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.

Oh he is a beauty.

Well done being patient, it is so worth it when they relax and settle, and sounds like the rescue made a perfect match.

What a lovely fella! Love the 'no photo please!' pose and the look on his face when presented with that toy.....looks ready for the pounce! So glad he's now fully enjoying his life and bringing you such joy 😻

Amazing and happy news! I came onto the litter tray as I am feeling nostalgic because our massive, soppy and very gentle foster fail became ours forever one year ago. He is a big black panther who came to us as a terrified kitten born outside. Since then, as well as kittens who can be crated, we have also had lots of older cats through the doors who have been so terrified they hid behind kitchen cabinets for weeks, were impossible to catch for neuter etc. But with time have gone on to be rehomed as friendly and characterful cats! Thank you for rehoming one of these scared little overlords. It is sooo special when they start to trust.

Photo of our lovely boy (all 7.9 kg of him)! Not only is he now the softest, sweetest cst in the world having arrived with his brother just after savaging the vet after being trapped and vaccinated, all our fosters adore him. Stripey boy has been a complete maniac and at one point we thought he was destined to be a farm cat he was so wild! Up for adoption any day now

Thank you everyone 🥰 I think back and just can’t believe how far he’s come on! Really glad we got him, during the first few months I never thought we’d get there and we’d bitten off more than we could chew with him.

Funnily enough he’s okay with one of my friends who isn’t a cat person 😂 he’ll seek her out show her his belly and badger her for treats it’s like they can tell if you try too hard with them.

@willstarttomorrow aww he is absolutely lovely!!