So we lost our beautiful cat earlier this year to heart failure and have finally decided we are ready for a new kitten
We got a rescue kitten yesterday. Not told a huge amount about him other than he was born on a farm etc. He’s about 11 weeks old.
Got him home and it’s really clear he’s not been socialised at all and is t used to people. He’s been hiding under the sofa since yesterday afternoon. He won’t come out for food or water although when I came done last night his bowls were empty so I know he ate at least last night. He did come out for a very short explore in the evening but has hidden all day today.
The rescue lady said not to let him hide and to force him to have lots of cuddles to get used to us. We’ve tried twice and it’s clearly really stressful for him being deaf g out of his hiding spot (I have the scratches to prove it). Although once you’ve got him and are stroking him he’s calm. He won’t come out for kitten treats or toys. I’ve spent a lot of time lying on the floor talking softly to him and blinking slowly at him.
My previous experience of cats and everything I can find on line says leave him alone but the cat rescue woman was adamant.
AIBU to think I should leave him alone (he has access to food and water) and he’ll settle and coke out or is the cat lady right and (especially given he’s pretty much feral as far as I can tell) we need to get him out.
The only downside of not being able to get near him is we can’t show him where his litter tray is but I’m hoping this isn’t going to mean we can’t successfully litter train him once he’s a bit more settled
any advice is very much appreciated