Odd Behavior

[xzerox13]

We adopted a 6 month old cat about a month ago, and she seemed friendly, which she still is, but seems bipolar, her name is Shade. We have another cat who is going to be 1 year next month, we've had her since she was 2 months old, her name is Shadow.

The initial 'breaking in' period went fine, she was nervous of her new surroundings for a couple weeks, a few conflicts with our other cat, nothing out of the ordinary. We had to take her to the vet 2 times so far for antibiotics and then a cream to put in her eyes. She's fine with taking the medicine, when we hold her she's completely docile, friendly, very affectionate. She's also gotten friendly with our other cat, they now sleep and play together, use the same litter box and eat side by side.

Her odd behavior is when we come home. Shadow is always meowing and happy to see us, but Shade seems terrified of us, she runs under the bed and we don't see her for at least a half hour. We've tried to fish her out with toys, treats, but to no avail. Just tonight I picked up the mattress a little to see what she was doing and she bolted into a room on the other side of the house and hid under a chair. I was in the doorway while my fiance went into the room, but Shade was so scared she actually jumped at the wall to rebound and get passed me, then back under the bed. We called it quits at that point and just figured to leave her be.

I've had cats my entire life (I'm now 33) and I've never had one show this behavior, quite honestly I and my fiance are at our wits end.

 

[ArtNJ]

I wouldn't view this as a problem if he is still taking an hour or two to get his confidence back when you come home. Just let Shade have his adjustment time. You meant well when you peeled back the mattress, but if you want this over with, the best bet is just to be as quiet as possible and give him his adjustment time.

This is likely just an extended adjustment to a new environment. Wherever Shade came from (do you know?) maybe they didn't have such a noisy garage door or whatever. I suppose its possible there was a problem in Shade's prior situation, but given that he is friendly and adjusted after a bit, it doesn't seem likely.

 

[Timmer]

Might be something from a prior incident before you got her.
An interesting side note: I do not wear shoes in my house. I had company over awhile back and they didn't remove their shoes and my cat ran. I believed it to be because they were fearful of the shoes, the sound they made, the look or even the smell. All probably from a prior experience.
But I don't think it's anything that won't be worked out later on. Give it some time.
How about offering both cats some treats when you come home? That way she will associate it with a positive.

 

[jcat]

A month isn't a long time to adjust. Shade may need another 4 or 5 months to feel confident enough in your home that she stops hiding when you enter. Since she's letting you hold her and give meds, you don't have anything to worry about.

 

[xzerox13]

Thank you both very much for your input, I was hoping since she was so young that she hadn't had much of any traumatic experiences yet, but we'll continue to be patient, and we will try to come home and go right to the treats, hopefully that will help!