Poor feral kitty hasn't come out of hiding for 2 months

Hi all!

My bf & I recently adopted a feral cat that had been living in our courtyard for about a year. The building manager told me that her previous owners had lived in the building and left her when they moved out. GRRR!!!!

We fed her consistently all this time and, finally, she fell asleep under our kitchen table and we were able to close the door. We live in Chicago so we were worried about the coming winter.

I don't know too much about feral cats, but we've set her up with a nice area of her own, and she has access to the rest of the apt if she wants, but she pretty much just stays in her cat tent 24/7.

What to do? We just want little Griz (she's a tuxedo) to be happy - she doesn't even have to be a lap cat.

It's going to be a very slow process of getting Griz comfortable towards you... if she's comfortable with it make her eat near you and then after awhile you can start petting her while she eats.

You might try Feliway. It will help to make her feel more comfortable in her surroundings.

Here is a link to the plugin version, there is also a spray.

Feliway Plug-in on Amazon

Thank you for rescuing this kitty! And I'm pretty sure she'll eventually become a lap cat.

Would she be allowed in your bedroom? If so, you may want to move all her things in there and move her in there and keep the door closed for some time. I know she was "owned" before, but when making transitions, often having a smaller space as their territory helps. Once they make that space "theirs" they'll relax a lot more. I also love the bedroom as the initial "safe" room, because there is nothing less threatening than a sleeping human.

Whatever you decide to do about that, give her safe places to hide - under the bed, a table draped with a cloth, several boxes laying on their side with the flap hanging down in various places facing different ways... lots of places that are small and safe.

Even if you don't move her into your bedroom, if you create a lot more "safe" spaces for her around the living room and in other areas of the house, you may find she'll start moving around between them?

But yes - cats are all about territory and scent.

Feliway is a great idea - it is a synthetic hormone that mimics the friendly markers in cats' cheeks and helps reduce stress. You can buy it as a plug-in, like air freshener that you can't smell, or you can buy it as a spray. If you buy the spray, use it around the whole apartment - just avoid litter boxes and any place she's allowed to scratch.

You may also want to try Bach's Flower Essences, specifically Rescue Remedy. Add it to her water at first. If she lets you approach her without a fuss, dab it gently behind her ears, at the base of her tail, and under her chin so it wafts up into her nose. http://www.bachflower.com/Pets.htm

You may also want to try music for cats. Harp music in particular really calms stressed cats. This are CDs with classical music that cats really respond to:
http://www.musicmypet.com
http://www.catfaeries.com/music-for-cats.html

To help her associate you with "good" things, combine food and scent. Get a t-shirt really good and sweaty, and put it under her food dish. Get another one good and sweaty, and leave treats out on it for her when you leave the room to go do something. You can also use that one to put a wet meal of food down on.

Does she like to play at all? Have you tried da Bird or other wand toys? Working with them slowly at first sometimes helps draw out kitty.

Do you let her free feed or do you feed her meals? We let our kitties free feed on dry food, but we also provide them a wet meal once a day (dinner - we wanted to be able to sleep in on the weekends ). Feeding her on a regular schedule may help, if you aren't already.

When she's in her tent, sit down on the floor a few feet away, sideways to her. Read out loud, sing, sew, knit, work on a laptop - whatever you can do down there - or just sit there and watch TV. Ignore her completely! Being down on the floor at her level makes you less threatening. Do exercises, stretch, yawn....

She's obviously been through some kind of trauma, and it's taking her a while to adjust. It seems you've got the right attitude - to give it as much time as it needs. For right now, totally stop trying to interact with her. Let her watch, do as much as you can on a regular schedule, and do not try to interact with her at all. This is all about building trust, and she doesn't trust that she's safe yet. (This has nothing to do with you or your home!). If you look her direction, don't look her in the eyes. Look at her forehead, or over the top of her head (looking in her eyes is a sign of aggression).

