New recruits

[MunchieScrunchie1]

We recently adopted a 4 yo mother and her kitten from a shelter. I'm assuming the poor
mother may have been bred a few times because she was an outdoor cat and I would imagine wouldn't have gotten pregnant for the first time at 4.

The cats don't seem overly interested in human interaction. They sleep downstairs on the sofa on a blanket. Sometimes in the day they will venture upstairs and sleep on a bed for a short while. But that's about it.

I would have though, particularly the kitten, would be seeking out human interaction and comfort and warmth.

how long do cats take to warm
up to surroundings. We are a pretty quiet house. Do you think the mother js traumatised

You'll get them to warm to you with routine .
All animals crave routine for security . Keep their feed times constant or they'll get stressed .
Apart from that , time .
They've got to trust you and you have to earn it .

It's good that you have the mum and kitten , though some mother cats get a bit angsty to their kitten when they get older .And her previous litters would've left her , this one is staying .

Our cats were found livong rough as kittens so they were rescued with their mum.
They can be a bit stand offish (they are cats after all )
The boy slinks away from me with a "No you bloody well don't" look if I dare to stroke him. (loves DD though)
The girl has an air of "we just live here because otherwise you might get another poor cat who cannot cope with you . We're saving other cats " ......and keeping a nice home for themselves .

I just accept that's how ours are .
Ours have a microchip cat door , a garden, adult household , two meals a day and Dreamies ( the routine means they present themselves at 1pm to demand)
They sleep on the beds .
Walk over us but not keen on sitting on us
Female cat is sitting beside me on DH chair with two cushions . Tough life eh ?

And , y'know CatTax .
I'll be the first to ask

They sleep on the beds .
Walk over us but not keen on sitting on us

To be fair, that also describes my old cat, raised with nothing but loving care indoors from a tiny kitten and still not quite sure about domesticity in its old age.

Have you heard of the 3/3/3 rule, OP? It’s along the lines of a rescue animal needs three days to decompress, three weeks to settle, and three months to feel they are truly home. I’d say that was bang on for our boy who had been a stray kitten - now we’re coming up to three years and he’s lying snuggled into me in bed (I’m on holiday this week) right now, purring so much he’s vibrating! A far cry from the hissing, frightened creature who was dropped off in a cage by Cats Protection in early 2024.

Our previous girl we adopted direct from her family who had had her since she was a kitten, but had since had children who became noisy toddlers and were making her stressed. On the very first night she hopped up into my lap.