We got a 2 year old rescue cat on Wednesday and he went straight in to the room I'd prepared for him. Initially he hid but would always come out if we were in the room and be very affectionate, rubbing his head on us, purring, falling asleep on me. I thought this was all very positive so last night I left his door ajar for the first time. I shut all other doors so he only had access to his room, the stairs, and the hall. All perfectly safe I thought. However he somehow managed to open the kitchen door and it took me 2 hours of frantic searching this morning before I discovered he was wedged behind an unmovable kitchen cupboard (I only found out by dismantling some of the cupboard and using my phone camera to take a photo of the area behind the cupboard). I thought I'd cat proofed the house pretty well. I had no idea there was a tiny gap leading to the back of the cupboards. It took my husband a further 2 hours to get him out. In the end he had to break the back of the cupboard and drag him through the hole. Obviously this was extremely stressful for the cat and must have hurt him. He's now back in his room with the door closed but seems traumatised (understandably). He hasn't eaten or had any water at all today nor has he gone to the toilet. I've been lying on the bed in his room for an hour in the hope he'd join me as he did the first 2 days, so enthusiastically. He won't come anywhere near me. I feel really sad that he's so frightened and now too afraid to interact when he was initially so loving and trusting. I feel like we've let him down. Is there anyone with more experience of cats who can reassure me he'll be OK in time? We just want to give him a loving home.
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The litter tray
nickname302 ·
29/02/2020 22:00
He will absolutely be fine. First thing we did with my two was rinse them off in the sink as they'd pooed all over their carrier and rolled around in it 
very dramatic and traumatised for a night and then they'd completely forgotten about it by the next morning and were happily exploring and climbing on me. Can you put some tuna out for him and maybe get some toys out?
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