Helping very nervous rescue cat settle in

[Bubbles12345678]

Hi, just after some advice for our new rescue cat.

We adopted a very nervous rescue cat on Thursday, and am just hoping for some advice to help him settle in. We don’t have any other cats or children.

We were told he was struggling in the rescue and is between 10 months and 3 years old. He had been in the rescue for 3 ish months and had been gradually getting more and more nervous. He came in with his sister as strays, but she was adopted and they were separated 😔

He’s currently in the living room. We have bought him a feliway plug in as I’ve heard this helps cats settle into a new home.

He is coming out at night from the little den we made him to eat, drink, use the litter tray and explore. We can see on the camera he is sniffing around the sofa, rubbing his head on furniture, and he even had a play with his toys last night!!

I tried to give him a treat yesterday but he hissed at me so I backed off and left him alone - I tried too much too quickly.

We’ve left jumpers with our scent on in the room overnight, and are basically just ignoring him and not approaching him. We sit in the living room and talk quietly or have the TV on at a low volume. We haven’t left the door to upstairs open yet, as we want him to get used to the living room first.

Is there anything else we can do to help him settle in? I haven’t tried to stroke him yet as I don’t want to push him after the treat incident. We’re prepared for this to take a long time, and to go at his own pace.

I also need to flea him but I’m scared it will traumatise him more as he’s still so nervous - he’s not going outside atm - am I okay to wait to do this?

Thanks in advance.

I'd say what you're doing is perfect and I wouldn't try and deflea him yet. Keep him in one room and let him get used to your sounds and smells.

Thank you ☺️ we’ll keep at it and hopefully he will come out during the daytime soon.

Keep doing what you are doing. Let him come to you when he’s ready.

Hope. I agree you are doing well. He'll get there.

Yes. Not hope.

Just keep doing what you're doing. I wouldn't open the door just yet, but at some point he'll show you he's ready to explore more of the house.

Don't think there is anything more you can do.. was going to suggest feliway.. there is sprays too.
Leave toys/ cat scraping tree out too.. he will eventually come out of his hiding places.. let him approach you. Cats are very territorial and his scent his around his face so he might be rubbing his face around various places... enjoy your new cat..

That’s all, we will keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully he feels more comfortable soon!

When we adopted our rescue boy, he spent three months hiding in a corner, hissing and spitting at anyone who went within six feet of him. We didn't approach him or try and fuss him, just spoke to him when we walked past and left treats within a safe distance - which he took once we'd moved far enough away. We fed him in the corner too.

Eventually he started coming out (still no approaching us) and moving around the house - we could even feed him with our other cat (who he was fine with from day one).

Then he ended up with an eye injury and we had to take him to the vets. He was obviously terrified (he peed on the vet ) and it was some kind of odd turning point for him - he came up to us and snuggled in for reassurance! I nearly burst into tears right there

He was two then and is nearly nine now. He's still not a lap cat but he loves a fuss, will eat treats from your hand and will even demand that you pick him up and carry him around so he can rub his face all over you! Just give him time - he'll get there.

You are doing everything right. The only other thing is to speak in a low soft voice. Sending hugs xx

We have two cats - tabby sisters from the same litter. We've had them since they were kittens, and they're 15 now. One has always been bold and brave and will go up to anyone and sniff them. The other has always been very shy. After twelve years and the discovery of Feliway plug-in, she finally came and sat on my lap, but I'm still the only one who she will sit with - she'll allow DH to stroke her if he sits in his chair and dangles his hand down and allows her to rub it, but stays well away apart from that. Her sister always goes and sits on DH and won't stay with me. Some of this is personality.

I'm in the exact same position, but with 2 9 month old cats as they came as a bonded pair from animal welfare that I picked ip in Sunday. I've managed to get one of them to accept one of those liquid tube treats, but the other one just looks at me as if to say "not a chance!"

Cat tax - as good as it gets while they're hiding.....

Keep it up. You'll get there. 5 rescues here and they're always a challenge at first.
Thank you for rescuing

Thank you everyone - you’ve really reassured me.

We had progress today - when my partner came down he didn’t run back to his den and was on the windowsill!! However he did hide under the magazine rack when I came down 😂 He is also coming out after we’ve gone to bed quicker and quicker.

He’s eating very well and playing with his toys on a night so seems to be settling!! We bought him a cat tunnel and he was rolling around in it all last night.

@OrderOfTheKookaburra how cute are they!!

This is our nervous boy

Aww. His playful nature will really help with bonding in time.

It does take time. Mine hid whenever I entered the room for most of two weeks and then one day in the evening suddenly marched out of the hiding place straight towards me, jumped onto my lap, started purring and flipped up her tummy to say ‘I trust you’. It was beautiful.

He’ll get there. If he’s still hiding 3 weeks after arrival you could try blocking up the places he hides, to force him to be more social. I’d also suggest that you find some way to make him associate nice food with your arrival. I left cat biscuits in the bowl overnight to make sure mine wasn’t super hungry, but when I came down in the morning I’d offer tuna which I think helped her decide I was cool.

The challenge is when he does come out to act cool and like its no big deal instead of getting over excited. I adopted a 3 year old who took a couple of days to come out from behind the bookcase. (I wouldn't have thought there was space gor a cat there). He then spent most of the next fortnight under the sofa coming out only for food. He is now my cuddly boy.

Aww it sounds like he's settling in really nicely! Bless him.

Well one of my nervous cats (the grey one) insisted on hiding under my bed and in my wardrobe while I was in the room (my work desk is there and I work from home). She might be the first to make friends!

@Bubbles12345678 - such a cute cat!

I bought some feliway yesterday and plugged it in, I'm hoping that helps.

It sounds like you’re doing really well !

Our latest rescue wasn’t classified as ‘nervous’ but in hindsight was very cautious and shy, it took her a lot longer than previous cats to settle in. It took her 6 weeks to really start relaxing and after 8 weeks she is now an extremely loving and affectionate cat. She was always ‘politely friendly’ but preferred to keep to herself, and I had resigned myself to this just being her nature, and accepted she wouldn’t be the sort of companion previous cats had been, but I now have a very loving companion who prefers to snug up with me and who follows me around everywhere.

What really helped me was to keep notes of her progress (it is a worry if you sense they aren’t as happy as they could be). Each week I’d read back about the previous and it really encouraged me and reminded me how she was gradually coming on. I’ve stopped taking notes now as she’s completely relaxed and really enjoying her home. Best of luck with yours !

Just wanted to say thank you for all so much for the reassurance and advice!!

He came out to us after about three months and is a completely different cat - he had a bit of food aggression at first (from living with so many other cats in the rescue we think) but we started giving him four small meals a day at regular times which has helped him get out of that.

He’s very social, loves being stroked, and seeks us out for attention, but still nervous with visitors and will give them a hiss 😂 he also loves cuddling with us on the sofa and getting in bed with us on a morning.

I think we cracked him with food basically, he started coming out to eat in front of us and one day when he had finished I offered him some lik-e-lix from my hand and he let me stroke him 🥺

I’ve added some pics of our brave boy.

He is gorgeous. Well done to both of you for being brave and patient.