Rescue cat is terrified

[Squaretoe]

We picked up our new little girl yesterday! She is from a Romanian shelter and apparently she was in a van for over three days before she got here so she is not a happy girl at the moment! She has been here for just under 24 hours and has been hiding behind various bits of furniture basically the whole time. She has eaten next to nothing, and has used the litter tray once. I don’t know if she’s had anything to drink since she’s been here.

Feliway is arriving later on today, and I’ve been playing relaxing music for cats to try to calm her down . What else can I do? The lady at the shelter has been in touch to check on her and has been helpful. I’m freaking out a bit that she’s traumatised and will hide forever.

[EachandEveryone]

She is gorgeous. Can you get a cat flap so you can lock it overnight?

[bravotango]

Yay! Lovely update. We have a rescue who took about 2 months to settle in and stop hiding - as PPs say, it can just take a while! Looks like she's on her way

[Fluffycloudland77]

That’s lovely.

[Squaretoe]

Hi!

[Squaretoe]

@Fluffycloudland77 so as several people predicted, she has massively turned a corner and now is much more settled! She will accept strokes from everyone and is getting more comfortable around the noisy children. And most importantly, she seems soooo much happier, she is currently sat with me in the garden (not wanting lap cuddles yet but there’s still time!)

[Fluffycloudland77]

How is she?.

[SmackTheMackrel]

Let her out on an empty stomach in the morning - I wouldn't feed at all and if you have to, just some boring biscuits. This should ensure she comes back

[Fluffycloudland77]

If you can only let her out in the morning after a small breakfast.

Nighttime is really dangerous for getting run over.

[Squaretoe]

Just thought I’d update. She still runs whenever we go near her, even if we ignore her completely, but she then comes back to where she was sitting. Baby steps! We let her out the other day and she wandered round the garden for about half an hour before disappearing completely. We managed to get her back in for house the following evening, then kept her in for 24 hours. The following evening she was crying at the back door so we let her out again. She disappeared again for a whole day and has come back again this evening. It’s terrifying when she disappears completely but the fact that she’s coming back voluntarily is a good thing surely. Sadly my dream of having a lap cat may just be a dream! But she seems happy, and she knows she gets fed here!

[Squaretoe]

@StrawberryFizz26 that gives me hope thank you!

@Fluffycloudland77 judging by the state of downstairs in the morning I think you’re right! The ball of string is usually completely unravelled. We’ve had to hide the toys with bells in as we could hear her going nuts in the middle of the night!

[Fluffycloudland77]

Well she looks very content in the one photo. She’s not going to stay under things forever.

I bet she explores at night.

[StrawberryFizz26]

Ahhh square She's so cute!! And like everyone else has said, you just need to give her time.
I adopted 2 almost 18 months ago, Bobs hid for a few days & he's still a bit skitty now, doesn't like loud noises etc but he's such a loving boy. He buts his way into the bedroom every morning, lies on top of me purring away & as soon as I'm up and about, he's on the bed purring his little head off.

It's worth the wait.

[Squaretoe]

Looking a little bit less terrified.

[Squaretoe]

Three weeks today, we still don’t see her for most of the day but she’s getting braver in the evenings. She responds to “foodies” now and will come out from her hiding place within about half a minute of hearing that word! Starting to wean off Zylkene this week, just to see how she goes. I still haven’t taken her to the vet but I don’t know how urgent that would be as she had a general check up before she came over here.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Oh and nigh-nights meaning it’s time for you to go downstairs so he’d clamp his eyes shut in the hope we wouldn’t move a sleeping cat.

He understood if I was in my work clothes he was also going down and would look slightly horrified.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Ours understood cars, garden, doggies, his name but only answered to me not dh, birdies, salmon, chew chew, food & catnip.

[JudyGemstone]

Which didn't attach 🤦🏻‍♀️

[JudyGemstone]

My cat is called Ivy. If I say her name she (sometimes!) looks at me or comes over.

If I say another word in the same tone of voice she will do the same thing, she knows when my voice does a certain sound that I'm talking to her but I don't think she understands the words themselves.

Pic for reference!

[Fluffycloudland77]

@JudyGemstone of course they can understand words. What makes you think they can’t?.

[bellinique]

I was given a wild kitten for my birthday when I was 6. She hid under a bed whenever I entered the room and didn't let me go near her for weeks (which felt like an eternity at the time). I was thoroughly disappointed by my present.

Within a few months she was fully tame and became my best friend until she died when I was 23.

I'm not sure how old your new kitty is but hopefully your dc will have plenty of time to enjoy her so please don't worry too much about any initial disappointment.

[Ringsender2]

A bit of butter on the tips of your DC's fingers sounds like a great idea. That's exactly the kind of thing they'd keep still for.

[JudyGemstone]

What the fuck is everyone on about her not understanding English and speaking to her in Romanian? 🤣

Cats respond to your tone of voice, they can't understand any words

[Squaretoe]

@DianasLasso I know what you meant they are noisy and get excited when they see her so she probably is terrified!

@Fluffycloudland77 it’s certainly worth a shot! Thank you.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Hello is Salut so quite Greek. Silent T.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Well she probably doesn’t understand English yet.

Has she got a catnip mouse that squeaks when you play with it? Pets at home sell them.

If she ever manages to get the squeaker out dispose of it immediately because if it gets batted under the incredibly heavy divan bed it will go off at slight movements at night and literally scare the crap out of you & it has a very long battery life.