If she seems relaxed in her tent when you're on the floor a few feet away from her, progress to using food to draw her out. Most cats LOVE chicken baby food (Gerbers or Beechnut have no additives). Put a little in a bowl, set it near you. See if she comes out to eat it. If she does, continue to ignore her, but tell her what a good girl she is! When she's comfortable eating her treat, instead of putting it in a bowl, put a little on a spoon for her to lick off, and hold it out to her. Don't look at her when she's eating it. Then progress to putting it on your fingers. Talk to her softly telling her what a good girl she is while this is going on.

Basically, work on being totally non-threatening. Continue to meet her needs by doing so on a schedule. Don't look at her, give it another couple of weeks without trying to interact with her at all - ignore her to the best of your ability.

OH! When we moved, our cats were terrified of being in a new space. We had them all in the bedroom - we were now in a two floor house. For the first few weeks, we fed them their wet meal of dinner in the bedroom. We then moved it to near the bedroom door (which is open all the time, but they didn't want to venture out). After a couple of days, we moved it into the hallway outside the bedroom door. We then moved it to the top of the stairs. We then moved it to the bottom of the stairs. We "walked" it through the living room, and, finally, into the kitchen. Maybe try doing something like this with her?

Please do ask any questions you have and please keep us posted!

Great info LDG... I was waiting for someone to come bail me out and give more than the partial answer that I could give

Thanks so much you guys!!

We do have Feliway diffusers all over the house, but we haven't tried the controlled feeding. We leave a little dry food out all day, and give her extra fancy wet food at night. She usually comes out at night to play after we've gone to bed - I can tell because I got her a little bird with a catnip-filled tummy that tweets when you move it and it makes me smile every night when I hear it!

We'll def get some of the rescue remedy and harp music!!

Let's see... she's been here since 11/18. From your expert opinions, do you think Griz is doing OK? Also, since we can't touch her we haven't brought her to the vet - any advice on that?

I really appreciate all of your help!! Thanks so much!!!

So she hasn't been spayed? This will help a lot if she's not already. Even if her former owners were responsible about that, you really need to get her to the vet - she hopefully doesn't have fleas, because now that would now be a pain to deal with, but she almost definitely has internal parasites. Let the vet know she's a rescue. She should be treated with Revolution or Advantage Plus (both are a topical that last one month that treat for fleas, ticks, and many internal parasites, like round worm and tape worm, both extremely common). Both would need to be applied again in one month because they only kill the adult parasites, and the life cycle of the internal parasites is such that it must be applied again. Also, all states require rabies vaccination, and distemper at a minimum is usually recommended.

In fact, we've found that they're VERY happy to come "home" from the vet. Often the effects of the anesthesia make them kind of lovey....

I'm sure she'll come around. It just takes time, and every cat has their own schedule. You can help that schedule along doing a number of the things recommended already... Play (slow at first), getting her to associate your scent(s) with good things, getting down at her level and letting her check you out without trying to interact with her, and then using food to bribe her to get near you will all help.

We're almost certain she was spayed in a TNR roundup last summer - she has her left ear cropped. We really want to take her to the vet, but we seriously cannot get near enough to her to get her into a carrier. One thing we have here is a "house call vet", and I'm actually waiting to see if they will come out and try to check out Griz, give her shots, etc. We didn't have any pets when Griz came inside, so I wasn't too worried about FIV, etc. The one time my bf accidentally touched Griz she totally nailed him, so we were worried about stressing her out too much with a vet visit.

If she's got her ear cropped, she's spayed.

Our cats are all feral rescues. The one time we tried a house visit, it was a nightmare. At the vet, they are scared, so compliant. At home, it was nearly impossible for the vet to examine them.

Get the crate you are going to use, spray it with Feliway, make sure the door will stay propped open, and start putting her wet food in there. If you're at home during the day, I'd start giving her two wet meals a day - one in the morning when the vet would be open, and in the evening. Then you'd be able to just close the door on the crate on her to get her to the vet, though you'd have to be quick about it. I'd give it a little time to make sure she's pretty comfortable eating in the crate first.

