# My rescue cat is hiding, what if it never comes out? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 18, 2022, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723 "2022-12-18T01:58:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dummygladhands71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@dummygladhands71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dummygladhands71)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/41 "2022-12-21T04:08:18Z")
Thanks, one of my dear departed boys sprayed and I want to avoid that. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/42 "2022-12-21T04:08:31Z")
I think shelters tend to push it a bit, so they can adopt out neutered kittens and not have to rely on adopters’ agreements to get it done later. I would check with the vet. as to their current guidelines. But even if he’s too young to be neutered, he should be checked by a vet. and given whatever immunizations are recommended in the area. Even if he’s intended to be indoor-only, he should have his shots: for one thing, sometimes indoor cats get out; and for another, some diseases can be carried on humans’ clothes. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/43 "2022-12-21T12:37:31Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I think shelters tend to push it a bit, so they can adopt out neutered kittens and not have to rely on adopters’ agreements to get it done later. In Pennsylvania shelters cannot adopt unaltered animals without creating an escrow account to cover surgery. Thus, cats and dogs are spayed/neutered without regards to age. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/44 "2022-12-21T17:26:40Z")
The Best Cat in the World spent his first month inside hiding under the bed. Then he moved to the living room and hid under the loveseat for a couple of weeks. Then, one day, a switch flipped and he turned into the biggest mush boy evah. [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51842161380_414ac367ba_b.jpg "Steve3") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/191587192@N04/51842161380/in/album-72157719407794290/) ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/45 "2022-12-21T20:11:26Z")
It’s been less than a week, and he’s moving about during the day, exploring the space. I think he’s pretty much on track for adapting well to living there. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/46 "2022-12-21T21:41:51Z")
When I moved down to NC I brought a cat with me. I was concerned about how well he would adapt to both the change in location and to now being an only cat. When he was released from the carrier after the two-hour flight he immediately found a hiding place, and for at least a month the only reason I knew I had a cat was because the food bowl was being emptied and the litter box was being filled. Then I started spotting him under the TV stand, and I would lay on the floor in front of it and reach out to pet him. Eventually he adjusted and decided it was safe to join me on the couch and in bed. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/47 "2022-12-22T00:39:40Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > Then, one day, a switch flipped and he turned into the biggest mush boy evah. Yeah, but what about that gorgeous cat? ---
**Author:** ![dummygladhands71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@dummygladhands71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dummygladhands71)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/48 "2022-12-22T01:48:01Z")
That mush boy looks just like my new SMOL!! Who is doing better every day, I am pleased to report. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/49 "2022-12-22T02:37:57Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I have good friends who tamed an entirely feral cat; to the point at which not only would he let them hold and pat him, but he would come to me for pats, although he only saw me a couple of times a year. > > The cat in the OP, however, is a 3 to 4 month old kitten. Kits of that age are very often still fully domesticatable. We rescued three ferals. The youngest was only a few months old, but we did not bring in his two siblings until they had been ferals for at least a year. The two adapted fairly quickly but were still skitiish even at age 10. They never got into being picked up, but they really liked attention. We lost one at age 6, and one just recently. She gets along fine with the other cat. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/50 "2022-12-22T04:42:01Z")
> [@dummygladhands71](#): > > doing better every day, I am pleased to report. Prrrrrrr – Thanks for update! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/51 "2022-12-22T15:45:37Z")
I had a couple of kitties that I pondered naming Mold and Mildew because they were always hiding behind the toilet. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/52 "2022-12-22T21:30:33Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I had a couple of kitties that I pondered naming Mold and Mildew because they were always hiding behind the toilet The kitten described upthread (post #10) as having disappeared from under the bed had a sister. They both stayed under the bed for several days, at least when I was in the room. They were confined to one room until the (neutered) Tom Cat Already in Residence stopped threatening to kill them, which took some time. When they finally were let loose in the house, they rapidly acquired the nicknames Chaos and Destruction. I never bothered to try to figure out which one was Chaos and which one was Destruction. Chaos-and-Destruction! was pretty much a unit. (They also got individual names, of course; and wound up fast friends with Resident Tom, once they were no longer so tiny that they scared him.) – two kittens are in some ways easier than one. One kitten shut up alone in a room for over a month might have wound up seriously disturbed, especially as I wasn’t able to spend a huge amount of time in there every day (though I did manage some, or I wouldn’t have gotten kittens.) Two kittens shut up together were perfectly fine: each of them had an interactive endlessly fascinating and instructive playtoy, and each of them had somebody to cuddle with and to wash their ears. The kitten in the OP, when he ran all around the house meowing and peering out all the windows, may have been hunting for another cat. He probably hadn’t been alone with no feline company before. ---
**Author:** ![dummygladhands71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@dummygladhands71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dummygladhands71)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2022, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/53 "2022-12-23T01:50:27Z")
Yes, he’d been the 4th cat in a house with a new baby, so he lost his roomies ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2022, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/54 "2022-12-23T02:23:40Z")
Cats, despite that stuff that Almost Everybody Thinks They Know About Cats, are highly social creatures. Cats who are separated from all other cats as kittens, however, don’t properly learn how to behave around other cats, and some lose the ability. You might consider getting a second kitten while this one’s still in the adaptable age. Some individuals stay adaptable when they’re older, but some don’t. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2022, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723/55 "2022-12-23T18:47:09Z")
> [@dummygladhands71](#): > > That mush boy looks just like my new SMOL!! I hope he grows up to be just as smooshy and melty! Steve was an adult when he showed up on our doorstep and didn’t really know how to house cat, but he figured it out. I agree with the others who are suggesting getting another kitten. One kitten is a super pain in the ass. Two kittens are still a pain but so much easier than one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-rescue-cat-is-hiding-what-if-it-never-comes-out/976723.md?page=2)