New cat owner

I second that !    

Poor  boy he is scared because he was probably  beat up on  from the  cat where he lived so he always hid.  Give him time. Don't  persue  him . I find at the shelter i volunteer at i just  talk to cats that are scared or nervous  for awhile then they start to react then i am able to pet them. I wish you all good wishes with your new little boy. 

Alright, so after reading this thread, I think I'll be making come changes. Currently, he gets a variety of Fancy Feast and Purina Kitten Chow Nurture. The dry food was given to me by his foster owner, but I just read the ingredients and see that it's got corn gluten meal, which I'm gathering isn't necessarily good for him. It's also got brewer's rice, soy flour and wheat flour. I don't know that I should continue to feed him this stuff. I think I'm just going to up his wet food to two cans a day, given in three to four meals, to be adjusted as necessary. My boyfriend works from home, so whenever Oliver is hungry, he can respond to the need. Then perhaps some raw chicken wings now and then and turkey as a treat (as he doesn't seem to like the dehydrated salmon treats I got him). 

He also doesn't appear to drink much if any water. He has a water bowl sort of near his food bowls and then a water fountain in the living room, but he seems disinterested, so I'm going to start adding some warm water to his wet food. I'm also going to keep an eye out for sales on higher quality wet foods and get a mix of those in with the highly affordable and conveniently purchasable FF. Any other recommendations are welcome.

Kibmufxy said:

 
Poor  boy he is scared because he was probably  beat up on  from the  cat where he lived so he always hid.  Give him time. Don't  persue  him . I find at the shelter i volunteer at i just  talk to cats that are scared or nervous  for awhile then they start to react then i am able to pet them. I wish you all good wishes with your new little boy. 

Click to expand...

Well, I found out that he was rescued from the roof of a restaurant when he was approximately 4 months old. I'm told there were several large, aggressive cats with him. And then he had that aggressive large cat in the foster home. So I too think he has spent most of his life in hiding. But he's totally comfortable around me now. All up on me, napping in my lap, coming up for rubs all the time, bringing his toys to me to play, sleeping under my bed. It's great.

He's still warming up to my boyfriend. I think a couple more days and he'll be good with him too. He hides now for a moment, then comes out and lets BF rub him or play with him. And he likes to pester BF late at night (when he tends to be up working), which BF thinks is adorable. All involved seem to be pleased with the adoption.

It is great to hear that he has come around. I am sure you have treated him so well that he is happy now. 

  This is lovely, it sounds like you adopted one very stressed cat and he is now in a furever home where he can relax maybe for the first time in his life.  What a beautiful thing you have achieved, and so quickly.  It could be that he has had less favourable encounters with men in the past that he is slightly less relaxed around BF, or just that BF has not been about quite so consistently as you.  All in all he sounds pretty cool around both of you if he stays up and bugs the BF when he's working.     

And it sounds like he's going to be one pampered and healthy kitty from that food link you put in your last post.  Very interesting, thank you.

Welcome, and yay, Oliver! That is great progress that you've seen so far. I adopted a shy kitty too, about a year older than yours, and I've been amazed at the change in her. They really do know when they're finally in a stable forever-home.

As far as his meow, it could just be how he sounds, or it could be that his voice hasn't gotten much practice. Grown cats who aren't very socialized to humans don't really meow. They prefer to communicate with their body. It's mostly just young kittens who do this to call their mothers.

But our cats hear us talking all the time, and they realize that's a big way we communicate and that it gets our attention. So, sometimes, they start meowing more to try to communicate with us better. Some cats even seem to mimic tones of voice.

He's realized you're a vocal creature, and since he's starting to feel comfortable around you, he's learning to be vocal back. All that work is because he wants to communicate with you. His voice may get bigger over time. Or it may always be small and raspy -- that's not necessarily abnormal. Cats all sound different.

But it's one of the many ways that people often overlook in which cats show us that they care about us. A cat who didn't care at all, or who was afraid of us, wouldn't bother trying to "speak our language," as it were.

Thank you all! He does meow now. It's very soft but no longer raspy. And he learned immediately that making that little noise gets both me and my BF to O_O and run over and pet him or feed him, as the case may be. That little meow has been my alarm clock for this weekend!

In a few more days, my children will be here. They are 7 and 11 and were here the first day he arrived but left that evening. So they've only ever seen him in the carrier. Hopefully he warms up to them quickly. That will be the next big step. That, and getting him to stop scratching my couch!

Hee hee, what's the bets on you posting in about 6  months - about your noisy cat that wakes you up with miaows at all hours and never stops chattering?  

Good luck with the young family introductions.  Have you got the kids prep'd to be nice and calm and quiet, and build up to them feeding him his favourite snacks (from a distance probably)?

Yes. They were both very quiet and gentle for his first day, during which we were waiting for him to feel comfortable coming out. It was actually my daughter that got him out of the cat taxi he arrived in and into my canvas carrier with bedding in the bottom. I think he'll warm up to her quickly. We'll have to wait and see how my son does. He's much less patient and will probably run off to do other things if Oliver hides from him.

Sounds hopeful.  As long as Oliver isn't crowded or bombarded with noise and over excitement I'm sure he'll be fine.

I had my young nephew with me one time when I went to see Mouse before I adopted him, and then my nephew met me at the apartment door when I brought my boy home.  It was just me and my nephew here as Mouse was lifted out of his carrier and took his first steps in to his new territory.  He stayed for a few hours while Mouse had his initial explore around my apartment, then Mouse spotted the scary 'mirror cat' in my sitting room and bolted off to hide under the bed for a couple of hours.  Mouse could only be coaxed out very gradually while I sat on the floor in the hall outside my bedroom later that afternoon so didn't see my nephew again for a couple of weeks.  (Mouse didn't go in to the sitting room where the scary mirror cat was for almost as long either...  )    Mouse instantly recognized his man buddy and went straight over and started climbing all over him, it was like he remembered him being here and not harming him on that first day: he was a 'safe' person despite how terrified Mouse had been the previous time they met.   My nephew is still Mouse's second most trusted person 2 1/2 years on.  

I hope he seems to remember them. They were both very calm and sweet to him his first day, reminding each other to not be too loud, as he was jumpy even in the carriers. It will be almost two weeks between his arrival and them returning from their trip.

I would love to be a fly on the wall when they see how Oliver has come on while they have been away.  They will be so happy!  

Here's to re-introductions going smoothly.