My British Blue won't stop hiding

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anybody had any advice for me.

About 10 days ago I adopted a 2 year old British Blue girl. (I have
named her Burberry). When I first got her home, I followed all the
common advice of setting her up in a room with litter tray/food/water/
bed/toys etc, and opened the cage and let her come out by herself. At
first she was fine and sniffed around everything and looked quite
bewildered, but as soon as she discovered she could hide under the
bed, that's pretty much where she's stayed.

She comes out at night for food and litter tray, and I've been closing
the door to keep her in the bedroom for about the first 5 or 6 nights.
She would meow at me from the side of the bed, often every hour or so,
but woudln't come up on the bed or let me near her still. I've started
leaving the door open so she can explore the rest of the house while
I'm at work all day, and she likes to also hide under the couches and
tv cabinet.

I'm worried that she'll never come out! I know it takes time for adult
cats to adjust, but she seems so frightened and scared, and isn't
interested in toys or catnip or treats etc. Pretty much just hides
whenever there's someone home.

I'm wondering if I'm perhaps doing something wrong or missing
something that would make her transition easier? I love her already
but don't know what I'll do if she never comes out of hiding! I've
managed to pet her a couple of times when she's hid under a small
table that I can actually reach under and see her, but she sort of
glares at me and clearly doesn't like it!

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks
Nick

It takes time cats are like humans each act differently towards stress. You
got to be patient 10 days is not a long time at all

If you get a chance stay in the room where she is at when she comes out
talk to her quiet don't move towards her . If she will eats treats give
her a few

Leave the door open no matter what

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi everyone, I was wondering if anybody had any advice for me.

About 10 days ago I adopted a 2 year old British Blue girl. (I have
named her Burberry). When I first got her home, I followed all the
common advice of setting her up in a room with litter tray/food/water/
bed/toys etc, and opened the cage and let her come out by herself. At
first she was fine and sniffed around everything and looked quite
bewildered, but as soon as she discovered she could hide under the
bed, that's pretty much where she's stayed.

She comes out at night for food and litter tray, and I've been closing
the door to keep her in the bedroom for about the first 5 or 6 nights.
She would meow at me from the side of the bed, often every hour or so,
but woudln't come up on the bed or let me near her still. I've started
leaving the door open so she can explore the rest of the house while
I'm at work all day, and she likes to also hide under the couches and
tv cabinet.

I'm worried that she'll never come out! I know it takes time for adult
cats to adjust, but she seems so frightened and scared, and isn't
interested in toys or catnip or treats etc. Pretty much just hides
whenever there's someone home.

I'm wondering if I'm perhaps doing something wrong or missing
something that would make her transition easier? I love her already
but don't know what I'll do if she never comes out of hiding! I've
managed to pet her a couple of times when she's hid under a small
table that I can actually reach under and see her, but she sort of
glares at me and clearly doesn't like it!

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks
Nick

I would give her more time. If she continues to hide under the bed, see if
you can put her in a room by herself with food, water, litter, and her bed
that doesn't have a bed (human's) that she can hide under. Follow the same
principles. Provide her with food and sit quietly while she eats. Try to
engage her in an interactive toy (feather on a wand). Don't force yourself
on her.
Gail
wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi everyone, I was wondering if anybody had any advice for me.

About 10 days ago I adopted a 2 year old British Blue girl. (I have
named her Burberry). When I first got her home, I followed all the
common advice of setting her up in a room with litter tray/food/water/
bed/toys etc, and opened the cage and let her come out by herself. At
first she was fine and sniffed around everything and looked quite
bewildered, but as soon as she discovered she could hide under the
bed, that's pretty much where she's stayed.

She comes out at night for food and litter tray, and I've been closing
the door to keep her in the bedroom for about the first 5 or 6 nights.
She would meow at me from the side of the bed, often every hour or so,
but woudln't come up on the bed or let me near her still. I've started
leaving the door open so she can explore the rest of the house while
I'm at work all day, and she likes to also hide under the couches and
tv cabinet.

I'm worried that she'll never come out! I know it takes time for adult
cats to adjust, but she seems so frightened and scared, and isn't
interested in toys or catnip or treats etc. Pretty much just hides
whenever there's someone home.

