to each other and then he had full run of the house. My mom, dad and sister as well as other people were always over trying to win his affections but for some reason he was weary of everyone but me. I know have my own place and have my two cats with me and Toby is the man of the house. He still runs when people come over but he will venture out after a few minutes. He will play with other people but he will not let anyone pet or touch him except for me.

I used to think he maybe wasn't socialized early enough, or maybe he has just bonded closely with me, but either way he is a mama's boy and I love him dearly.

 

[laura mae]

My cat Booberry had been a stray that came around my deck for the first year before we brought him in. He came in because he had been hit by a car and had what turned out to be a fractured pelvis and was constipated because it hurt to go with his injury. We didn't know what was going on the day we brought him inside but we knew that with the Fall winds and rain that he wouldn't live long out on his own because of his injury (at the time we thought he had a sprained leg). The day we brought him in was so cold with drenching rain.

I set up a blanket and a pillow and everything he'd need in a bedroom converted to the computer/craft room. He laid down and sighed and purred. He slept so hard that first night. He clearly knew he was safe with people he liked. He stayed in that room for 8 weeks to heal.

 

[NewYork1303]

For Ruby and Angua when they came home there were other cats to introduce so it was a bit more irregular.

Carrot was our first cat. When he came home at 2 years old, he was immediately fairly comfortable with the house as long as we were around and explored just about everything. At night and when we were at work he burrowed under the blankets on the bed and went into the closet to hide. He didn't use the litter box for the first 48 hours. Still no idea where he peed during that time, since I can't imagine that he managed to hold it. After the first few days, he was acting like it was home.

Some pictures from his first day:

 

[mightyboosh]

I rescued Betty from a friend who used to feed her outside but for one reason or another felt that she couldn't let her in. She was quite wild and would lash out at us when we passed her. She was probably about six months old at the time. However, after a few weeks she came round and now she's as friendly as can be. This is not an early photo, rather one showing how she's become cuddly.



Chubchub was eight months old when we got him from a caring previous owner who's commitments forced the sale. That was August 2017.
He was a bit timid and nervous at the time and did the usual hiding thing. He's still a bit skittish and bonkers, flying around the place, but he's young and will calm down I hope. He never sits on my lap but his best friend is my grand daughter who takes cars of that side of things. I think this photo is from day one.

 

[4veatquevale]

I was told Mia was 2 months old when I got her, but later found out at the vet that she was much younger. She was really perky and curious, exploring the car and then house immediately. She only hid for a couple of minutes when she saw the dog.
We had trouble getting her to eat at the beginning since she was so small, but eventually we found some food that she didn't throw up.
The box was a like a dream, she used it immediately.
She was a bit feisty with the dog for a couple of weeks, but now they get along well.
She's so precious and loving. She loves attention and doesn't run away from anyone, even people she doesn't know.
This is her the first day:

This is a more recent photo:

 

[danteshuman]

I got my cats over a decade ago. The kitten pics got lost in the divorce. Salem was great, cautiously exploring his new home after a very long 3 hour drive. His original name was Noodle but I felt he deserved a more dignified name. We got him at 4 & half months old from a vet tech friend of the family who rescues cats. We fed him, played with him and slept with him. He came to us sleeping by us through the night!

Dante (named after a magician to, darn it) was a blind adoption from a friend of our upstairs neighbor. Apparently their warehouse cat had had kittens. Provided the kitten was a grey tabby I would take it. So he made a short one flight down trip, and was delivered early because he had fleas (with an apology for being grey & white.) I saw a wee bitty kitten that was all bat ears and IMO way to young to be from his mom. I puurrr-ed at him and thought 'BABY!' because he reminded me of a kitten I had bottle fed. My x-husband saw him and said 'fleabag!' Not a good start. So the poor guy got welcomed home with a flea shower & then a second flea (head and shoulders shampoo) bath just in case ... plus kitten milk mixed in with his wet kitten food. However after that he was off exploring everywhere. Absolutely fearless.

