Can someone reassure me this is normal

[Allthegoodhorses]

Morning, it’s a bit of a saga but I acquired a cat on Sunday. He’s about a year old, neutered a month ago and was living in a very chaotic situation.

We ‘rescued’ him and he’s now in my house. Currently he is in a quiet part of the house in an igloo bed inside a dog crate (dog crate was used for transportation purposes as it was easier to lift him inside the igloo into crate than put him in a cat basket). The crate is open and he has water, food, a litter tray (further from the food).

He has not moved. There looks like no sign of him using litter tray or eating or drinking.

I have googled and apparently this is normal. We have not tried to interact too much with him as advice I’ve read he’s in frozen survival mode and have to let him decide when it’s safe to come out.

But can anyone offer any more advice or reassure me this is normal. I’m starting to get concerned and not sure of next steps.

We rescued two cats last year. They hid under the sofa for three days! They didn’t come out to eat/drink/use the litter tray. We just left them to come out in their own time. We kept them in one room, quietly sat with them from time to time. When we were home/during the day, we’d leave the door open and leave them to come out when they were ready. After day three, they started to come out and explore. We just sat quietly and allowed them to roam and come to us.

Morning everyone, positive news. He’s still in the lounge under the cupboard but last night ate two bowls of food, had some cat milk, dreamies and the churu. Had also been in litter tray. Success!!

Excellent news! He can see he's on to a good thing here.

What's he called? Or would you rather not share?

He was called Charlie but we did not like the connotation behind that due to where he came from. Charlie being a slang term for a certain drug and he is white. So we have named him Gandalph. Husbands choice.

Good choice. Welcome to your new home Gandalph.

That’s great news, sounds like you’re doing really well, he’s a lucky cat !

The early days and weeks can be really worrying and anxiety inducing ! You just need to keep doing your best and be very patient. We adopted our current cat at age 6. She was apparently very loving and companiable before rehoming, but she’d spent 3 months with the rescue centre before we got her, and in hindsight I think she’d become very depressed. She was shy and polite, and wouldn’t even sit near me for 5 weeks. I’d resigned myself to thinking she just wasn’t as friendly as had been reported, and accepted she wasn’t a lap cat. But then something just clicked and she”s the most loving companion you could wish for.

So patience is key, and I hope you continue to let us know how Gandalph get’s on, good luck !

@CatLovesMeBest awww that's lovely to hear. I am hopeful that I can update on here that Gandalph is happy and likes cuddles.

Having a cat was very much not on the agenda. My husband had said emphatically no to him coming to us, but in the end we had very little choice—there was simply nowhere else he could go. Despite this, my husband welcomed him calmly, stroked him, said hello, and even renamed him. He was also extremely concerned yesterday when we “lost” him.

We were supposed to be a temporary stopgap until we could get a home sorted for him but I have a feeling we are way past that already!

Make sure you talk to him and let him hear your voice. I would sit by the cupboard and just chat, tell him about your day. He should associate your voice with safety and food! 😻

Oh I am looking forward to pictures of Gandalph making you/your partner incapussitated because he is snuggled on a lap and you can't bear to move him!
Even flattened under the cupboard, you can tell he's a beauty!
And, thank you for giving him a forever home 😻

Excellent news 😻
I'm sure they do this on purpose so that when they do decide to come out of hiding and give you some cuddles you are so ridiculously happy that they've chosen to trust you at last that you forever turn a blind eye to their faults and misdemeanors!

He's beautiful :)

Can I recommend putting a shawl or throw over the crate? He will feel safer going in there when it's sheltered (although if he's hiding under furniture now he might not go back in at all)

I was going to suggest that about talking too. We took on a cat and a dog from a horrible place (they both had cigarette burns on their heads and right down their backs 😢😢) but we found that even trying to talk to the cat was too scary for him. The dog was won round a lot quicker though!

Anyway we discovered that sitting in the room with the cat while we just read aloud was good. It let him hear our voices but we weren't looking at him at all. He eventually crept out and had a little bit of food while I was reading The Remains of the Day to him!

Both of ours turned into sweet and happy pets and I'm so glad to read that Gandalph also has a lovely peaceful home now too. No more fear, just love 💕

@DoIdriveaVauxhallZafira i was thinking the same but because the igloo was a covered bed I thought maybe he might like to see out of the crate. He’s now under the sofa and I’ve seen him twice today. I have glass doors to my lounge and twice today in daylight I walked past to see him stealthily going back under the sofa. So he’s getting braver for sure to come out in daylight.

I’ve been sitting in there for a bit just chatting stuff and doing things like opening and closing blinds so he’s hopefully getting used to us.

Good news. Before you know it he will be running the household.

Thank you for taking care of two beautiful souls. It’s a honour to be able to do that.

Yes, I have a rescue cat who hid for the best part of two weeks. Didn't poo or pee for several days. I sat in the room with him periodically offering food by hand. He emerged very gradually, at first sitting with his head out of his hiding place and eventually coming out for a minute and going back in and not too long after that, emerging fully and mingling with us. Sooner than you'd think, he was coming to sit on the sofa with me. You just need to let them take things at their own pace. My cat had been from a multi-cat household and not abused as such, just had no human socialisation at all although he was confident with our other cat as soon as they came face to face.

Well done and thanks for taking care of this little fluff! How’s he doing today?

@ThisElatedShark - he’s good! Used the litter tray properly last night. I think before he has just been in it. He’s been coming out more and today he was out and I have a window from my hallway into the lounge and I walked past and he just crouched down looking at me rather than scurrying away to hide. So he’s definitely getting more confident.

I now know he’s definitely drunk some water as the level has gone down. My only worry is I’ve not noticed obvious wee in the litter tray. Just poo last night. I hope he’s not peeing somewhere - it doesn’t smell like he is. It was a big issue before neutering, he was peeing everywhere.

What type of cat litter do you have? A pee isn't obvious in all of them.

its catsan litter.

I used to use Catsan and a pee isn’t obvious as it absorbs it so well, it takes quite a lot of pees before you start to notice some discolouration and smell. Every cat is different but my Catsan would last several weeks before it needed changing. I now use wood pellets and you can see a pee immediately (sawdust in area where it’s happened). I wouldn’t recommend you change the litter so you can see this though, I’d imagine you’d soon smell it if he is peeing elsewhere. Thanks for your update, it really does sound like he’s improving already !!

@CatLovesMeBest thank you for that. I’m guessing he must be using it then.

Yes with catsan he could well be using it and it not showing.

You’ll likely find he attaches himself to your husband who will mutter about not wanting a cat but still somehow adore him

my dad is not a cat person and still says as he comes in “I don’t like cats. Anyway where is that dumpling cat?”
my cat is always delighted by my dad and dad secretly loves him