I'm wondering if I'm perhaps doing something wrong or missing
something that would make her transition easier? I love her already
but don't know what I'll do if she never comes out of hiding! I've
managed to pet her a couple of times when she's hid under a small
table that I can actually reach under and see her, but she sort of
glares at me and clearly doesn't like it!

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks
Nick

On 29 Jul, 00:08, wrote:
Hi everyone, I was wondering if anybody had any advice for me.

About 10 days ago I adopted a 2 year old British Blue girl. (I have
named her Burberry). When I first got her home, I followed all the
common advice of setting her up in a room with litter tray/food/water/
bed/toys etc, and opened the cage and let her come out by herself. At
first she was fine and sniffed around everything and looked quite
bewildered, but as soon as she discovered she could hide under the
bed, that's pretty much where she's stayed.

She comes out at night for food and litter tray, and I've been closing
the door to keep her in the bedroom for about the first 5 or 6 nights.
She would meow at me from the side of the bed, often every hour or so,
but woudln't come up on the bed or let me near her still. I've started
leaving the door open so she can explore the rest of the house while
I'm at work all day, and she likes to also hide under the couches and
tv cabinet.

I'm worried that she'll never come out! I know it takes time for adult
cats to adjust, but she seems so frightened and scared, and isn't
interested in toys or catnip or treats etc. Pretty much just hides
whenever there's someone home.

I'm wondering if I'm perhaps doing something wrong or missing
something that would make her transition easier? I love her already
but don't know what I'll do if she never comes out of hiding! I've
managed to pet her a couple of times when she's hid under a small
table that I can actually reach under and see her, but she sort of
glares at me and clearly doesn't like it!

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks
Nick

as said before 10 days is NOTHING, the cat we got back in february
(abandoned by some horrid people who moved house and left her behind)
has really only in the last few weeks chilled out to let us come and
sit next to her on the floor and stroke her. Now she rolls on her side
and present me with her tummy whenever she sees me come near here when
she is sat next to the back door birdwatching, as if to say "here's my
tum tum, you can start by stroking me here first, thank you!". she
still does not actually come to us but she has at least started to
stay still when we approach her, whic is start i suppose, and when I
stroke her she purrs like a little engine, it is beautiful.

anyway, all that has taken about 4-5 months to achieve, mainly just
taking it at her pace and not forcing anything, sometimes just sitting
next to her on the floor whilst she sits there, 'meatloafing', and
eyeballs me with great suspicion. now she eyeballs me when i go near
her to see if i have got any treats on me and whether it is worth
flirting for a couple of whiskas temptations, she even recognises the
pink box now.

terri spent 3 days under the kitchen sink when we got her, we did not
see anything of her at all, just had to push plates of food and water
under for her, all we saw was this pair of huge scared eyes looking
out, and all we heard was the sound of munching when another plate of
tuna chunks had been pushed under the units. he cat i had as a kiddie,
Flossie (RB 2004) spent a good 2 weeks under my bed, refused to come
out except at night, spent all night miaowing pitifully. so it can
take a while but it really will be worth it so be patient.

Have you tried anything like a feliway diffuser? they are like plugin
things which emit aynthetic cat pheromones which the cat will find
calming. i have never used one myself but other people swear by them,
espcially when trying to integrate a couple of cats. get them from a
vet I think, about £15?

you coudl also read the excellent books by Vicky Halls, cat detective,
cat confidential, I have them all and can;t remember which one but one
tells you the best way to get a cat to feel safe inyour presence
enough to let you stroke her and to be able to build up a relationship
with her. Basically as previous psoters ahve said, just sit near where
she is, don't try to interact, maybe offer er some treats or tasty
food, ignore her after that even, but get her to realise that your
presence is not going to be threatening to her and that you mean her
no harm. If you start by forcing your attention on her it may push her
the other way and make her more scared of you which is definitely what
you don't want is it?

