I don’t want to to be that person, but I got my cat from a rescue group in Feb 2009. She was very affectionate at the facility, but I wasn’t too surprised when she disappeared under the bed when we got home. At this moment, shortly before Christmas, 2022, she is behind the couch, where she spends most of her day. If I’m the only one at home, she may venture out to lie in the middle of the living room, but most of her day is spent behind the couch (and that’s because we now keep all the bedroom doors closed.)
First thing in the morning, she’ll come out to get a treat when I let the dog out. Late in the evening when I let the dog out for her last pee, she’ll come out for more treats. When no one is home (or it’s just me) she’ll come out to eat, drink, or use the litter box. No, she’s not afraid of the pug - in fact, I think she could kick the little canine butt. And I’ve also seen her groom or be groomed by her feline step-brother. But mostly, she hides. No clue why - she’s never been mistreated here, but I can’t speak for the first 11 months of her life. On very rare occasions, she might let my husband pet her.
Early life experiences (or lack of them) is such a crucial shaper of feline-human interaction that, personally, I wouldn’t get a non-kitten cat of unknown origins.
I am involved with a local cat rescue and I have my share of foster cats. Most have actually been interested in humans but maybe I have just been lucky. We have a great adult cat in the house that just loves kittens and is a great foster brother and he does very VERY well at making even scared cats feel welcome.
However, I did have one cat that hid and hid (I keep them isolated from the other cat for several days or until they seem to interact well which, as I said, the resident cat excels at). Turns out he was from the home of an elder person who died and was likely extremely bonded. He hid for 2 days not drinking or eating or litter box using. So, I then would go into the room and lay down on the floor and read…or watch TV or nap and sleep at night. I would almost always ignore him, or talk sweet talk and every once in awhile try to entice him out with a toy. It only took about a day for him to start getting curious about me and the second night (his fourth) awoke to find him sleeping on my chest.
If the cat is truly feral though, there isn’t much you can do.
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.
That took them several years, though; the first year or two of which he lived in the rafters in their basement, and wouldn’t come near anybody. (He wound up in their house in the first place because they found him sick and starving on their porch, and thought he’d come to them for help. They scooped him up and took him to the vet; and it wasn’t until he’d gained enough strength to fight back that they realized he was feral, and had been on their porch for the same reason a fox or racoon sick to the point of death might have been: they had cat food out on the porch.)
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 had a cat (around 2 years, had been domesticated at one point but living on the street) who stayed in the ceiling of the basement for 3 weeks. He did come out to eat, drink, and do his business, though. He eventually got less careful and walked on ceiling tiles, which fell down in cartoon fashion behind him. I reached up and got him when he reached the wall, and he was a sociable cat after that.
Yes, the cat I spoke of earlier had many bad behaviors, that I ultimately attributed to his being very poorly socialized by his previous family. Took me a year to break him of the worst habits once I realized what was going on, but he was still a bit psycho the rest of his life. He didn’t live very long due to a heart condition, but it was an intense couple of years there.
I don’t usually need to go get them; they just show up.
They’ve generally been great cats. The most troublesome cat I’ve ever had was of entirely known origins; I was there the day he was born. (He lived to be over 19. I loved him dearly, but most people wouldn’t go near him.)
Back under the couch today, I moved some wet food close. He got spastic last nite, ran all over the house meowing, got under the bed. Early this morning he got up on every window sill he could reach, knocking down all sorts of things in the process. But he has used the litter box and had some water. I think there may have been a urine accident just at the edge of the couch on the tile, easily cleaned it up. I put some catnip down at the back edge of the couch where he is. And I ran bird videos on my tablet set up at the side of the couch so he could watch them if he was bored. I am a dope.
That was how my cat acted when I first adopted him. He would hide all day, but at night he wanted to come out and explore, including knocking a bunch of things over. Even climbing over me while I was trying to sleep. Then he’d go back under the bed in the morning.
Glad to see that he came out! He may hide a lot for a while; but it gets boring hiding. He’ll come out again. (And knock more stuff over. Including things you didn’t think he could reach: kittens that age can literally climb the walls.)
– most cats aren’t interested in catnip when they’re that young.
Sounds like he’s getting more brave…that’s good, albeit now a “terror on paws” knocking things around. We adopted two sibling kittens two years ago, and just be glad you don’t have “double trouble”…we had to kitten proof the entire house - wasn’t a place they didn’t get into or jump up on, etc. And at 2 years old, they still race around here like it’s the Indy 500 or a parkour course.
One of our newer boys (just out of kittenhood) is the inquisitive one and decided a couple of wine glasses on a counter were in his way while exploring the interesting-smelling things beyond the glasses… so the glasses were unceremoniously gotten out of the way. I guess he thought it wasn’t his fault gravity got involved.
This was a family of rescues from a hoarder house: a young mother and two tom kittens who we’ve kept together.
Anyway, when we brought them into the house, momma Snow made sure she found all the good hiding spots for her brood and stayed there as much as possible, but eventually they all warmed up to us in a couple of days and now they own the place.
He’s out sometimes now during the day, this morning he was nowhere to be found, and this getting down on my belly to look under the couch is wearing on me. Finally found him behind the suitcases in the closet from whence he dashed (you got it) under the couch. But progress has been made and I’m hoping to get him to the vet after the first for the inevitable ball clipping. Thanks, all.
This should not be an urgent problem, though. In fact, I would wait until the cat is half a year old for that. For now, I would let the cat get comfortable at his own pace. Leave some toys around.
Check with the vet you are planning to use for their guidelines on when to neuter. Most do it by weight rather than age. If you wait too long and a young intact male starts spraying, he may not stop the learned behavior once he is altered.
