Hello!
I had recently new cat which is 1 years old. She is extremly shy cat and has been hiding since she arrived. I struggled first with her not eating but that problem has been now fixed.
She hides in my apartment so extremely well i can not find her. I know she hasn’t run out since after every night food/water bowl has been used and litterbox. I made a mistake letting her roam the whole apartment and didn’t let her get to relax in smaller space (bedroom etc).
She doesn’t come if i try to call her or shake food or treat packs or anything. I would like to move her to smaller room for now so she would get more relaxed insted of hiding.
Do you have any tricks or tips how to find her or make her come to me? I have searched literally everywhere (yes even behind oven, fridge and other really random places).
New cat is too good at hiding
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nordic_feline_girl
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Mollycat
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Re: New cat is too good at hiding
I have a cat that I have had for 7 years and believe me I have been through this with her. The best thing you can do to help a cat feel comfortable is leave her alone, let her come out and approach you in her own time. Just be calm and quiet at all times, move gently, talk to her, but let her be wherever she is hiding. Never try to bring her out of her safe place or block her access to where she feels safe. You can sit on the floor in the same room and read to her or sing to her, or watch a Disney movie and sing along gently (good trick) but try not to let her know that you know where she is and just be around. When she decides it is safe to come out then praise and encourage gently, but don't expect any more from her than what she feels able to give you in that moment.
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Ruth B
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Re: New cat is too good at hiding
You say you only had her recently so she is still settling in and has found somewhere she feels safe, so the best thing is to let her be and let her explore at her own pace.
I would suggest making one room into a den for her, always feed her in that room, have a water bowl and a litter tray in there and put one of the cat cave bed in there, tucked away where she can watch if she wants but can feel safe, don't expect her to use it to start with but it might give her a bolt hole later on. You might want to keep an extra litter tray or two elsewhere in the apartment so she always feels she has somewhere safe she can go if she needs to and doesn't mean she feels she has to find another corner to go in if she feels she can't get to the tray, preventing any problems starting is better than trying to cure them afterwards. As long as the food is being eaten and the litter tray used then that is fine, if only the litter tray in her main room is being used then that probably indicates that she has decided that that is her safe area.
As Mollycat says don't try and get her out of her hiding place, let her feel safe in it, talk to her, act normal, but try and keep everything calm and quiet, reading aloud is one thing I have heard can help them get used to you and their new home. Routine is also very important, always put food down at the same time. When we adopted a very nervous cat we used to put wet food down morning and evening and free feed dry, in an evening we would put the food down and then leave the room and go to bed, in the morning we would put it down then sit down in the same room and have our own breakfast while watching Breakfast TV. At first Freyja would only come out while we were out of the room, then she started to come out while we were eating as long as we were sitting very still and quite, the slightest movement on our part and she was straight back into hiding. I swear she learnt to associate Carol Kirkwood's voice with a safe time as she would often come out for breakfast just as the weather forecast was being read out.
I would also suggest getting one of the long wand and string toys, even the most nervous cat can sometimes be tempted to come out of hiding to chase a feather on a piece of string, particularly if the person using it is 6 feet away sitting quietly.
Finally, depending on how technical you are, and your budget, I do know some people who get motion activated cameras set up so they can see what a nervous cat is doing when they aren't in the room and to record them at night.
I would suggest making one room into a den for her, always feed her in that room, have a water bowl and a litter tray in there and put one of the cat cave bed in there, tucked away where she can watch if she wants but can feel safe, don't expect her to use it to start with but it might give her a bolt hole later on. You might want to keep an extra litter tray or two elsewhere in the apartment so she always feels she has somewhere safe she can go if she needs to and doesn't mean she feels she has to find another corner to go in if she feels she can't get to the tray, preventing any problems starting is better than trying to cure them afterwards. As long as the food is being eaten and the litter tray used then that is fine, if only the litter tray in her main room is being used then that probably indicates that she has decided that that is her safe area.
As Mollycat says don't try and get her out of her hiding place, let her feel safe in it, talk to her, act normal, but try and keep everything calm and quiet, reading aloud is one thing I have heard can help them get used to you and their new home. Routine is also very important, always put food down at the same time. When we adopted a very nervous cat we used to put wet food down morning and evening and free feed dry, in an evening we would put the food down and then leave the room and go to bed, in the morning we would put it down then sit down in the same room and have our own breakfast while watching Breakfast TV. At first Freyja would only come out while we were out of the room, then she started to come out while we were eating as long as we were sitting very still and quite, the slightest movement on our part and she was straight back into hiding. I swear she learnt to associate Carol Kirkwood's voice with a safe time as she would often come out for breakfast just as the weather forecast was being read out.
I would also suggest getting one of the long wand and string toys, even the most nervous cat can sometimes be tempted to come out of hiding to chase a feather on a piece of string, particularly if the person using it is 6 feet away sitting quietly.
Finally, depending on how technical you are, and your budget, I do know some people who get motion activated cameras set up so they can see what a nervous cat is doing when they aren't in the room and to record them at night.