Within the last couple of days, we adopted a one and a half year old male cat from a coworker (they adopted him from the local shelter). We have tried everything we know - and many additional things we have read about - to try reduce this poor guys' stress but nothing seems to help.
His stuff is in our bedroom - litterbox and his 'comfort-box' is in our walk-in closet which is connected to our bathroom but it is also open to our bedroom; so a smaller area that is open to a bigger area. Since we have gotten him, he hides under our bed or - if he leaves the bedroom - in a kitchen cabinet. He eats, drinks, and uses the litterbox; though we did have to put the food/water under the bed with him.
He is acting extremely stressed. If you look in his direction, he hisses. If you get within a few feet of him (to feed him, to try and entice him with a toy, to show him a treat) he attacks - hissing and spitting with claws. We'll talk to in calm voices. When he attacks we don't yell or anything, we just make sure that his food/water didn't tip over and leave him be. We're trying to give him plenty of space but also trying to balance it out with just enough attention to say "hey, we're here, we won't hurt you, we're not trying to scare you, and we want to take care of you." Even the 'destressing' herbal remedies (drops in his water, treats, the spray).
We've thought about taking the bed off of the metal frame and locking him in our room which would kind of force him to interact with us (he would still have the walk-in closet and his 'safebox' to escape to), but I don't want to stress him out worse and completely ruin any chance at building a relationship with him, either.
He has a huge cat tree, two scratching posts, a huge box of toys, and several other things that came with him from his previous home. We have those things in the bedroom, in the closet, and in the living room so he would have his sent in several areas.
We know this is not his normal behavior since we'd seen his behavior in his previous home and while he was a little shy, he was in no way aggressive so we're certain this is stress induced behavior from being in a new and unfamiliar home. I am very concerned about any the effect the high stress level will have on this poor guy.
Any suggestions to try to help him out? I know it's going to take lots of time and patience - that we have - but, again, I'm concerned about long-term effects this could have on him.
Please help! Thanks!
His stuff is in our bedroom - litterbox and his 'comfort-box' is in our walk-in closet which is connected to our bathroom but it is also open to our bedroom; so a smaller area that is open to a bigger area. Since we have gotten him, he hides under our bed or - if he leaves the bedroom - in a kitchen cabinet. He eats, drinks, and uses the litterbox; though we did have to put the food/water under the bed with him.
He is acting extremely stressed. If you look in his direction, he hisses. If you get within a few feet of him (to feed him, to try and entice him with a toy, to show him a treat) he attacks - hissing and spitting with claws. We'll talk to in calm voices. When he attacks we don't yell or anything, we just make sure that his food/water didn't tip over and leave him be. We're trying to give him plenty of space but also trying to balance it out with just enough attention to say "hey, we're here, we won't hurt you, we're not trying to scare you, and we want to take care of you." Even the 'destressing' herbal remedies (drops in his water, treats, the spray).
We've thought about taking the bed off of the metal frame and locking him in our room which would kind of force him to interact with us (he would still have the walk-in closet and his 'safebox' to escape to), but I don't want to stress him out worse and completely ruin any chance at building a relationship with him, either.
He has a huge cat tree, two scratching posts, a huge box of toys, and several other things that came with him from his previous home. We have those things in the bedroom, in the closet, and in the living room so he would have his sent in several areas.
We know this is not his normal behavior since we'd seen his behavior in his previous home and while he was a little shy, he was in no way aggressive so we're certain this is stress induced behavior from being in a new and unfamiliar home. I am very concerned about any the effect the high stress level will have on this poor guy.
Any suggestions to try to help him out? I know it's going to take lots of time and patience - that we have - but, again, I'm concerned about long-term effects this could have on him.
Please help! Thanks!
Last edited:
