HELP - newly adopted cat won't stop hissing

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pandanova
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HELP - newly adopted cat won't stop hissing

Post by pandanova »

So first let me say we only adopted this cat yesterday and I know that's not much time at all but I'm just looking for some advice moving forward. This post might get long.

We adopted a 2 year old female cat from my husband's coworker. They told us she was sweet and a cuddle bug but had to get rid of her due to allergies. So we went over there and she seemed fine, other than some light hisses at first but then she let us pet her. We took her home and put her in the spare bedroom we had set up for her with a litterbox. She had peed herself in the carrier on the drive but I wasn't able to properly clean her because she immediately ran out of the carrier and under the bed, hissing. So we let her be, but sat in the room for a while with her. Left food and water out.

This morning it didnt look like she had come out at all and hadn't eaten or used the litterbox. She was so far under the bed that we can't even see her and I had read that you shouldn't let scared cats hide in inaccessible places. So I had the idea to try to move her to a smaller room where she could still hide but wouldn't be inaccessible. I know I shouldn't have tried to get her out of her hiding place, you're supposed to wait for them to come out on their own, and I don't know what I was thinking. I moved the bed so we'd be able to see her behind it and tried to get her to go into her carrier. That's when the hissing and growling got worse. Constant hissing and growling and at times lashing out trying to attack us. I realized I made a mistake by trying to move her so we are now going to leave her in that room and not try to move her again.

But now im worried I completely traumatized her and she'll never warm up to us. My husband just went into the room to put her food and water back in there and she was just in the middle of the room in attack mode, hissing and growling.

We don't know what to do at this point. Did I just ruin everything by trying to move her?? What can we do moving forward? We have 2 other cats in the house that are being kept away from her. I just want to help her adjust and be a happy cat, I've owned many cats in my life but have never had one react to me in this way.

Thank you in advance for any advice.
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Mollycat
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Re: HELP - newly adopted cat won't stop hissing

Post by Mollycat »

Try not to worry so much at this stage, as you say it's day one and you know the mistakes you've made. They will have given her a setback I very much doubt there's any irreparable damage!

You've had cats before, but have you had this situation before, an adult coming into a home with cats already in residence? It sounds like this one might need extra time and care in the introduction process. Not all cats do end up being able to integrate with other cats, and if she doesn't, don't think that's your failure necessarily. I was forced to get a second cat because my boy was so desperately lonely and stressed, but the first girl we tried was never going to tolerate him and we had to hand her back and get another one, which was worked out lovely.

Absolutely let her hide wherever she wants, it's normal not to eat or litter for a day or two and she can smell your other two and knows she's on someone's territory, the place is unfamiliar, so are you at this stage. Leaving her completely alone for a few days and talking softly and moving gently when you go in to see to her needs for a couple of days will go a long way to help her feels safer. Then you can start sitting on the floor in the room ignoring her but reading aloud softly for a while until she starts to get curious about you.

Hissing isn't always the drama we think it is. My Molly is a hisser, I've never known a cat hiss so much in my life. She even hisses at her toys sometimes. Hissing is a fearful warning (unless she just likes the sound of her own hiss) not aggression and I found stopping and backing off just a little and saying it's ok, not being fearful but respectful, helps give the two messages - you don't scare me but I understand your fear and I respect your space, and, I will always let you have your space when you want it so there is no need to swear at me.

I learned so much from my nervous Molly, one thing that really helped was watching videos of gentle horsemanship, Monty Roberts and others. The calm unfazed gentleness of him is inspirational.
starlitskie
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Re: HELP - newly adopted cat won't stop hissing

Post by starlitskie »

My advice would be to take your time with this cat. If you do relocate don't do it with stress/force. If she comes out for feeding you may be able to get her to walk into a carrier to eat and close the door if you wish to move her. Remain calm at all times, move slowly, don't show any fear, don't stare at her and when you are looking at her blink slowly/open and close your eyes as this makes you less threatening. I would encourage her to feed off a spoon and if she won't work from placing the food off the spoon on to the ground/bowl and try bringing this closer toward you until you can feed her off the spoon and then when she's comfortable she may allow you to pat her at this point. Another way to interact is see if she will play with a wand toy. Don't put your hand above her head or tower over her. Take your time with her. Hopefully she calms down and settles in more. It is hard to say without seeing but read the cats cues... flattening her ears, growling, enlarged pupils, tail twitching etc can all be signs you need to back off so just follow her lead.
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