You might try leaving the television on tuned to the Weather channel, with the volume very low so he’ll have human sounds while you are at work. Either that, or maybe a radio tuned to adult contemporary turned way low. (For some reason many cats don’t mind that style of music and find it soothing.) Do talk as you go around the house, describe what you are doing quietly as though he were there watching you with a “What on earth are you doing human?!” expression. You want him to get used to your prescence. If you feel too weird talking to air, at least speak if you know you are in the same room as him. I think either he’s still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that your place is his new home and he’s safe, or he was pretty well left to his own devices and doesn’t know how to interact with humans. He’ll come round. Be gentle, and don’t force him. You might try sitting and reading in the room he’s lairing in, or doing some kind of quiet activity to get him used to you. He probalby thought he was in big trouble with the screen, which is why he’s hiding in earnest now.
I doubt he’s going to like the trip to the vet tomorrow, but I think it’s for his own good. At least I know where to find him now.
And he’s helped me clean up the closet.
Trip to the vet? Does he need his shots, or is it a health screening? He’s already neutered you said? Put a towel in the carrier before you put him in, so he has something to dig his claws into. When you bring him home, take the carrier to the room he’s been lairing in, open the door, and leave the room with the carrier open so he can go out in his own time. Maybe the vet’s will have some Feliway diffusers you could pick up as well, to help ease his transition? He should be fine even without them, but he’s been through a lot. Continue to reassure him that his world won’t go topsy turvy like it did a few days ago ever again if you have any say. He wants stability.
It’s a health screening more or less. All the shelter said was “apparently healthy”. My last cat had a ton of problems and I’d rather lose some psychic goodwill with this cat in exchange for having a cat that’s healthy.
The unhealthy cat situation was not happy.
Bump I hope Casey is doing well, and has been found to be in good health? How did the vet trip go?
My Katya did that once, after the fire alarm in our building went off. I thought she might have gotten out, to the point where I threw on a pair of pants under my nightshirt and was walking through the park behind our building, shaking a canister of treats and calling “Babies!” I got some weird looks for that one, until I asked the people giving me the looks if they’d seen a small gray cat.
She came out later on. We still haven’t figured out where she hid.
One of my housemates had a cat (a Siamese from Hell) that managed to get inside the brickwork of the fireplace, above the mantel (we found a loose brick at floor level). We finally had to knock another brick out to get the cat out.
Casey did fine going to the vet. He doesn’t make a sound. Even with a thermometer in him.
I had trouble finding him. I kept searching the closet and kept looking along the ground where all the boxes are. I was about to call the vet and postpone and then I looked up on a high shelf and there he was sort of staring at me going “You couldn’t find me here? I wasn’t even hiding much.”
He went into his carrier with no fuss and he has returned home relatively happy and returned to his Fortress of Solitude. The vet told me to just wait him out. She said he looked find and didn’t seem emotionally upset. She thinks he just wants to scope out his new territory. And he likely still smells my late cat around the house. Her incontinence lives on.
We have a cat was really shy, now he’s less. In addition to the advice already given, and I hope I don’t repeat somebody, here’s what we learned worked with ours.
Firstly, don’t look at him. He knows you look at things you intend to eat, or that you’re mad at.
Secondly, don’t move around. Watch TV (Nothing too loud though), read a book, or even better, take a nap. He’s not scared, he’s being careful and he won’t move while you’re active. Try not to scream when you wakeup and he’s looking at you a half an inch from your nose.
Keep us updated on his progress. I love this thread.
Gee, I didn’t know my cat and I had a fan club.
Anyway, Casey has seemed to have found a happy perch on a very high shelf in my closet. I can see him there and I can his head pointing down as he scopes out my apartment to do reconaissance. He still doesn’t come out when I’m there, but if I go to the closet, he lets me pet him.
He’s definitely not acting like a cat that’s terrified now. He doesn’t hiss (he has yet to make a sound of any kind) or do the arched back thing. He’s just biding his time waiting to make his move. Since I’m out now, he’s likely going to nibble some food or watch TV.
This cracked me up. Well, being stared at can be threatening to dogs, I imagine it makes sense for cats too.
I’m following Casey’s s l o w progress too. Go Casey go. (Just not too fast there mister.)
Last night as I was just going to bed, a small furry creature appeared in my bedroom. And then it jumped in my bed and we were going nose to nose. So Casey appears to have adapted to home more or less. I could hear him using the scratching post I bought and batting around toys. He likes sitting in the windows and looking out. When I got up, he was back in his perch in my hall closet, but I keep the door open and he sort of peers down at me like a feline Wally Cox sitting in the upper left hand square waiting to be called on for the block.
Awwww… bonding session! Just to let you know, this thread has 1.5k views. You’ve got quite a fan club going! Update soon, update often!
Guess this is a good time to use my sig, eh?
Awwwww!
Kitty’s feeling safer and has concluded that you’re not an axe murderer. 
Keep updating us.
He’s also done the thing with rubbing his head all over me, so I think he’s claimed me as his territory now.
Yep… he’s just about ready to suck out your soul. 
Ha! Good news.
cool