I wouldn’t worry about it. When I got my cats, one of them hid in a small dark place (that place would vary) and meow plaintively. For THREE weeks! It took her about a month until she was used to the house enough to wander normally. She still flees in terror when company comes over, but will come out eventually to see who’s arrived.
Ooo, looks a lot like our cat Sal, who also has a little patch of white fur on the front of his chest. Handsome fellow. He’s almost 20 now and still quite lively.
That’s pretty close to the situation with our cat. She was a rescue and we have no idea abour her history before that. She was pretty skiddish and hid at first, coming out only to eat and mess. For us the behavior last for a good year or more. Gradually she warmed up to my young daughter (who we also got her for) and eventually to us too.
She’s much better now but it did take a significant amount of time and patience. This despite the fact no dogs have ever been in the house before. It’s just the way she was.
I never expect a new cat to eat much for three days, or to be seen much for a week. Sounds pretty normal from here.
I’m just going to agree that it takes some cats a while to acclimate, be patient and don’t try to rush things. You could also try some Feliway.
When I got my first cat, who was 6 at the time, it took her about a month before she became comfortable enough to lounge about out in the open and rub up on me and let me pet her. Before that she would only come out to eat and use the litter box.
When I got my second, a 1 year old, about a year ago and I let her out of the box from bringing her into my apartment for the first time she went nuts. The first thought in her head was, “Wow look at all this neat stuff for me to run around on and jump up and down on and smell and rub up against.” because that is what she did. She instantly took to my place.
It’s well within the range of normal. If I were you, I would simply pretend she wasn’t there for a while. IMO, if you keep trying to get her attention, you may freek her out more. It sounds like she might be a skittish cat as well. One of our cats is skittish. She will startle and run if you look at her funny, or just because. She is also the only cat we have that always seeks out a lap to lie on. The other cat will happily sit near you, and give you permission to pet him occasionally but not too much.
All cats are skittish, to one degree or another. She’ll get somewhat less so as she gets used to the normal sounds of your home. The TV scared my Katya the first time we turned it on after we gave her the run of our apartment, but it doesn’t seem to bother her now.
Cats don’t like sudden, loud noises or people moving fast toward them. Make sure your daughter understands that. This is a good thing for you, because it gives you a reason to ask your daughter to be quieter that she can’t really argue with (lots of parents of teenagers would love an excuse like this). My 3.5-year-old niece came to visit at Thanksgiving, and loves our cats. If she got too loud or started running around the house, I could say “shhh, you’ll scare the cats”. Aunt Anne doesn’t like loud noises or kids running around in the house, either, but we didn’t have to get into that.
I agree with the answers given so far.
But in the abstract, answering the title of the OP, a cat hiding can be cause for alarm because cats have a behaviour of hiding when they’re ill.
e.g. On only two occasions could I not find my cat for more than half a day. On both occasions she was very ill.
My two cats are still skittish - it’s a joke in our families that our cats are just rumours, because no one ever sees them when they come over. 
this sounds just like the cat we recently got always sneaking into small spaces like under the workings of a recliner chair,My query is how long do we keep her inside its been a week now and she is dying to escape
Let’s look at it from the cat’s point of view:
- New human oppressors
B. New environment
iii. New smells
4th. Probably different food - Probably different litter
VI. Different sounds, maybe even outside the range of human hearing.
That’s a LOT of change all at once. Her entire world is upside down. So the first thing she’s going to do is find herself some safe places. And that’s where she’ll be most of the time for a while. It’ll change. It’s a good sign she’ll hop up on the couch next to you and allow you to pet her for a while already. Don’t try to get her out of her safe places. She’ll come around.
A week is way too short. Don’t let her out until she is comfortable around you. You may never see her again. As all the above earlier comments say, she will come around. It is important not to go looking for her all the time and disturbing her in her little hidey holes. This just makes her upset and she will seek out yet another hiding place. One of my two current rescues took ages to acclimatise. His brother was easy, but this one was terribly wary, I used to lie of the floor with a blob of food on the end of my finger and he would come up and gingerly eat it if I was very still. Now he chases me around the house and sleeps on my bed bookending me along with his brother.
Sounds normal.
One thing you might do is make her a safe place in the living room or wherever you are most often. Set a cardboard box upside down in a quiet corner of that room, with a nice baby blanket or other comfy cloth inside, cut a small cat-sized entry hole in it (and maybe a back-side escape hole – leave a cardboard flap door). Then wait for her to find it. maybe bribe her with a few cat treats or a small bowl of cat food inside.
She will start to hide in that, even when you are in the room reading, watching TV, etc. But ignore her – don’t ever approach the box or touch her – that’s her ‘safe place’, leave her in it. Eventually she will start to peek out from the box and watch you in the room. You can try to entice her to come out to you with sweet talking, bribery with treats, etc. But never go toward her or her safe box – she has to come to you on her own.
It will take a while, but by degrees she will come out from her box into the room, sit near you on the couch, take over the middle of the couch to lay stretched out and push you to the edges, and do other cat-like behaviors.
Another possibility is the relaxing pheromones that are available at pet stores. I’ve never used them, but some friends have reported good results with them.
Is she STILL hiding?
zombie or no
both cats have been really spooked because they’ve seen them.
Zombies?
No…Them.
The cat that is now running around under my desk trying to get my attention also hid for his first week here.
Disclaimer: I didn’t read the whole thread.
It is absolutely normal for a new cat to hide. Once I acquired two rescue cats at the same time. I turned them loose in the house (they were strictly inside) and it was six weeks before I saw either one of them again. Food disappeared from their bowls, and poop appeared in the litter box, so I knew they were somewhere in the house. Eventually they came out and mixed in nicely with my other cats.