New Home, New Kitties

Hello all.
My fiancÃ[emoji]169[/emoji]e and I just this past weekend moved into a new duplex. Long story short, our kitties (Audrey and Gilbert) seem quite different between our old apartment and new place.

Audrey seeks out far more attention and is much more sociable than before, but then again, that's never been a problem, nor has Audrey in general.

Gil, whom I've asked about before, has done a complete 180 in terms of his behaviour. He's scared of everything. If someone knocks on the door, he runs away (something he never did before) and he hides in the bedroom during the day. He's even started chewing on wood again.

But, I had a booboo myself today involving Gil. One thing he has become quite frightened of is the roll up blinds. Yesterday, one shot up and he got really scared, ran away, and we basically didn't see him until late in the evening again. He stayed away from futon (right next to the window) all day.

Then this afternoon (just about an hour ago), he wandered out of the bedroom, and I picked him up, pet him and he was purring quite nicely. I went over and sat on the futon, and went to open the blind. Well, you can imagine what happened next. He started squirming, I lost my hold on the blind, and it shot up.

I'm not sure if he sprayed or some urine just came out, but he ran away, and fast. Some got on our brand new carpet (I think I got it cleaned up alright; time will tell I guess), but now he's hidden himself again under the bed, and when I go to pet him, he sits for a second, and then backs away from my hand.

Basically, what can I do to help him calm down? I've tried Feliway (a variety of it) and I'm not sure if it's doing anything. And despite his neurotic behaviours (wool suckling, wood chewing), he's a fantastic cat and I'm kind of scared that I've done something wrong here.

Thoughts?!
Thanks...
peter

It's only been a few days since the move. Give him some time to get used to the new place. I'd keep using the Feliway. Don't force him out from under the bed, just get down to his level and talk quietly to him, play some soft classical music in the bedroom, but let him take his own time adjusting to the new environment. He may well get used to the blinds but he is just spooked right now. Patience and gentleness will probably do wonders for him. If you are tense about the situation, he'll pick up on that as well so try to relax yourself.

Let us know how he progresses.

And try not to operate the blinds when he's around.

Thanks for the thoughts. You're probably correct, but you know, it's just really weird seeing a cat that you've known for two years completely change character.
/peter

Gil in our new place (taken from outside):

Originally Posted by skwiotsmith

Thanks for the thoughts. You're probably correct, but you know, it's just really weird seeing a cat that you've known for two years completely change character.
/peter

Gil in our new place (taken from outside):

Click to expand...

Aw, he's so handsome.

Cats hate change usually so Gil is just being typical of cat behaviour. Let us know how he progresses.