Also try to avoid direct eye contact as cats do find this
intimidating and coudl scare her. The one thing you coud try is to
look the cat inthe eyes then pretty much as soon as you have got eye
contact, close your eyes slower and blink at them a few times, and
then keep your eyes shut whilst facing them. cats sometimes do this to
indicate that they are no threat to each other (and to you) and the
cat may take this as a positive signal from you too (has worked for me
inthe past with nervous cat). certainly when you are offering as treat
thnk about looking away or just to the side so the cat doesn't feel as
though she is being 'eyeballed'.

most of all give her time, she may have come form a traumatic
situation and has been shunted from pillar to post with no idea of
what is going on and who to trust or where she is going to be next,
she is not sure right now whether she can trust you and is beign
understandably very wary of you right now until she is completely sure
that you mean her no harm (dontl take this the wrong way). remember
that she doesn't speak english and you don't speak 'miaow' and that
some of the things you may have been doing which have been in the
spirit of welcome and to show her you love her she may interpret very
differently! you just don't knwo how cats view us sometimes or the
stuff we do. just understand that she si probably rather sacred still,
rather confused, but if you go along with all the advice about sitting
near her but not trygin to inetract at first, just being with her in
close proximity, she will calm down and learn to trust you.

btw do we get to see any pictures of her? I bet she is real sweetie

best of luck, the wait will be worth it, bookie, jessie and terri

Thanks for your replies everybody!

I guess time is the answer to all of this. I've pretty much left her
alone when she's hiding, and plan to keep it that way. I talked to the
breeder that I got her from, and she said that she's not surprised
that she's a bit shy at first and it's completely normal. It's a b it
of a relief, I was getting so worried!

I'm trying to track down a feliway diffuser to see if this helps, but
no luck so far. I've been trying to slow-blinking and not making lots
of eye contact with her, as this was one of the first things I read
about when looking up the subject. Hopefully it will help in the long
run.

I do have 1 picture of her so far, but I don't know how to post them
on here!



bookie wrote:
On 29 Jul, 00:08, wrote:
Hi everyone, I was wondering if anybody had any advice for me.

About 10 days ago I adopted a 2 year old British Blue girl. (I have
named her Burberry). When I first got her home, I followed all the
common advice of setting her up in a room with litter tray/food/water/
bed/toys etc, and opened the cage and let her come out by herself. At
first she was fine and sniffed around everything and looked quite
bewildered, but as soon as she discovered she could hide under the
bed, that's pretty much where she's stayed.

She comes out at night for food and litter tray, and I've been closing
the door to keep her in the bedroom for about the first 5 or 6 nights.
She would meow at me from the side of the bed, often every hour or so,
but woudln't come up on the bed or let me near her still. I've started
leaving the door open so she can explore the rest of the house while
I'm at work all day, and she likes to also hide under the couches and
tv cabinet.

I'm worried that she'll never come out! I know it takes time for adult
cats to adjust, but she seems so frightened and scared, and isn't
interested in toys or catnip or treats etc. Pretty much just hides
whenever there's someone home.

I'm wondering if I'm perhaps doing something wrong or missing
something that would make her transition easier? I love her already
but don't know what I'll do if she never comes out of hiding! I've
managed to pet her a couple of times when she's hid under a small
table that I can actually reach under and see her, but she sort of
glares at me and clearly doesn't like it!

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks
Nick

as said before 10 days is NOTHING, the cat we got back in february
(abandoned by some horrid people who moved house and left her behind)
has really only in the last few weeks chilled out to let us come and
sit next to her on the floor and stroke her. Now she rolls on her side
and present me with her tummy whenever she sees me come near here when
she is sat next to the back door birdwatching, as if to say "here's my
tum tum, you can start by stroking me here first, thank you!". she
still does not actually come to us but she has at least started to
stay still when we approach her, whic is start i suppose, and when I
stroke her she purrs like a little engine, it is beautiful.

anyway, all that has taken about 4-5 months to achieve, mainly just
taking it at her pace and not forcing anything, sometimes just sitting
next to her on the floor whilst she sits there, 'meatloafing', and
eyeballs me with great suspicion. now she eyeballs me when i go near
her to see if i have got any treats on me and whether it is worth
flirting for a couple of whiskas temptations, she even recognises the
pink box now.

terri spent 3 days under the kitchen sink when we got her, we did not
see anything of her at all, just had to push plates of food and water
under for her, all we saw was this pair of huge scared eyes looking
out, and all we heard was the sound of munching when another plate of
tuna chunks had been pushed under the units. he cat i had as a kiddie,
Flossie (RB 2004) spent a good 2 weeks under my bed, refused to come
out except at night, spent all night miaowing pitifully. so it can
take a while but it really will be worth it so be patient.