 

[Caspers Human]

On the first day Casper to live with us, we drove about 100 miles to get home with him in a carrier on the back seat of the car.

We stopped to get something to eat for about a half hour and we brought him a few bits of food but he didn’t touch any of it.

In the two years we’ve had him, he rarely eats human food. Even then he only has a nibble. However, he does like to “inspect” the food we eat, giving it a sniff or two before turning up his nose and walking away.

When we got home, we put his carrier down in the middle of the living room. Casper got out, made a lap around the room and hid behind an easy chair. We left him there for an hour or so before we went to look in on him and “made nice.” Back behind the chair he went, again.

We went out to the store to get some cat supplies and came back after an hour or so. Casper was still behind the easy chair so we left him there.

It wasn’t until around dinner time till he came out. He explored the room. He let us pet him for a minute but he acted really skittish. After a few minutes he went upstairs to the bedroom and found a hiding spot under the bed. There he stayed for the rest of the night.

I went in to check on him a few times and was able to coax him out with a toy but, for the most part he stayed under the bed.

We went to bed and, when we woke up we found that Casper had used the litter box. Good sign!

We also discovered that he climbed up on top of the fridge and got into the bag of cat treats we bought, despite the fact that we left food and water out for him before going to bed.

Casper has acclimated very well in the past two years but his default hiding spot is still under the bed. He often sleeps in the closet if he’s not sleeping in his cat bed which his Girl-Human crocheted especially for him.

Casper has few rules to live by...
1) Stay off the kitchen counters.
2) Use the litter box.
3) Don’t scratch the furniture.

Besides that, he can go almost anywhere, do almost anything and have almost all the catnip he wants. (Boy! Is Casper a catnip fiend!). Casper has all the toys and cardboard boxes he can dream of and we give him dry food plus 1/4 of a can of wet food a day. (He’s also a “gravy licker!”)

Casper is a 100% indoor cat, even after being abandoned outdoors for almost a year. He has adapted to indoor life very well. We think he is glad that he has a warm place to sleep after being left to his own devices for so long.

He does like to sit by the patio door (with cat proof screen) and watch birds and squirrels.
If I had the money I’d build him a catio on the back porch... Maybe some day...

Casper’s main job is to be emotional support for his Girl-Human and he does his job very well!
He follows her around and even sleeps with her if I’m not in bed.

He still seems to be skittish with me, although he has become a lot less afraid.
We assume that he was abused by a man and that’s why he’s skittish of me.

All-in-all, we couldn’t ask for a sweeter, gentler, more we’ll-behaved cat!

We are glad that he came to live with us!

 

[aliceneko]

When we first adopted Toffee and Fudge, they were both incredibly timid. They had formerly been semi-ferals from a cat colony so we're guessing that they hadn't had much human contact. We could stroke them, but we couldn't have them on our laps or hold them. For the first couple of days, they would spend most of their time sleeping under a blanket that the rescue shelter had given us. I spent some time sitting by their cage and they soon grew used to my presence, and Toffee came out of his shell a little more (Fudge took some time longer). The first time we let them both out of their cage they immediately ran straight and hid under the Christmas tree (we adopted them a week before Christmas last year) where they stayed for a few minutes, until we tempted them with food.

Fast forward almost four months and one would never know they were so shy. Both cats love to sit on our laps, which was very handy during the Beast from the East! Toffee is a hunter, he enjoys being on the prowl and watching out for birds. Fudge, we think, is a human born in a cat's body - he loves to laze around on the sofa, sitting on our laps and having lots of kisses and cuddles. They are due to have their first outdoor experience soon.

 

[aliceneko]

EDIT: don't worry - sorted it out

 

[Furballsmom]

Not to hijack the thread but mightyboosh I LOVE this photo LOL

 

[saleri]

Got Lilo when she was just a little 16 week kitten. I actually moved her in when I just moved into my new apartment. I got her home and put her in my bathroom thinking she would need sometime with her new environment. However when I opened the bathroom to leave she bolted right out and got free rein of the apartment since then.

