Hoping for some advice from the knowledgeable people here. We bought our 11 month old rescue cat home 4 weeks ago.
He had a really bad first few days, just hid behind the sofa in the room he is in. Wouldn't eat or anything, gradually he started eating a small amount but only if no-one was around.
Fast forward to now, he eats fairly well and doesn't hide behind the sofa anymore. However, he won't let us handle him at all, he slinks away if you go near him. He seems happy in the conservatory and hasn't ventured out of there at all.
He is eating, drinking and using the litter tray. He has started to play with the cat toys in the evening but only if he thinks we aren't watching 😃
I am worried that he isn't getting any exercise and that can't be good for him.
We do have 5 other cats but 3 of them have never met him, he is in a room they don't go into. The other 2 are 10 month old boys who are gentle around him. All 3 eat together in the evening (in the same room but away from each other)
What can we do? I hate to think that he is miserable or suffering in some way.
Just to add, all of the cats are neutered.
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The litter tray
Nervous rescue cat.
darumafan · 02/05/2016 16:19
Seniorboy hid somewhere for close on a month after my mother died. The only way we knew he was still alive was the use of his tray in deepest night and the regular nighttime disappearance of cold meat from the kitchen - but we left him to think about things and he eventually decided to rejoin the family.
Think about it from your new lad's viewpoint - I doubt the change to his life could be bigger so he might need a little time to adjust. They're all individuals but it doesn't sound to me as if he's miserable or suffering. Just taking his time. 
I've always talked to my boys - a lot. (All of them and not just the Siamese who would talk the hind legs off a donkey if given the chance.) Why not try some of that if you're in the room with him?
(It doesn't need to be a Gettysburg Address by the way. 
)
He probably is just fine. Remember that you've really given a home to someone who has lived in a cage for all of his life - forbye he may have had the odd 'excursion' to interact with the rescue staff. It will have left its mark and he may not actually know how other cats sometimes behave.
I wouldn't try to impose any new behaviour patterns on him in his particular circumstances. I reckon that the best thing you can do for him right now is to give him an ordered life - as best you can - and provide him with the security to develop and learn about life. (Games might be an option for later although you can leave some around right now to be 'discovered'. ) I'd be talking and calling to him/around him a lot but otherwise ignoring him physically and just going about my business. It may take some time and you might have to recognise that he's always going to have some quirks.
They won't necessarily mean that he's unhappy.
I doubt he's unhappy.
He'll have spent most of his life to date just observing people going about their business, I guess, so it's probably what he knows. Things might be a bit different for him with time but it may need that time. (Lots of tentative steps sound as if they'd suit him best.)
God plan OP. Nothing infuriates a cat more than being ignored
He'll be sleeping on your head and demanding 5am games of string in no time.
So, we spent all day yesterday ignoring him. Obviously he was fed and cared for
I put his food bowl down alongside the other boys and he very happily ate alongside them for the first time ever.
He spent quite a bit of time mooching around the conservatory, he sat on the dining table and actually ventured out into the lounge!
Today, we have done exactly the same and he is currently sitting on the sofa with his head on his front paws looking at me 
He seems to not enjoy being ignored at all!
Hopefully, this is the start of a new chapter in his life.
Gawd - a sensitive soul!
Looks as if you've found the best way to go, though.
Actually, it sounds rather as if your behaviour is being assessed in a leisurely fashion. 
The new getting on with things and leaving him be almost 'frees him of responsibility' - you're likely coming across as the Top Cat on the block. And that's OK I think - enables him to relax and learn how to live in this new place.
Well done.
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He is currently lying fully stretched out on the conservatory floor. He is looking at me but I am trying very hard not to look back!
This is the most relaxed I have seen him so far, he is usually curled up in a little ball.
He even ate out of the same bowl as the other 2 last night so seems to be coming on in leaps and bounds.
It's odd isn't it? Ignoring him seemed so counter-intuitive but is working better than anything else we have tried.
I promise to get pics when he is more settled, at the minute if you point a camera at him he disappears
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