Well, Sylvester is out of his cage!

We brought him home Friday night, he spent the night in the big dog cage that they all are in when they arrive here, we took him out yesterday into the bathroom and "loved him up" a lot, and he curled up in the sink which is what he probably did at his old home since they kept him in the bathroom! We kept him out for awhile, put him back in and he was getting more relaxed, ate some treats, and really stretched out in his comfy bed. This morning when I had the cage open to feed him and all he bolted past me, trotted around the house, hid a few places, was nose to nose with Simba with no issues, finally ended up hiding in the litter boxes so we put him back in his cage and went back to bed (it was very early) with the promise that we would let him out when we got up, he seems ready, and even if he hides so what, he'll do what he wants to do, he was sick of being in a cage after being boarded all week. I took him out, carried him around the house to show him where the food is and the litter boxes, and he found a hiding place in the living room so we are just letting him go. The door to the cage is open if he wants to go back in or to eat or use the litter box, but keeping him in the cage wasn't the answer as he definitely is confident enough to be out albeit hiding, so here we go! The others have to know that he is out, they can sense it plus they see the cage is open, and they all are being pretty cool with it, no major issues so far; I think that they all remember they were all in his shoes at one point! He is not quite as timid as he appeared earlier at the vets, and he was around other cats before, plus several of them "visited" him and stood by his cage and made some shrill noises to him, so maybe they were talking to him and they almost seemed like they were thinking "why don't you just let him out?", but he did it himself lol!

Here we go!!!

It does sound like he's ready.

   

Ondine said:

 
It does sound like he's ready.

   

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He's found a hiding spot in the living room, to the side of a non-used fireplace we have a window air conditioner on the floor that we keep there until we put it in, and he's been hiding between it and the wall all day. I just lifted him out from there a bit ago so we could pull the unit away from the wall so he would have more room, and Deb put a blanket down even though there is a rug there, and we thought we'd sit him down on the floor and pet him and talk to him and maybe try to play, but I took two steps and he wriggled his way out of my arms and ran downstairs and hid behind the entertainment center. I went down there, talked calmly to him, and he bolted upstairs right back to his original spot behind the air conditioner so I guess he feels safe there. At least now he has a blanket and more room. I talked calmly to him repeating "it's okay...it's okay", scratched his neck, gave him some treats and am leaving him alone, he's going to do what he wants to do on his time and terms. He is only about 10 feet from the open cage door so he can go back there if he wants, plus there is food and water and his bed, but we think he'll probably hide for quite some time!

You've done it plenty of times before and know slow is best. I personally would probably put him into a bit of confinement again (probably the big dog crate you've got). We know cats certainly like to find "hidey holes" - - even friendly cats. But I personally like to let them get a little more time in our place in a giant crate where they can't "wedge" like that..but I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. You've done it lots of times before and had lots of success.

Keep us posted!