Have you tried anything like a feliway diffuser? they are like plugin
things which emit aynthetic cat pheromones which the cat will find
calming. i have never used one myself but other people swear by them,
espcially when trying to integrate a couple of cats. get them from a
vet I think, about £15?

you coudl also read the excellent books by Vicky Halls, cat detective,
cat confidential, I have them all and can;t remember which one but one
tells you the best way to get a cat to feel safe inyour presence
enough to let you stroke her and to be able to build up a relationship
with her. Basically as previous psoters ahve said, just sit near where
she is, don't try to interact, maybe offer er some treats or tasty
food, ignore her after that even, but get her to realise that your
presence is not going to be threatening to her and that you mean her
no harm. If you start by forcing your attention on her it may push her
the other way and make her more scared of you which is definitely what
you don't want is it?

Also try to avoid direct eye contact as cats do find this
intimidating and coudl scare her. The one thing you coud try is to
look the cat inthe eyes then pretty much as soon as you have got eye
contact, close your eyes slower and blink at them a few times, and
then keep your eyes shut whilst facing them. cats sometimes do this to
indicate that they are no threat to each other (and to you) and the
cat may take this as a positive signal from you too (has worked for me
inthe past with nervous cat). certainly when you are offering as treat
thnk about looking away or just to the side so the cat doesn't feel as
though she is being 'eyeballed'.

most of all give her time, she may have come form a traumatic
situation and has been shunted from pillar to post with no idea of
what is going on and who to trust or where she is going to be next,
she is not sure right now whether she can trust you and is beign
understandably very wary of you right now until she is completely sure
that you mean her no harm (dontl take this the wrong way). remember
that she doesn't speak english and you don't speak 'miaow' and that
some of the things you may have been doing which have been in the
spirit of welcome and to show her you love her she may interpret very
differently! you just don't knwo how cats view us sometimes or the
stuff we do. just understand that she si probably rather sacred still,
rather confused, but if you go along with all the advice about sitting
near her but not trygin to inetract at first, just being with her in
close proximity, she will calm down and learn to trust you.

btw do we get to see any pictures of her? I bet she is real sweetie

best of luck, the wait will be worth it, bookie, jessie and terri

In article ,
says...
It takes time cats are like humans each act differently towards stress. You
got to be patient 10 days is not a long time at all

If you get a chance stay in the room where she is at when she comes out
talk to her quiet don't move towards her . If she will eats treats give
her a few

Leave the door open no matter what

I'll agree on that. Poor Evangeline (Angie). I adopted her in January of
2007. We had to move in April 2007 but she seems to have rebounded
nicely.

As you can see in this picture, she's adapted quite nicely and is a lap
fungus.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kd1s/39...7594534805296/

I'm glad she's settling in - gorgeous!!!!!

I uploaded the only photo I have so far of Burberry - I don't think it
does her justice (like all cat owners I imagine )

http://nickonz.smugmug.com/gallery/3...178002152-M-LB


T wrote:
In article ,
says...
It takes time cats are like humans each act differently towards stress. You
got to be patient 10 days is not a long time at all

If you get a chance stay in the room where she is at when she comes out
talk to her quiet don't move towards her . If she will eats treats give
her a few

Leave the door open no matter what

I'll agree on that. Poor Evangeline (Angie). I adopted her in January of
2007. We had to move in April 2007 but she seems to have rebounded
nicely.

As you can see in this picture, she's adapted quite nicely and is a lap
fungus.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kd1s/39...7594534805296/

Nick we have rules in this group called warn us when you show us a gorgeous
master ;-)

wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm glad she's settling in - gorgeous!!!!!

