ADVICE NEEDED ASAP PLZ

My new kitten is between 6-8 weeks old. We brought her home today and she was fine. We placed her basket down and as we did so, she ran into hiding into my garage. I immediately closed the garage door, and she has not come out ever since. I've been into the garage several times, the first time i saw her and she meowed at me and so i thought i should leave her and let her come to me. i waited but she didnt come. so i tried again later and she had found a new hiding place, it has now been atleast 2.5 hours and i havent seen her. ive placed her food (dry food as well as tuna) there but she hasnt had any, ive also placed some water there but again nothing. the litter tray is also there.

what should i do? wait till morning for her to come out? please help. any advice would be much appreciated.

Where do you plan on keeping her? In your house? 

I would definitely try to get her out of the garage - it's kind of dangerous in there because she could run out the open garage door to the outside and then you'd never see her again.

If you know where she's hiding, coax her out with some food or a toy and then get her somewhere safer. Confine her to one room of your house with everything she needs and some places for her to hide. She's just scared and it will take some time for her to get used to things.

It's pretty normal for cats and kittens to be afraid when they're taken to a new home. I wouldn't panic about her being in the garage, as long as everyone knows she's in there and won't open the door. Give her time to feel brave enough to come out.
Just make sure there isn't any obvious dangers like spilled oil or antifreeze on the garage floor. I would leave her be, and keep the door into the house open for her if you can.

once ive found her i plan to keep her in the house but im so worried. she hasnt eaten since she got here (5pm) and i know shes definately in there but i just have no idea where! the garage is quite warm at this time and we have 2 pet birds in there 2 but theyre in cages so she'll be safe. im just so worried. my parents said that she'll come out  tomorrow morning, once we open the door and its light she'll walk out but what if she doesnt? :'(

ive searched high and low in the garage but i still dont know where she is. i left it a while and every 40 mins i went and checked but still, nothing. there is nothing dangerous in the garage but shall i just wait for her to come out tomorrow?
 

Personally I would wait for her to come out on her own. She's stressed and hiding and having someone looking for her could make her want to hide even more.

should i not worry because she hasnt eaten anything at all!! in the morning shall i just open the door and just sit and wait for her to come out? is it normal for kittens to do this?
 

She's far too young to be away from her mum, so is naturally very scared.

If you can reach her I would be getting her out and bringing her into the house, not leaving her afraid in the garage.

It's very normal for cats to take 24 hours or so to eat and use the litter tray in a new home.

I don't know where she is in the garage I guess I'm going to have to wait till morning when she gets out herself. I'm really worried but I know she is definitely there so hopefully tomorrow shell come out and I'll bring her in

Call me a crazy cat lady*, but I'd be spending the night out there with her talking soothingly, have some soothing music playing, and/or just be out there with her. She's so tiny that I would worry that she might get too weak not eating, drinking, etc. (kittens are much more fragile than adult kitties). Do you have any stinky canned food that you can put on a small plate for her? How about a wand toy like Da Bird that you could try and gently entice her out once you know where she is? Or any other kitty toy she might like that you have on hand.

Tuna's okay for a one-time thing, although some kitties just don't like fish--my Izzy doesn't--so tuna might not be enticing her out. Also, if you can get her on canned food instead of kibble (dry) food, that would be great. Kitties are physiologically made to not have a thirst drive that humans and dogs do, so canned is a way to get much needed moisture into her for the long term.

*Okay, the 'crazy cat lady' thing is because when my Maxie (Maine Coon kitten) came here to be with me and Abby (adult rescued boy - 8 years old at the time), I had set up a big dog cage in the living room to let these two boys get to know each other without Abby being able to get aggressive with him. Well, as I was adding food and water to Maxie's cage, Maxie came strolling out. I let them be together supervised after watching how Abby would react. Abby took to Maxie with minimal hissing, so I thought "Cool, they're going to get along!" But, I spent the night on the sofa just to make sure Abby wasn't going to come unglued on wee little kitten Maxie. During the night I heard this "bark!-bark!-bark!" noise. I looked down, and through my bleary eyes in the dark room, there was wee little Maxie "barking" at me. I picked him up and he spent the rest of the night cradled in my arms. I knew MCs made different noises, but this was a REALLY different noise; took me a bit to associate this with my new Maxie. So...I would spend the night in the garage with your new baby; it can be a bonding experience.
 