She just explored my new apartment and was very friendly with me. Which surprised me since she mostly ignored me and was very shy. Although to be fair she is still shy to this day. She actually was able jump onto of my counter, something she hasn't being able to do since the first day. Which is surprising given she is a lot bigger, but must have gotten a lot of adrenaline from the move.

I let her sleep with me on my new bed, and I literally couldn't sleep cause she was purring so loud and close to my face that first night

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[Norachan]

Most of my cats came from a feral colony right outside my front door, so it wasn't really a case of bringing them home. It was more a case of leaving the window open and letting them move in when they were ready.



The Mu was different. When I found her I was living on the 4th floor of a "No Pets" apartment building. The Mu and her mother were often in the park opposite or sheltering in the covered parking space under the building. The Mu had a litter of kittens when she was about 7 months old. Horrible story, I won't go into the details. The kittens all died and The Mu had such a bad case of mastitis that I found her unable to move in the parking space. Luckily she was too weak to put up much of a fight so I was able to grab her and get her to an emergency vet.

She spent three weeks at the vet. For the first week every time I went to see her they told me she would probably die, but somehow she pulled through. She had to have several operations to remove all the infected tissue and stitch her wounds back together.

She had never been handled before, but I used to go and see her at the vet every day before work and she used to come and sit next to me. When we got her home we put her in a small room with just the essentials. I opened her carrier and told her, "You're home now." and she started purring! I know she was probably just purring to calm herself in a strange place, but it made me happy to hear.

She wouldn't come out of the carrier for the first hour or so. In fact she would usually spend the day light hours hiding and then come out to explore after dark. She had to wear a body stocking and a cone for the first few weeks. We knew she was up and about because we'd hear the cone scraping along the wooden floors.

After she got a bit stronger we started to play with her with a wand toy. She'd get so focused on the toy that she wouldn't notice how close you were to her. I spread futons and blankets all over the floor, sat on the floor with a blanket over my legs and played with her for hours. She got used to sitting on my legs or hiding between them to stalk her toy. Eventually I was able to pet her with one hand while waggling her toy with the other.

After a few months she completely recovered and started crying at the windows to go out. There was no way I was giving her up, but as it was a No Pets apartment I couldn't keep her there. That's why we decided to move.

It took a long time, but she's a complete snuggle bug now. She sleeps with me every night. It will be her 9th Gotcha Day in July.

In our old apartment.

Learning how to play.

Just after we moved into the Pet Friendly house we rented. The landlady here was great, she never complained about me doing TNR or bringing in the feral kittens or anything at all.

At our current address. All cats welcome.

 

[raysmyheart]

The first days a cat comes home is so special as I read in these posts. The day I took Speedy home, she waited for me to finish her paperwork, sitting looking at me with her paw perched up like she does. She had no trouble getting in my arms and the carrier. She was pretty quiet on the way home, maybe a few confused meows. When we got home, I opened the carrier and she must have been frightened. Of course, that's what I love about cats , they are built-in to protect themselves just as we are. She raced under the hutch and would not come out until the middle of the night when she pounced on me and then was pretty friendly. I was very surprised. It's just me for her to get used to and she did a wonderful job, really from day one.

 

[tarasgirl06]

SO many cats have shared my life that it would take forever to write about them all! So I'll just say that I adopted Tarifa from a friend who did rescue and adoptions out of our then-local Petco on the recommendation of the friend, who had been told I was looking for a very social and friendly cat to join our large feline family. She was that, and more, from the very start!
Baby Su was feral and I brought her in rather abruptly. She spent awhile in our kitten cabin and joined the larger family eventually. She sort of came in swingin', being a young feral kitten with a BIG "fierce".
Elvis joined us at age 9, having been an only cat for most of his life -- he'd lived with another cat for awhile, and mostly with a dog. Joining our multi-cat family was, I think, a bit of a challenge for him, and he hid under the bed in his room for quite a few days, even carving himself out a hiding place in the box springs of the bed in there. He was very shy, and even after coming out to join the rest of us, he did not purr for quite awhile. Once he did, though, I knew his dad was right -- he has a big, deep, very satisfying rumble-purr!