I uploaded the only photo I have so far of Burberry - I don't think it
does her justice (like all cat owners I imagine )

http://nickonz.smugmug.com/gallery/3...178002152-M-LB


T wrote:
In article ,
says...
It takes time cats are like humans each act differently towards stress.
You
got to be patient 10 days is not a long time at all

If you get a chance stay in the room where she is at when she comes
out
talk to her quiet don't move towards her . If she will eats treats
give
her a few

Leave the door open no matter what

I'll agree on that. Poor Evangeline (Angie). I adopted her in January of
2007. We had to move in April 2007 but she seems to have rebounded
nicely.

As you can see in this picture, she's adapted quite nicely and is a lap
fungus.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kd1s/39...7594534805296/

go to www.photobucket.com start your own web collection and than post a
link to it


wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for your replies everybody!

I guess time is the answer to all of this. I've pretty much left her
alone when she's hiding, and plan to keep it that way. I talked to the
breeder that I got her from, and she said that she's not surprised
that she's a bit shy at first and it's completely normal. It's a b it
of a relief, I was getting so worried!

I'm trying to track down a feliway diffuser to see if this helps, but
no luck so far. I've been trying to slow-blinking and not making lots
of eye contact with her, as this was one of the first things I read
about when looking up the subject. Hopefully it will help in the long
run.

I do have 1 picture of her so far, but I don't know how to post them
on here!



bookie wrote:
On 29 Jul, 00:08, wrote:
Hi everyone, I was wondering if anybody had any advice for me.

About 10 days ago I adopted a 2 year old British Blue girl. (I have
named her Burberry). When I first got her home, I followed all the
common advice of setting her up in a room with litter tray/food/water/
bed/toys etc, and opened the cage and let her come out by herself. At
first she was fine and sniffed around everything and looked quite
bewildered, but as soon as she discovered she could hide under the
bed, that's pretty much where she's stayed.

She comes out at night for food and litter tray, and I've been closing
the door to keep her in the bedroom for about the first 5 or 6 nights.
She would meow at me from the side of the bed, often every hour or so,
but woudln't come up on the bed or let me near her still. I've started
leaving the door open so she can explore the rest of the house while
I'm at work all day, and she likes to also hide under the couches and
tv cabinet.

I'm worried that she'll never come out! I know it takes time for adult
cats to adjust, but she seems so frightened and scared, and isn't
interested in toys or catnip or treats etc. Pretty much just hides
whenever there's someone home.

I'm wondering if I'm perhaps doing something wrong or missing
something that would make her transition easier? I love her already
but don't know what I'll do if she never comes out of hiding! I've
managed to pet her a couple of times when she's hid under a small
table that I can actually reach under and see her, but she sort of
glares at me and clearly doesn't like it!

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks
Nick

as said before 10 days is NOTHING, the cat we got back in february
(abandoned by some horrid people who moved house and left her behind)
has really only in the last few weeks chilled out to let us come and
sit next to her on the floor and stroke her. Now she rolls on her side
and present me with her tummy whenever she sees me come near here when
she is sat next to the back door birdwatching, as if to say "here's my
tum tum, you can start by stroking me here first, thank you!". she
still does not actually come to us but she has at least started to
stay still when we approach her, whic is start i suppose, and when I
stroke her she purrs like a little engine, it is beautiful.

anyway, all that has taken about 4-5 months to achieve, mainly just
taking it at her pace and not forcing anything, sometimes just sitting
next to her on the floor whilst she sits there, 'meatloafing', and
eyeballs me with great suspicion. now she eyeballs me when i go near
her to see if i have got any treats on me and whether it is worth
flirting for a couple of whiskas temptations, she even recognises the
pink box now.

terri spent 3 days under the kitchen sink when we got her, we did not
see anything of her at all, just had to push plates of food and water
under for her, all we saw was this pair of huge scared eyes looking
out, and all we heard was the sound of munching when another plate of
tuna chunks had been pushed under the units. he cat i had as a kiddie,
Flossie (RB 2004) spent a good 2 weeks under my bed, refused to come
out except at night, spent all night miaowing pitifully. so it can
take a while but it really will be worth it so be patient.