I can't imagine Griz going for it , but I'll give it a try! I wish I was a bit more confident about the whole thing, but I did mention we've never done this before, right?

You're the best! I'm so glad I found this forum!!! Thank you! Thank you!

You had already got tremendorous advices and you seems to think and do everything right.

What Im thinking. Something is odd.
She isnt a real feral, as she got abandoned. And she got food from you a longer time, also in your house. So she is quite accustomed to you.
Even many a real semiferal-feral would be approachable in this stage...

So it seems she is more afraid now then when she was visiting you.

Something has happened, I think. It may be something tiny which you dont think on. But apparently she is thinking on, as she hardly leaves her cat tent now, but before she had no big trouble getting into your kitchen and be there.


next thing. You hope for the house-call vet. Good there is one such. But you do have still the same problem. If you cant get her into the carrier, it will be even more difficult to get her to the vet for examination. Visiting or not.
The only hope is, the vet being very used to cats, will perhaps manage better than you do...

So you must train to get her into something.

A basket for wash-clothes may be easier.

Or train her using the carrier as a reserve-rest place for her.
Do have such a carrier you can open from above.
Make it nice and cosy, spray it full of Feliway and leave it open.
Leave perhaps also some treats.

So she does rest there and sleeps.


Tx for helping this little fellow

and good luck!

Originally Posted by mwynn210

I can't imagine Griz going for it

, but I'll give it a try! I wish I was a bit more confident about the whole thing, but I did mention we've never done this before, right?

You're the best! I'm so glad I found this forum!!! Thank you! Thank you!

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Well, it seems she feels safe in smaller spaces right now (which is normal).

As Stefan pointed out, the idea is to make the crate one of her "safe" spaces.

Originally Posted by mwynn210

My bf & I recently adopted a feral cat that had been living in our courtyard for about a year. The building manager told me that her previous owners had lived in the building and left her when they moved out. GRRR!!!!

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thinking on. If she is abandoned pet, of course she may behave like a semiferal, but this here is a trifle too much as I wrote. The equation is not balanced.

But if the manager wasnt really clear. She perhaps wasnt a home pet, or even an outside pet, but a semiferal living outside. And the previous owners thus were really her caretakers . Or even only feeders....
(of course in the eyes of the law and ethics- yes they did were owners, and yes they did abandoned)

It could explain much, her being a feral semiferal for real...*


Talk once again with the manager...


* Also in such case it is very possible to foster her a little shy, but entirely domestic pet. Although it usually takes longer time.

Hi there!

I just wanted to let you know that I also have a very shy feral kitty I'm working on. She's been in a spare bedroom since early November (used a Havahart trap to trap her) and things are going slow. That said, I know she'll come around eventually, on her own terms and her own timeline. It can definitely be a frustrating when things just don't seem to be progressing, but it'll all be worth it!! And your kitty is now safe and inside. Just getting used to the new lifestyle still.

Since I have her confined to a room, what I did for her last vet appointment was start removing her box hiding spots (by flipping them over) so she was eventually stuck with just hiding in the cat carrier. (Started flipping her boxes over a week before the appointment if she wasn't in one). So then I was just able to close the carrier. I'm not sure how easy it will be the 2nd time I have to get her to the vet since she remembers what the carrier was for last time but I'll clean it out and spray Feliway on it and start the same process.

Good luck with your kitty! You'll get a lot of great advice on here.

Thanks again everyone!

Stefan - poor Griz was a housecat, according to the bldg mgr and some of our neighbors.

So, strangely enough, she decided to live in the windowsill by her tent for two days. We were so shocked to actually see her out that we kind of thought something was wrong. She's back in her tent this morning, but I think her little 36-hour time in the window was probably a good thing?

Originally Posted by killerapple

I just wanted to let you know that I also have a very shy feral kitty I'm working on.

Good luck with your kitty! You'll get a lot of great advice on here.

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I need to compare notes with you!