One of the first pix I took of Elvis, hiding under his bed in his safe room right after joining us.

 

[tinydestroyer]

Lucy was found at 4-5 weeks under my house, and was completely infested with fleas, and starving. As soon as I scooped her from that spiderweb-covered crawl space, I knew she'd be part of our family. However, I have a large Siberian Husky, and had never had a cat. Since I knew they'd have to stay separate at first, I put her in the laundry room in a large cardboard box with blankets, food and water, and went out for supplies.

She was so small that the pet store assistant gave me some low cardboard trays (like wet food comes in,) for her litter box, and she took to that right away. I also got wet food and KMR, but she was so hungry that when I returned, she was eating some dog kibble that had spilled on the floor. We gave her a dawn bath and plucked off the fleas, and continued to bottle feed her and give her wet food for the next couple weeks. She hid from us for the first couple days, but was so small and weak, we had the upper hand. When she was getting confidence and strength enough to zoom around the laundry room, we cleaned out another room for her to stay in until we could make introductions. (The laundry room opened to the backyard, and we didn't want any mishaps.) She was immediately very sweet, and playful, and took to us almost instantly, especially bonding during the time we moved her out of the laundry room.

During this time, my landlord saw another kitten in the yard, and thought it was the new one that I mentioned to her we had adopted. Being a Good Samaritan, she tossed this friendly cat in our house, thinking it was Lucy, and she had escaped. Her reasoning was that the cat was following her around as she did repairs, meowing at her. As soon as we saw this in a text, my husband and I rushed home, because we hadn't done introductions with our dog and cat yet, and weren't sure of the outcome. This new cat was fine, though, and curiously exploring everything around the house. We fed him and asked our neighbors if he belonged to them. There were no takers. He had not been neutered, and had no tags, and fleas, but he was so friendly that we were sure he wasn't feral. Not wanting to take in another cat so soon, we let him out, hoping he would find his way home. Little did we know, he already had!
He would run up to us any time we went outside, and try to run in the door any chance he got. He wasn't afraid of our large dog, either, staying perched in a tree while the dog was outside, watching him. The cat watched us, too, obviously wanting to be let in. We started feeding him regularly, and nicknamed him Cuddle Kitty, since he was so affectionate. The day that Lucy's vaccinations were done, we started making a plan to introduce Cuddle Kitty slowly. However, I saw a mountain lion on a walk shortly thereafter, and decided we had to expedite our schedule.
I took him to the vet, where he was again, completely unafraid, and got shots and flea preventative. Lucy and my dog were friends by now, so Cuddle Kitty (who we christened Mog,) got the safe room when he got home. I think we kept him in there all of one night, because he was way too adventurous, and continually snuck out. He took to eating and using the box as if he had lived here all along.

Luckily, introductions between everyone went pretty well, even though they were rushed. The cats had been sniffing at the door and playing with their paws underneath the threshold beforehand. Lucy was a tiny bit afraid of Mog at first, but after two nights of running away (no hissing,) she finally let him sleep in bed with us. And they've both done so ever since! The only time they've been separate was during their spay / neuter recovery, and keeping them apart was a challenge. They're definitely best friends.
Lucy as a kitten

Mog lounging on his first day:

Before long, Mog took over my dog's bed, too:

Mog and Lucy's first of many cuddles:

 

[daisyd]

Age was definitely a factor with Gracie , she was 6/7 weeks when first brought her home - she didn’t hide and seemed perfectly fine , used litter and everything . I used to read stories on here about cats hiding for weeks and thought how lucky I was . Well .. fast farward 18 months and I’ve had to move us (not by choice ) - this time round she didn’t eat, drink and laid in her (clean) litter box, stayed hidden for a week and cried at night . Thankfully she’s okay however I’m trying to find us a forever home so will need to go through pain again !

Picture of first few minutes below when she was tiny baby