Have you tried anything like a feliway diffuser? they are like plugin
things which emit aynthetic cat pheromones which the cat will find
calming. i have never used one myself but other people swear by them,
espcially when trying to integrate a couple of cats. get them from a
vet I think, about £15?

you coudl also read the excellent books by Vicky Halls, cat detective,
cat confidential, I have them all and can;t remember which one but one
tells you the best way to get a cat to feel safe inyour presence
enough to let you stroke her and to be able to build up a relationship
with her. Basically as previous psoters ahve said, just sit near where
she is, don't try to interact, maybe offer er some treats or tasty
food, ignore her after that even, but get her to realise that your
presence is not going to be threatening to her and that you mean her
no harm. If you start by forcing your attention on her it may push her
the other way and make her more scared of you which is definitely what
you don't want is it?

Also try to avoid direct eye contact as cats do find this
intimidating and coudl scare her. The one thing you coud try is to
look the cat inthe eyes then pretty much as soon as you have got eye
contact, close your eyes slower and blink at them a few times, and
then keep your eyes shut whilst facing them. cats sometimes do this to
indicate that they are no threat to each other (and to you) and the
cat may take this as a positive signal from you too (has worked for me
inthe past with nervous cat). certainly when you are offering as treat
thnk about looking away or just to the side so the cat doesn't feel as
though she is being 'eyeballed'.

most of all give her time, she may have come form a traumatic
situation and has been shunted from pillar to post with no idea of
what is going on and who to trust or where she is going to be next,
she is not sure right now whether she can trust you and is beign
understandably very wary of you right now until she is completely sure
that you mean her no harm (dontl take this the wrong way). remember
that she doesn't speak english and you don't speak 'miaow' and that
some of the things you may have been doing which have been in the
spirit of welcome and to show her you love her she may interpret very
differently! you just don't knwo how cats view us sometimes or the
stuff we do. just understand that she si probably rather sacred still,
rather confused, but if you go along with all the advice about sitting
near her but not trygin to inetract at first, just being with her in
close proximity, she will calm down and learn to trust you.

btw do we get to see any pictures of her? I bet she is real sweetie

best of luck, the wait will be worth it, bookie, jessie and terri

On 29 Jul, 08:47, "Matthew" wrote:
go towww.photobucket.com start your own web collection and than post a
link to it

wrote in message

oups.com...
Thanks for your replies everybody!

I guess time is the answer to all of this. I've pretty much left her
alone when she's hiding, and plan to keep it that way. I talked to the
breeder that I got her from, and she said that she's not surprised
that she's a bit shy at first and it's completely normal. It's a b it
of a relief, I was getting so worried!

I'm trying to track down a feliway diffuser to see if this helps, but
no luck so far. I've been trying to slow-blinking and not making lots
of eye contact with her, as this was one of the first things I read
about when looking up the subject. Hopefully it will help in the long
run.

I do have 1 picture of her so far, but I don't know how to post them
on here!



bookie wrote:
On 29 Jul, 00:08, wrote:
Hi everyone, I was wondering if anybody had any advice for me.

About 10 days ago I adopted a 2 year old British Blue girl. (I have
named her Burberry). When I first got her home, I followed all the
common advice of setting her up in a room with litter tray/food/water/
bed/toys etc, and opened the cage and let her come out by herself. At
first she was fine and sniffed around everything and looked quite
bewildered, but as soon as she discovered she could hide under the
bed, that's pretty much where she's stayed.

She comes out at night for food and litter tray, and I've been closing
the door to keep her in the bedroom for about the first 5 or 6 nights.
She would meow at me from the side of the bed, often every hour or so,
but woudln't come up on the bed or let me near her still. I've started
leaving the door open so she can explore the rest of the house while
I'm at work all day, and she likes to also hide under the couches and
tv cabinet.

I'm worried that she'll never come out! I know it takes time for adult
cats to adjust, but she seems so frightened and scared, and isn't
interested in toys or catnip or treats etc. Pretty much just hides
whenever there's someone home.

I'm wondering if I'm perhaps doing something wrong or missing
something that would make her transition easier? I love her already
but don't know what I'll do if she never comes out of hiding! I've
managed to pet her a couple of times when she's hid under a small
table that I can actually reach under and see her, but she sort of
glares at me and clearly doesn't like it!

