When to be worried after a move

So my bella is having a hard time still after a move into our first home. Its very different from our apartment, it was not very noisy, but this one is- it has alot of creaky stairs, etc. I also could have done the intro better- she was so stressed out she pooped in the cat carrier.
So at first, she was hiding all the time, but now she comes out more in the evening:

-She will take some milk, but i dont think she has been eating her kibble, but she will eat some meat baby food I give her
-she still is freaked out by stairs
-she still wont come out from underneath the day bed during the day...she will come out some in the morning but not alot.
- I think she may be using her box, but not sure. Her cat tree is upstairs, which she goes to at night...I will find her and otis sleeping in it.

So this has been going on for a few days, and we have gotten a feliway diffuser a few days ago as well. Im just wondering everyone else's experience, and if I should be concerned yet.

Thanks!

awww poor baby. I would not give her milk, as this can upset her tummy.

I would confine her to one room. Cats are territorial, so let her get use to one room first, then you can slowly let her out into other parts.

Feliway will help her, too.

Poor girl is having a hard time adjusting. You definitely need to confine her in one room with food, water, litter and other such as climber or scratching post. It can be extremely stressful for a kitty to move from one home to another, especially without a slow introduction.

When we moved into a house, we confined the kitties to the bedroom at first. There were five when we moved - three of them hid under the cedar chest for the first few days. I couldn't get the food bowl under there AND have room for them to get their heads in there to eat, so we put the kibble next to it. They did come out to eat, but if I were you, I'd just put the litter box under one end of the bed and food and water down at the other. Or certainly right near it.

We had to feed them in the bedroom, because like with your kitty (most) of them wouldn't come out. The last hold-out came out two weeks after we were in the house. We left the bedroom door open after day two and left it up to them. They'd come out a little bit at night to explore the upstairs - but except for our once kitty (who thought we'd moved into the house JUST for him and it was ALL his! ), they took quite a while to adjust.

We used food to bribe them around into the house. Ours free-feed kibble, but we also feed them one wet meal of food every day at around dinner time. We started feeding that wet meal in the upstairs hallway after about two weeks. After a few days, we fed them at the bottom of the stairs. A couple of the cats were afraid of the stairs, but they went down for dinner. After that, they'd go down at night and explore around (most of their cat trees were down in the living room - we put a LOT of stuff that smelled like them down there and put new beds upstairs). We then started moving that wet food meal through the living room, and I'd say it took about a month in total before we finally had them eat their first dinner in the kitchen.

So, I'd definitely get the Feliway!

And if you're feeding her regular milk, I wouldn't. Cats love it, but most adults are actually lactose intolerant, so she might not be feeling well as well. Buy cat milk for her. And until she's eating on her own, I would continue to feed her the baby food.

Also, I don't know if this works as well for non-feral cats, but harp music really calms ferals down. So maybe get some harp music and leave it playing for her if you don't totally hate it? Along with the Feliway, it may really help the atmosphere for her.

Also, talk to her a lot in a nice, calm voice. Just generally be reassuring, and don't force her out.

She'll eventually be fine, and she will LOVE the stairs!

BTW - here's a pic of our kitties the first day we moved into the house:



Laurie

Oh, P.S. Because they wouldn't leave the bedroom, we had five litter boxes in there the first month. We left two in there after that, and it took about six months before we removed all the litter boxes from the bedroom.

Laurie

I sprayed the inside of the cat carriers and their blankets with Feliway an hour before we set off to the new house. As soon as we arrived they were put straight into the spare room with the Feliway diffuser plugged in and the door closed.

After the removal men and everyone had left, i sprayed the feliway in every room and down the staircase then opened the door and let them come out on their own. Sophie came down straight away, but Rosie stayed in her carrier for 8 hours before she ventured downstairs, but after a couple of days and still spraying the Feliway around, it was as if they'd lived in the house for months



Coming out to explore but bewildered at the same time