*Updated again* Advice on adopting a very shy, little kitten! *Updated with pics*

sheenaread

There is nothing at all wrong with your kittens behaviour. Just like people they all have different characters. Some more forward than others. Just take it slowly.

What she sees at present is two great big giant creatures looming over her trying to get her to do things or even just staring at her. You've made great progress getting her to eat a little and use her tray. Remember a kittens stomach at her age is only the size of a 1p piece so don't expect her to eat loads. Little and often. If your using wet food put a little in a dish and place it near to where she is hiding. If she doesn't eat it after a while throw it away. Even though the weather hasn't been great the temperature will make the food unappealing compared to freshly put down food. You might find she'll eat at night when she feels it safe to come out cos none of them big giants are around.

My last rescue cat was 8 months old when I got her and she did not eat for four days, just hid away. She then started to eat at night when it was dark and quiet. She then became the most affectionate cat you could imagine but in all of her 13 years of life she never stopped hiding away when strangers came into the house or even sometimes when someone came to the door. She would then come out when she felt it was safe. Just her way her individual character.

Once she knows your not going to hurt her then your problems will go.

Take care.

Lancslass1982

^ Yep, that's what we're doing at the moment, taking the food to her. She's not hiding as much as she was and she's way more relaxed, lounging about on the dining room chairs. The little !!!!!! managed to get her collar off yesterday, and there is no way we're getting near enough to get that back on!!:rotfl:

marmiterulesok

I'm sure she's exploring the house fully when you're asleep!

It's a slow process,but everyday she'll settle in a little bit more.

Cats tend to prefer eating at night I believe -as they mainly hunt at night.

How cunning of her to get her collar off!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Tygermoth

We went to the RSPCA to get two older girls and came home with three black n white kitten boys. (before going to the centre I said no to kittens and no to boys see how that worked out )

They were abandoned (dumped) so were all painfully shy, undeveloped and malnourished as had been taken from mum to early. We just put them in a room with toys, litter tray and some bedding of theirs and ours all mixed together to get them used to our smell. We took it slow, went in three or four times a day sat in the middle of the floor and chatted to each other. They slowly came to us and we moved on from there.


5 years on and with us they are happy contented cats. However, as far as anyone else is concerned we don’t have cats. As soon as the gate goes (it has a distinctive shink noise) they leg it with thunderous noise upstairs not to be seen until whatever visitor has left.

Lancslass1982

Bella has been with us almost 4 weeks now, so thought i'd do a little update. As I type this, she is sat on my legs, behind the laptop, peering round the side of my screen!!:D

Just this weekend she has started to leap onto my lap and sit purring whilst she gets tickles and strokes. She's still quite skittish, but she is a completely different little kitten from the petrified little thing, we picked up 4 weeks ago.

Here she is yesterday and today on my lap:



And one of her wondering just what I was doing:

Fire_Fox

Awww thanks for the photos, she is gorgeous and looks like she is settling in beautifully. What a change from burying her head in the armpit and ears flattened photos!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

It's lovely to see how settled she is. Thanks for posting pics :)
Tilly

marmiterulesok

That's great that she's doing so well.Thanks for the update.

Tiglath

You've done so well with her We've taken on 3 semi-feral kittens over the years - one is currently upside-down in a pile of laundry, one still mainly lives outside but comes in for food and fuss twice a day, and the third snuggled on the sofa with us last night for the first time in 10 years.

Owain_Moneysaver

Lancslass1982 wrote: »

If I do the Ctrl and Alt will you do the Del please mummy? It's hard with paws.