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks
Nick

as said before 10 days is NOTHING, the cat we got back in february
(abandoned by some horrid people who moved house and left her behind)
has really only in the last few weeks chilled out to let us come and
sit next to her on the floor and stroke her. Now she rolls on her side
and present me with her tummy whenever she sees me come near here when
she is sat next to the back door birdwatching, as if to say "here's my
tum tum, you can start by stroking me here first, thank you!". she
still does not actually come to us but she has at least started to
stay still when we approach her, whic is start i suppose, and when I
stroke her she purrs like a little engine, it is beautiful.

anyway, all that has taken about 4-5 months to achieve, mainly just
taking it at her pace and not forcing anything, sometimes just sitting
next to her on the floor whilst she sits there, 'meatloafing', and
eyeballs me with great suspicion. now she eyeballs me when i go near
her to see if i have got any treats on me and whether it is worth
flirting for a couple of whiskas temptations, she even recognises the
pink box now.

terri spent 3 days under the kitchen sink when we got her, we did not
see anything of her at all, just had to push plates of food and water
under for her, all we saw was this pair of huge scared eyes looking
out, and all we heard was the sound of munching when another plate of
tuna chunks had been pushed under the units. he cat i had as a kiddie,
Flossie (RB 2004) spent a good 2 weeks under my bed, refused to come
out except at night, spent all night miaowing pitifully. so it can
take a while but it really will be worth it so be patient.

Have you tried anything like a feliway diffuser? they are like plugin
things which emit aynthetic cat pheromones which the cat will find
calming. i have never used one myself but other people swear by them,
espcially when trying to integrate a couple of cats. get them from a
vet I think, about £15?

you coudl also read the excellent books by Vicky Halls, cat detective,
cat confidential, I have them all and can;t remember which one but one
tells you the best way to get a cat to feel safe inyour presence
enough to let you stroke her and to be able to build up a relationship
with her. Basically as previous psoters ahve said, just sit near where
she is, don't try to interact, maybe offer er some treats or tasty
food, ignore her after that even, but get her to realise that your
presence is not going to be threatening to her and that you mean her
no harm. If you start by forcing your attention on her it may push her
the other way and make her more scared of you which is definitely what
you don't want is it?

Also try to avoid direct eye contact as cats do find this
intimidating and coudl scare her. The one thing you coud try is to
look the cat inthe eyes then pretty much as soon as you have got eye
contact, close your eyes slower and blink at them a few times, and
then keep your eyes shut whilst facing them. cats sometimes do this to
indicate that they are no threat to each other (and to you) and the
cat may take this as a positive signal from you too (has worked for me
inthe past with nervous cat). certainly when you are offering as treat
thnk about looking away or just to the side so the cat doesn't feel as
though she is being 'eyeballed'.

most of all give her time, she may have come form a traumatic
situation and has been shunted from pillar to post with no idea of
what is going on and who to trust or where she is going to be next,
she is not sure right now whether she can trust you and is beign
understandably very wary of you right now until she is completely sure
that you mean her no harm (dontl take this the wrong way). remember
that she doesn't speak english and you don't speak 'miaow' and that
some of the things you may have been doing which have been in the
spirit of welcome and to show her you love her she may interpret very
differently! you just don't knwo how cats view us sometimes or the
stuff we do. just understand that she si probably rather sacred still,
rather confused, but if you go along with all the advice about sitting
near her but not trygin to inetract at first, just being with her in
close proximity, she will calm down and learn to trust you.

btw do we get to see any pictures of her? I bet she is real sweetie

best of luck, the wait will be worth it, bookie, jessie and terri- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Exactly. I know it is easy for us to say don't worry, when we are not
there with you going through this. But I would say the same thing- 5 6
days is not a long time, believe me!!
Taz spent 2 weeks under my bed, doing exactly what Burberry is doing
now. I tried every trick in the book, but he wasn't having any of it,
Lol;o)

You know what to do, all you can do now is sit back and wait until she
is ready. She *Will* come out in her own time, & trust you the most
for not forcing her to do anything against her will. What a sweetie
Pie, by the way!!

Welcome to the Cat-Slave society too,
Sheelagh "o"