He moved around last night from a very secretive position in the kitchen to a slightly more open position in the back of a closet. I thought I heard some scurrying last night as I went to bed.
Congrats on your new kitty, BobT!
We have a scaredy cat who hid for about a week after we brought her home. She stills gets worried when we have company or anything changes too much, but she gets a little braver each day. We just let her do it on her own schedule, and that seems to be working.
Casey will probably figure out very quickly that you’re the source of food and affection and will start coming out to see you.
Our late cat used to hide in the covered litter box when he got scared. When we moved into our house, he spent the first day in there.
However, I have coworkers who tell me that Casey has some sort of problem and I need to do something about this. But I don’t think there is much I can do other than wait around for him. Perhaps I’ll try some hostage negotiation techniques.
Your coworkers are mistaken. So long as the cat is eating, drinking and using the litterbox he’s fine. He might just be a bit more shy in nature. I’ll second the idea of leaving out an unwashed towel for him to bed down on. (Though you may not ever get it back, it would probably get the cat used to you and feeling cuddly towards you.) If he is still anxious after a few weeks (some cats are just very timid) I might see about getting something like a Feliway diffuser to see if that might help ease his stress. I’d say he’s just fine though, since he’s already switched lairs. Congratulations on your new companion.
Our latest cat kept hidden the first day or two when we brought her home. What eventually lured her out was not love or food, but string! She has a very playful nature, and would gladly represent the US on the Olympic String-Chasing Team.
We will excuse you from the requirement for pictures in a kitty thread until the kitty comes out of hiding.
I’ve got a torbie-point Siamese mix- aren’t they beautiful?
Poor kitty!
I kept the Neville kitties in our spare bathroom, with their food and litter box, for a couple of days after we brought them home. They didn’t try to hide, though, but they were young, and every cat is different.
If you are worried, you might want to ask the shelter what’s a normal amount of time for a new cat to hide.
And my Katya will gladly represent us in the kitty high-jump. They have a cat tower where the top nest is about 5 1/2 feet off the ground (they can look down on me from it, which I suppose is part of the attraction). There are lower platforms to allow the cats to get up there gradually, but I have seen Katya jump up to that nest from the ground (she gets her front paws over the edge of the nest, and pulls herself up by them).
I actually have a couple of photos, but I have no idea how to post them on the board. Wouldn’t I have to link to them?
You have to store them in an online album, like webshots or flickr (there’s tons) and then you can link to them using the linky icon thingie.
Since people have asked, here are photos of the cat hiding in various places.
He looks like a big guy! Is he?
He weighs a little under 9 lbs. I have found that some of his food has been nibbled on and he left a small deposit in the litter box. Which I assume he does when I’m not around. I put an old towel inside a box in the closet. Maybe that will help.
Mr. Kiminy and I have dealt with three new cats in our 20-year relationship.
The first cat was absolutely scared of new situations and people. We “adopted” her at a yard sale, from a woman who needed to rid herself of one cat, and whose only other choice was to give one of her cats to a farmer who would have just added said cat to the “herd” in the barn. This cat was extremely shy–both with people and with other cats. She had apparently lost her tail in an accident when she was a very young kitten, and the woman we got her from a couple of years later had paid for the medical bills herself when she found the cat on her porch with a bleeding tail stump. This cat literally did hide in a kitchen cabinet for the first week or so after coming to live with us. She did come out at night to eat, drink, and use the litter box, but we didn’t see her at all for several days. (She ended up accidentally getting out of the apartment about three weeks after coming to live with us, then showed up on our doorstep a day or so later like she owned the place.)
We had that cat for 18 years. She hated other cats, so we didn’t really want to burden her with another cat, especially since she had to tolerate the two kids we had while we had her. We eventually had her put to sleep rather than let her die naturally of kidney failure. She was shy her entire life, and we actually had visitors come to stay with us for 3-4 days before she allowed them to see her at all. She was the most lovable cat I’ve ever known, though, for her human family members. (She adopted our daughter (the first-born) as her own “kitten”, including standing guard over her when our daughter was an infant, then playing tag with her when she was learning to crawl and walk.)
A couple of months after losing her, we adopted a stray cat who was obviously very fond of people. His personality is definitely more dog-like than cat-like, though. He follows me around like I am his “herd-master,” for example. He also comes to the door to greet visitors, and he loves to play fetch with his cat toys.
