5 month old kitten won't stop hiding!

Hi!

I bought a 5 month old kitten from someone selling near where I live. She has been at my house for a week now. She hides constantly during the day and only comes out once we're in bed. We haven't seen her since she arrived as she's hiding under the kitchen cupboards and we've left her be. Only reason we know she's there is because of her empty food bowl every morning!


Has anyone got any tips for settling her in and getting her to come out when we're around?

Poor thing... do you know the person you bought her from?  It would be nice to know your new kitty's back story and some of her behaviours might make sense... and we would have a better idea of how to help you.  Not knowing anything, we can just start brainstorming.  and I guess thats good too.

First, do you have other pets?

Does your new kitty use the litter box as well as eat all her food?

Were you able to handle her before you bought her?  Did you get to see her interacting with the person who sold her? Was she still with her mother and brother and sisters or do you know any of this? the poor little kitty is probably scared out of its wits and it might take a little time.

Things to try.  When you feed the kitty, you can stay in the room and talk to her to get her used to the sound of your voice.  try putting the bowl between you and where you think she is hiding at and see if you can get her to peek out.  Food is a very powerful motivator so you should use it to your advantage.

You can try coaxing her out with a toy... cats like to hunt and chase so if you are able to use a wand toy  or a toy on a string, you can interact without her having to touch you, or allowing you to touch her.

If you are able to catch her, do you have a carrier she can stay in for a few days while she gets used to her new surroundings and humans?  Do you have a room she can call her own for a couple weeks.  Once she is feeling more secure, you can broaden her territory.

I don't think she was particuarly well looked after with her previous owner, for ex: she's had none of her injections & was being fed senior cat food. I've moved her onto kitten food and will be taking her for her vaccination course once she's settled in. She always users her litter tray.

We met her once before buying her where she was nervous but would let her previous owner stroke her. She was living her siblings.

I don't really have the space to give her a room to herself, however where she's hiding we can't get to and is about 2 metres in length. She seems to have made it her den and I've put a blanket under there for her. I didn't want to drag her out and scare her more. Are we doing the wrong thing by leaving her be?

It also doesn't help that I have a 4 year old :-/ We don't have any other pets.

Right now I think she is just scared and that is why she is hiding.  She may eventually venture out, but the danger is that she may also decide she likes it.  If she had negative experiences with people or was ignored by people, then her hiding spot might be a safe zone.  If she was living with siblings, that is at least a good thing. It means she probably is at least a little socialized, which will make her a great deal more fun and safer for our 4 year old to play with.  If you have a carrier, or someone can let you borrower one, I think it would speed up the process for her to get used to you if you kept  her confined in that until she is not afraid of you anymore. But since it is what is, the best advice is to just talk to her, maybe try to draw her out with feed or treats or toys, speak softy to her.  I don't have experience using Feliway difusers in this situation, but some people might also recommend that.

I would explain to your 4 year old that the kitty is scared and to talk softly to it, and this is an excellent time to talk about kitty body language with your child so as to avoid bites and scratches to the child too.  maybe you can look at some pictures of cats together and talk about how they look when they are scared, or mad, and what kinds of sounds the cat might make.  After that though, your child might have better luck coaxing the kitten out than you will though.  Really depends on the cat.

Good luck!  keep us posted.