My new cat is not coming out of hiding, and hissing.

[Alicia88]

It's weird, but sometimes cats come around slowly and sometimes they suddenly decide, "eh, you're cool; let's be friends."  When I first came back home, I stayed with my mom for a few months until I got back on my feet.  I adopted a kitten I found in the road named Storm.  She got out (during the winter, no less, and disappeared.  I looked for her for months and then got Connor and Murphy and then an older lady contacted me.  She'd had Storm the whole time but had just run across my lost kitty posts.  She said she was so sweet and lovey, she couldn't leave her out in the snow.  I liked her immediately for that.  She was willing to give her back, but I had my boys and even though I loved Storm, I was just happy that she was alive and safe.  I went to see her and it was clear she had a good bond with the woman so I thought it was best just to let her stay.  Anyway, back to my original story.  About a month or two after I took Storm in, my sister adopted a cat from a woman my mom worked with.  Pumpkin came home and hid behind the washer for 2 weeks.  We only knew she was still there because we could peek and see a spot of fur.  We heard her come out at night, but she wouldn't let anyone near her.  Finally, I thought, "enough is enough."  I'm about to sound crazy here, so don't have me committed.  I picked up Storm and cuddled her and said, "Baby girl, Pumpkin has been hiding long enough.  You need to go back there and tell her that we love her and we won't hurt her and we want to play with her."  I put Storm down and she popped behind the washer.  I heard some purrs and some churrs and those cat sounds I don't know how to name.  A couple minutes later, Pumpkin comes out and jumps on my lap, purring up a storm (just like Storm, which was why she got her name).  From then on, Pumpkin was the biggest attention ***** I have ever met - except maybe Murphy.  It's close.  She constantly had to be on someone's lap.  At night, she would always sleep with me and if I moved my hand off her head in my sleep, she woke me up and demanded that I put it back.  It was so immediate, I wondered if she'd been switched out by aliens or something.  LOL

 

[hellomisskitty]

Yayyyyy!!! Wonderful news!!! I can't get enough of those photos [emoji]10084[/emoji]️[emoji]10084[/emoji]️

This is all the result of the patience and love you consistently show Salem. You earned her trust...just keep doing what you are doing! Thank you for not giving up on her [emoji]10084[/emoji]️

 

[tarasgirl06]

Excellent progress! Nice to see her out, about, and confident enough to let you give her a belly-rub! 

 

[doomsdave]

Horray!

Belly rubs are a real milestone; many cats won't let you give them one, the vulnerable spot thing, you know.

 

[sivyaleah]

just catching up!

This is awesome progress. So happy to see the change!

 

[twosemiferalcat]

Hello, I was wondering if your semi-feral cat hisses at guests or still hides when new people come visit you? 

I recently adopted two semi-feral kittens (8 months) and one of them is very hissy and the other is quiet, but is much more afraid than the other one.

The hissy one is more brave and comes close when we feed him by hand, but doesn't like us getting close to him. He also sometimes hisses for no reason...We've been feeding him by hand for about a week and a half (adopted them about 3 weeks ago) and he would run up to the food because he's hungry, but he scares himself for getting too close to me and hisses at me. Or, one time, we played with him with the laser and maybe he was overstimulated (?) he was playing and then suddenly hissed at us for no reason--we weren't walking towards him or anything...maintained our distance because lasers can go a length.

Then, there's the quiet, but scared one. I think he's the nicer (?) of the two because he wouldn't hiss or anything...just hide most of the time and stay behind the hissy one. I think he relies on the hissy one most of the time. 

After reading all of the posts, I'm sure they'll come around one day, but not sure how they will be with new guests. I don't want them to hiss at them or run from them. Is it ever possible to fully socialize them?

 

[jcat]

to TCS!

The older feral kittens are, the harder it is to completely socialize them, but it's definitely not impossible. That said, there are plenty of non-feral cats that will hiss at strangers on their territory, though some of them can be bribed by regular guests. Those cats need to have a safe, quiet place to withdraw to when there are visitors.

Some cats are just plain "hissy". One cat at our shelter, Ulla, wasn't adopted until after she was a year old. She was friendly within a couple of weeks of being trapped as a kitten, but she always had us in hysterics because she would even hiss at her food before starting to eat. The people who adopted her reported that she continues to hiss, e.g., when she wants a door opened, instead of meowing.

 

[tarasgirl06]

My feral, who adopted me when she was a lone kitten wandering on our land in the Mojave, doesn't do this, but she did go through a time of chasing her own tail and once she caught it, she bit it and growled at it.  Thankfully this didn't last and her harmless tail is acceptable to her.