A week or so after he came to live with us, we picked up a female cat from the Humane Society. We had always talked about having two cats, but it didn’t seem fair to our first cat, who was very territorial. The newest cat was shy, but had apparently never met another cat before in her life, so we had to keep the two cats separated completely for a couple of weeks, until we could get the stray neutered. She is also shy, though, and was quite content to spend her first two weeks with us in a warm, isolated basement utility room, with plenty of food and a clean litterbox.
My own “gut” says that you should not shut him into one room during the acclimation period. Let him hide in a cupboard or whatever if he wants during the day, but leave all of the doors open at night or when you aren’t at home, and let him wander and explore. He may not go very far, but it will give him the opportunity to let him get to know his new surroundings on his own.
(Pics of our current cats. The male, overly friendly cat is on the left, and the female shy cat is on the right.)
Thanks for the reassurance here folks. Casey seems to have a home in the closet, although I hope he doesn’t turn it into a litter box. Although that would motivate me to throw some of that junk out. I’m amazed at what I keep in there.
I’m sure that one day soon, he will come out of his shell a bit. One odd thing is that I have not heard him mew once. I wonder if he isn’t doing that because he doesn’t want to give away his position.
Just remember, this is how things are from his perspective:
Give him time for his head to stop spinning from all the changes. 
He’s still not sure if he’s at your place to stay for good yet. Let him come out in his own time, be quiet and still if you see him out of the corner of your eye, and maybe speak queitly and reassuringly to him. Speak to him as you clean his litterbox and give him fresh food and water, so he’ll get used to you.
Adding, speak to him even if he’s not in sight, let him get used to your sounds, but don’t be abrupt and raucous. Probably before two weeks is out you’ll be seeing more of him, but maybe not. Was he abused in his original home? Why was he just dropped off so suddenly? Is he Siamese? If so, are you prepared for the Siamese temperment? (We’ve got a Siamese mix of some kind.) If you’re not sure, read up on it while he’s getting adjusted so you can deal with things as they come up, if they come up. Maybe the people he was with beforehand didn’t know how to cope with things and how to divert his behaviors?
All I was told by the shelter was that his owner had to give him up because a landlord wouldn’t let them keep a cat. He already had a name and was fixed and looks to be in good health. He’s not Siamese as far as I know. I took home the same day he was dropped off at the shelter, so he had a tumultuous Saturday.
Cool, then he just needs time to get his bearings is all. 
Ah, heh. The reason I wondered if he was Siamese is because I saw the term “point” and went from there. I see now you mean his ears have tufts, or he has lynx coloration correct?
Since most cats I’ve dealt with in my life have been generic types, all I know is that they told me “You’ve got a lynx point!” And I said “OK”. His previous owner called him “Guero”, which is Spanish for “Blondie”. He has yet to make a noise so I don’t think he has much Siamese in him. Perhaps I will rent “Lady and The Tramp” and see if he identifies with any character in it.
BobT, he’s adorable He looks a lot like don Francisco, one of my kitties.
I don’t know if Siamese are naturally more high-strung than other cats, although I’ve been told by some people that they are. (Then again, I’ve been told they’re standoffish, and that’s definately not the case with don Francisco.) But I know that -my- Siamese is more high strung than Cordelia, my Maine Coon tortie. She’s all about greeting new people, and if I tell her “no!”, she looks at me like she has absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. But don Francisco generally hides at first when new people come over (though he does eventually come out to investigate), and if I take a sharp tone with him, he runs and hides. Plus, if he gets too nervous, he lets out the most unholy and vile of cat farts, which motivates me to make sure he doesn’t get nervous. At least not when he’s downwind of me. 
So I’d say your guy will come around.
If he doesn’t, try setting up a “safe room” for him. This would be a not too big room that you don’t go into very often. It would have some food and water, some toys, a litterbox, a scratching post, and maybe a little space to hide in or under. Let him get acclimated to that small space first, and used to you, before giving him the run of the house. (This is also a good idea if he’s showing behavioral problems that might be due to him feeling overwhelmed.) It sounds cruel to someone who’s used to their cat having the run of the house, but it helps a nervous cat to keep from having too much shoved on them at once, which can sometimes help them to cope better.
Good luck! I’ll bet that in no time, your kitty will be bonding with you and waking you up by flicking his tail in your face at 6am because he wants to be fed nownownow.