Need advice on a stray I've taken in

Backstory: so my friend was feeding a stray cat for some time and as winter grew closer and it got colder my friend started to try and trap her. After renting a raccoon trap we had gotten her trapped. He could not keep her so I decide to take her in. We got her vetted and she is estimated to be roughly a year old and is so SUPER skittish around people. She bit the vet tech and her tongue when she freaked out, and bit my neighbor who tried to get her out of the crate we had her in. I brought her home and put her in her own room. She didn't eat, drink, or pee/poop for roughly four days. She finally settled in enough to do these things and even use a litter box (yay). She is not violent when she doesn't feel cornered or threatened, but it has been almost two months and she is still so scared of me and skittish. I visit with her daily for a minimum of a half hour but she is hiding the whole time. I give her treats and cat nip but she refuses to eat them until I leave. I also leave food out 24/7 due to her refusing to eat when I am there. Any advice would be appreciated as I don't have much time before the room she is in needs to be vacated. I also have another cat that I am afraid she might attack if I let her loos

aachase said:

Backstory: so my friend was feeding a stray cat for some time and as winter grew closer and it got colder my friend started to try and trap her. After renting a raccoon trap we had gotten her trapped. He could not keep her so I decide to take her in. We got her vetted and she is estimated to be roughly a year old and is so SUPER skittish around people. She bit the vet tech and her tongue when she freaked out, and bit my neighbor who tried to get her out of the crate we had her in. I brought her home and put her in her own room. She didn't eat, drink, or pee/poop for roughly four days. She finally settled in enough to do these things and even use a litter box (yay). She is not violent when she doesn't feel cornered or threatened, but it has been almost two months and she is still so scared of me and skittish. I visit with her daily for a minimum of a half hour but she is hiding the whole time. I give her treats and cat nip but she refuses to eat them until I leave. I also leave food out 24/7 due to her refusing to eat when I am there. Any advice would be appreciated as I don't have much time before the room she is in needs to be vacated. I also have another cat that I am afraid she might attack if I let her loos

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There is much advices and tries.  The problem is is you are in a hurry now, because you must vacate the room.   so you wont manage this with this setup.

Either you must plan on continuing and fostering inside your flat - or plan on returning her, and perhaps having her as your outside  kitty.

I myself dont think there is any big risk for her attacking your resident.  Its best not to promise anything, but semiferales as group accept easier the resident than a random bought cat.  They sooner tend to be submissive to the resident.    So if it THIS is your  "point of no return", test to let them meet.  And firstly IF it doesnt work out at all, return her to the outside.

For your proceeding tries.   She is still afraid and stressed.   Had you tried with a Feliway diffuser being on?  There are also other trick of the same type.

Comfortable, relaxing music is nice.  Classical harp music is best, but almost any relaxin music can work.    Sound of cat purring has been tried by our forumists. Especially a mom cat purring to her kittens...  There are such on youtube.

Be sure she notices its you who comes in with her food, even if she doesnt eats while you are there.  So go in with small portions several times a day.   Have a t-shirt you had wearn, and let the food plate stand on it...

I will write more later on the day.    Others will hopefully step in too.

Now I must let my wife in on the computer.  Its the 8- Mars, after all!

Good luck!

We have a former feral cat who allows us to pet him for about ten seconds at a time.  It took him almost a year to come out of hiding.  During that time, we allowed him to be who he was.  He is not a lap cat and will never be but we love him and he knows it.  (He's the cat in my avatar)

When her room is vacated, will she be able to move about the house or does all this entail another whole move?  If she's staying in the house, you will need to start introductions to your resident cat now.  If they are going to share space, they need to be as comfortable with it as possible.

One possibility is using a large dog crate for her.  If you cover three sides and the top and put a carrier in there for a hiding spot, she'll have a secure space.  She and your other cat can meet through the bars and you can supervise things.

If it is another whole move, introductions can start at the new place and can be taken a little slower.

Good luck and thank you for taking her on.  She sounds like she got so little socialization, she just doesn't know how to act in this new environment.