Hi
Nearly four weeks ago we adopted an 11 year old male cat with one eye.
He has been a feral cat until he was taken in by a rescue station 9 months ago.
When we arrived at our apartment he immediately ran under the sofa and spends most of his time either there or under our dresser. He mostly comes out at night and when we go to bed. He eats and uses his toilette only then. We bought a feliway diffuser, talk to him with a soft voice on a regular basis, try not to scare him with rapid movements, never follow him when he changes the room and pet him under the dresser. He even starts to purr when we pet him. He seems mostly scared, hisses sometimes but never scratches or bites.
The thing is that he never wants to leave this hiding places, even when we lure him out with snacks for a few moments he rans under the sofa/dresser immediately after. We know that it can take a while for cats to come out and read a lot about this topic but since he is quite old and probably used to this behavior we are a bit worried that it will never change and that he will stay "invisible" forever.
Do you guys have any additional tips how to get him out of hiding? Some articles say you should ignore him and let him come to you but it feels like he will never do that. On the other side if we keep petting him under the dresser he might not have a reason to come out.
Any advice is welcome!! We would love for him to have a safe and loving home and we feel like it would be good for him to be able to move freely.
Nearly four weeks ago we adopted an 11 year old male cat with one eye.
He has been a feral cat until he was taken in by a rescue station 9 months ago.
When we arrived at our apartment he immediately ran under the sofa and spends most of his time either there or under our dresser. He mostly comes out at night and when we go to bed. He eats and uses his toilette only then. We bought a feliway diffuser, talk to him with a soft voice on a regular basis, try not to scare him with rapid movements, never follow him when he changes the room and pet him under the dresser. He even starts to purr when we pet him. He seems mostly scared, hisses sometimes but never scratches or bites.
The thing is that he never wants to leave this hiding places, even when we lure him out with snacks for a few moments he rans under the sofa/dresser immediately after. We know that it can take a while for cats to come out and read a lot about this topic but since he is quite old and probably used to this behavior we are a bit worried that it will never change and that he will stay "invisible" forever.
Do you guys have any additional tips how to get him out of hiding? Some articles say you should ignore him and let him come to you but it feels like he will never do that. On the other side if we keep petting him under the dresser he might not have a reason to come out.
Any advice is welcome!! We would love for him to have a safe and loving home and we feel like it would be good for him to be able to move freely.