Coaxing Him Out From Under the Bed

[savingkali]

Okay so quickly, my first ever cat was a surprise. We found her as an abandoned 10 day old kitten with pneumonia. In her 3 short years she's beat pneumonia, eye cancer (eye removed) and renal failure. She's a strong little tortie girl. Anyway in a recent trip to see family we noticed they had to new cats. We asked why two instead of one and they said that one is anxious and the other give it confidence. After the eye surgery a year a go my little Kali changed and just wasn't as confident as she used to be. Any sound on the side she's missing her eye she jumps. Also she has some odd behaviour from never being around fellow felines before. She is an awkward drinker. She's quite reclusive and she is just anxious so we were hoping once he settles and they become friends she'll find some reassurance in him.
anyway, I went to my local shelter Facebook page who put me in contact with a lady that had trapped some kittens at 8 weeks old and they were being raised around dogs ( I have 2). So that wasn't a problem. We fell in love with the 4 month old male tabby and adoped him and brought him home after all the paperwork was done today.

Anyway, I let him out in our room to look around and he hid straight away. We moved him into our spare room but he hasn't really come out much. I've left some food and water as well as a litter tray so he has everything he needs. Plus his blanket from his old house and a few toys too.

Any tips on making him feel a little more at home and safe. I'm keen on giving him lots of love. He's my first adoption (other than my rescue) and my first boy. It's been a while since Kali was so young so I'm kinda drawing a blank. I have different types of toys and am already going in there through the day and talking to him then leaving him be. But I want to see his sweet personality that his foster mum raved to me about.

 

[savingkali]

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• savingkali
• Jan 19, 2016

This is the gorgeous man. His name was pixel but we're not too fond of it just trying to think of something. So far we're fans of Loki as our girl is Kali

 

[handsome kitty]

What a gorgeous kitten.   You don't say how long you have had him.  It will take him some time (every cat is different) to acclimate to the sounds and smells in your house.  Kittens are usually quick.  Talking to him is very good.  You don't want him around your animals for the first couple of weeks in case he has fleas or is sick. 

Here are some articles that will help you as well.

 [article="32804"]How To Help A New Cat Adjust To Your Home​[/article]  

 [article="32680"]How To Successfully Introduce Cats The Ultimate Guide​[/article]  

 [article="29682"]Introducing Cats To Dogs​[/article]r

 

[savingkali]

We have had him 24 hours almost but today I cooked him some chicken strips and read my book out loud. Within half an hour he was begging for attention and pats. His little motor was revving. He is a sweetheart but I'd still like tips on how to help my resident cat to adjust and not completely traumatize her.

 

[handsome kitty]

I would keep them separated for at least a week.  Eclipse came from a foster home and had a fever within a week.  Fluffy came from a shelter and had a fever the first week and managed to give it to Eclipse because I didn't keep them apart enough.  Jennie who came from another foster home had tapeworms within a week.  Did not get spread, kept them apart for the first two weeks.

so here is the article with the steps for introducing cats.  Follow all the steps using the cat and kitten's behavior cues to determine when to move to the next step.

 [article="32680"]How To Successfully Introduce Cats The Ultimate Guide​[/article]  

and there is this one as well

 [article="29726"]Introducing Cats To Cats​[/article]  

 

[savingkali]

He has been completely vetted and I mean he went to the vet the day before I picked him up for the second shots. He's very healthy no fever or anything. He's been wormed since 8 weeks old and he's 4 months old. He's also had flea treatment too. The woman I adopted him from has had 40 foster puppies so she had all the right resources and really kept them so healthy.

 

[handsome kitty]

I've heard the stress of being in a new place can make them more susceptible to uri's and stuff. 

I was surprised when Jennie, my last foster, had tape worms since she was already being fostered and was there for 2 months.  She had a litter of kittens with that foster and the rescue wanted her to foster another mother with kittens.

Eclipse also came from a foster situation where he was well cared for. 

 

[savingkali]

He's about 5/6 pounds and 4 months old, how many times should I be feeding him? I'm feeding him 3 times at the moment just small amounts. Plus bits of chicken to coax him out.

 

[talkingpeanut]

He's a kitten, so he can eat as much as he wants. Two or three wet meals of kitten food are a good idea, along with free feeding dry kitten food. Experiment with amounts of the wet food to see what he'll eat in a meal.

Make sure that any chicken you give is totally plain. Garlic and onions are toxic to cats.

 

[handsome kitty]

Kittens go through growth spurts so be aware that at times he will want/need more food,  and as they get bigger they eat more.

 

[savingkali]

I don't even give my dogs garlic or onion so no problem the there. Also today someone brought me a huge bag full of kitten stuff which was lovely. (He's in m llap now making it vety hard to type hahaha) it was like a baby shower gift for a kitten. so I have all sorts of wet and dry food and lactose free kitten milk which he loves!
Hopefully my partner will have made a screen door for his room so that his fellow fur family can introduce him without being able to make contact.

 

[handsome kitty]

How sweet.  Kittens need a lot of stuff.  I like the screen door.  I have one as well.  One note, if the bottom of the door is screen, you may want to block it off.  I have posters and raise them as the fosters and resident cats get more familiar.  My cat Fluffy charges the door otherwise.

 

[savingkali]

Yeah, I was a bit more hasty when I adopted him. It's been 9 days. He's still in the spare room as the resident cat is still very uncomfortable around him since we had a few negative quick encounters the first couple of days. But my partner has made a screen that we can secure in the door frame or put across part of our hallway to expand his territory. After a week, we separated the animals and allowed him to explore the entire hallway. It's kind of an L shape and he's in the smaller part of the L. When I opened the whole hallway it was too much for both cats, too much to see and hear for the kitten and too close and too too much too much of too much of his scent for the resident cat. But since slowly opening up the hall way he's a lot more confident. He's a beautiful little cat and I'm really confident if I can get our resident cats confidence up just for her to give him a chance long enough to obverse him from her tree they shouldn't have a problem. I've started a different feeding process in hopes of slowly getting them to eat closer together too.