I'm really scared to spend the night out there and I'm also so worried about her. My parents said that the food is there and she'll just eat it and be fine but I'm going to wait till its light outside then I'll open the garage door and just wait for her outside. I hope she comes out but I don't want to force her and scare her more than she already is

I would NOT open the door.  She's proven to be elusive; if she gets outdoors, you may never catch her.

There's not much you can do, if you don't want to spend the night out there.  I would put a box out with a blanket in it, near her litter box, food, and water. 

If there are cars in there, be very careful about anitfreeze, which is a deadly poison for cats and dogs (and people, come to that).  Also, don't let anyone start their car in there until you've checked under the hood.

I could probably make some more suggestions, but I know it's a difficult situation.
 

There is a box in there with blankets next to her food and water. There are no cars in there at all neither is there any anti freeze. Nothing dangerous whatsoever. Do you not think that in a few hours, when it gets lighter, I should go and wait for her to come out and then bring her indoors? I'm really really worried about her :'(

I can understand your concern

When we brought home my childhood kitty Muggins, she hid under the bed for the better part of 2 weeks (I had to put her litter, food and water under there!).   But she did come out in her own time.

She'll come out when she's ready
 

I'm just scared that she'll starve or something. She's only tiny

sam12345 said:

I'm just scared that she'll starve or something. She's only tiny

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Then become a crazy cat lady and stay out there with her. Seriously, I would do that, but NOT with the garage door open. Get some canned food, too; Fancy Feast or whatever brand you like (without fish, as some kitties just don't like fish). If you sit out there long enough you might hear her and be able to at least know where she's at and can lay near there and talk quietly to her.

I need to wait till its a little light, it's pitch black outside. But then I'm going and will sit with her for a while and hopefully she'll come out and then I'll bring her in. I hope she's ok!! Never been so worried before

i would put wet food in the 4 corners of the garage, cover the bird cages for the night, close all the doors, and check for the kitten in the morning. the kitten is scared. she will eat when she is not disturbed for a while. 

I did go a bit paranoid and became the crazy cat lady for a while!! I went to see her at 2:30am and i meowed and she meowed back at me and I found her clever little hiding place and mashallah she's ok. She's eaten some tuna, sat on my lap and then went back to her hiding place She's happy in the garage coz its quite private so I've left her there. I'm so relieved. Thanks for all of your help!! xx

sam12345 said:

I did go a bit paranoid and became the crazy cat lady for a while!! I went to see her at 2:30am and i meowed and she meowed back at me and I found her clever little hiding place and mashallah she's ok. She's eaten some tuna, sat on my lap and then went back to her hiding place She's happy in the garage coz its quite private so I've left her there. I'm so relieved. Thanks for all of your help!!

xx

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Hey, ain't nothing wrong with being a crazy cat lady; there are a lot of them here at TCS! (And crazy cat guys.) I would bring her into the house and not leave her in the garage. She's way too young to be alone. When you do that, if you can, I would give her her own room for awhile to get used to sounds, smells, etc.

You can put some of your clothing (that hasn't been washed) in the garage with her, and in the new room if you can do that. That gets her used to your scent. (Kitties are VERY scent oriented.)

What food did she eat before you got her? I would feed that now if you know what it was. Once she is more acclimated to y'all (or sooner if you can), I would transition her to a good, grain-less canned food. No kibble.

Tuna is maybe okay short-term, but definitely not something that should be fed long-term. I would also not leave tuna out for long periods of time as it can quickly turn bad and then deadly for a kitty. On another forum that I'm a member of, 3 kitties were fed tuna that had been in the fridge for about a week. One that had a existing illness died because his little body just couldn't fight off the poisoning ; the others are coming around but still very sick. These were adult kitties, so I can only imagine the bad outcome for a kitten.

Some tuna facts from http://www.petmeds.org/petmeds-spotlight/is-tuna-bad-for-cats/#.UAIuMPlFm70:

"Tuna alone is not nutritionally complete, and many cats are allergic to fish. Most fish contain trace amounts of mercury, and the higher up on the food chain a fish is, the more mercury is accumulated in the fish. Tuna is relatively high on the food chain and therefore contains higher amounts of mercury than other fish, leading to an increased risk of mercury poisoning.

Tuna is also high in unsaturated fats.  While it is healthy for humans to choose unsaturated fats in their diet, too much can be bad for cats. Consuming too much tuna can cause your cat to develop a Vitamin E deficiency, leading to an inflammation of the fatty tissue, a condition known as steatitis (“yellow fat disease”).  Cats that consume large amounts of red tuna in particular are more prone to this painful condition."

What other animals and humans are inside the home?