New Parent of a Rescue Cat

Hello everyone,

We never owned a pet in the nine years that we've been married. Then we found an injured cat someone abandoned, we totally fell in love with him, and voila, one month later, we brought him home from the shelter. At this moment, our new arrival has made himself at home under the bed in our master suite. Looking forward to being here for any advice or wisdom you all might have to share!

First off, welcome to TCS. As far as your new kitty it will probably be best if you segregate him in a single room while he gets acclimated to your house. There should be a stickie regarding acclimating a new cat to his home. I don't recall where it is but someone may.

Like i said I'd cordon him off in a spare bedroom with his litter, food, and water. Then go in to visit him. It will probably take a few days until he's ready to come out. He'll let you know.

Hi BigPerm!

Thanks for the welcome! We have food, litter, and toys all in our master with him, so we plan to let him live in there until he wanders out. He remembers us from the rescue, and we saw him at the shelter, so he warming up. He's at the phase where he will sit on the bed with us, but as soon as he gets spooked he takes off again.

Welcome to this wonderful place!

how old is your cat?

the older the cat the more time it takes for him to adapt to a new place and people.

If he was abandoned and injured probably he has some bad memories about humans and he has some time to accept you guys like family.  A good way to make him feel safe is to blink at him, if he stares at you and blink, blink back because in cat's language that's a way to show understanding, also pet him under his chin and make a sound like purring if you purr he'll eventually purrs back and get close with you!

Good luck!!

Thanks helsic! He is a Maine coon, and the shelter reckons he's about three years. He expects to be petted a lot. He purrs often for us. At first he would hide every time he heard a noise, but now he is acting confident about being master of the bedroom. He lays with us at the foot of our bed, and every time someone goes to the bathroom he joins them.

Maincoons are really sweet cats!!! I'm happy to hear he is getting used to you and is less shy! that´s definitely a good signal.

I rescued 2 new born kittens at the beginning of summer, they´re 3 months now, rescuing a Cat is the best. they show you a lot of affection and gratitude.

Oh how adorable! Do they still live with you?

This guy definitely has issues with being alone/ abandoned. He followed my husband to the door this morning. He knows the sound of a car leaving, and when hubby left for work in the dark, he totally panicked, yelling and whimpering until he woke me up. When I called him, he came running looking relieved. My MIL lives here and will be home all day. We won't force him out of the bedroom, but we'll keep the door open and see what he does.

Welcome aboard! What a sweet story. Maine Coons are my fave!

He doesn't much like cameras. This is him watching the neighbors out the window.

He is beautiful and welcome here.

I'm glad he has you, he's already off to a good start. I brought home a feral kitten last November, he was terrified of people, he still has some fear issues but he has come so far since day 1, hes like a different cat. Patience, prayer & an outgoing kitty were the key. It was so hard to watch him go through the feasr & anxiety, I wondered many times if I had made a mistake or maybe I was not the person he needed. The change came over time, he still has a ways to go & I don't know if he'll ever be completely comfortable, e but it was all worth it

VBCatParent said:

He doesn't much like cameras. This is him watching the neighbors out the window.

Click to expand...

He's gorgeous.

Welcome to TCS and enjoy your beautiful boy.

It's been six days since we brought him home, and he is finally at the point he will follow us around the house with ease. This is has been a very long and tiring week.

Ahh what a lovely happy ending, he's very lucky you found him. I've recently taken in a stray cat, she seemed injured and couldn't walk properly bless her, she's on the mend now though! I did the one room thing for about 1 week because I have another cat (for eleven years), I think this helped them both get familiar with each other's smell with out the confrontation. I also found Feliway plug in diffusers very good for calming the atmosphere, maybe these would help with the anxiety when you leave her alone! Both cats now sleep in the same room with no dramas, although they do seem to have divided the house up in to territory's, they seem to respect each other's space!

Wow what a handsome cat! Nice story.

I, too, just got a cat but she is not a rescue... although i do think of her as a rescue... the person who was giving her away did not have her living in the best conditions when I came to pick her up.

I'm also new to the site.. but feel free to ask me anything. I've owned a cat before adopting Shadow, but she passed not long ago. (I'll try to answer as best I can but I'm definitely still learning about cat behaviors and such myself.)