Rescuing a cat

Don't worry, Wwmk2, She'll appear when she's ready.

A friend of mine got 2 rescue cats yesterday. She told me earlier that this morning they'd tucked themselves into inaccessible hidey holes.

It's bound to happen at first.

Ixion, your Barney is exactly like my last cat. I got her through a friend who worked at a vets near Gloucester. She had been left there by a man who said he'd given her to his mother but she couldn't cope with her. As she hated men (with the exception of my son who she adored) and was especially wary of their feet we think he had been mistreating her. Her white hair used to drive me crazy but she is still missed five years after she died.

Hope you have discovered Roo's hiding place, as Allira said are there any cupboards to be climbed on?

My son and daughter-in-law realised that their new kitten had managed to squeeze through a gap, and was behind the plinth under a kitchen cupboard... 🙀

Found her!!

After reporting her missing to the chip people alerting all the neighbours and turning the house and garden upside down - feeling so utterly miserable.

She is under one of the spare beds tucked away - we looked twice - but it wasn’t until we pulled out a box.

So now we are having a cup of tea feeling absolutely exhausted.

Still no photos.

The invisible cat

Totally understandable. Sorry but did make me laugh ! We found one of ours coiled around the U bend in downstairs loo when everyone swore no doors had been opened. That was years ago now but as you I was beside myself until he was found. A cup of tea ? I had a very large glass of wine, it was past the yardarm I think or maybe not.
She will trust you believe me, it takes patience I know but the rewards are so worth it . Good luck !

I know that feeling of panic at a lost cat! One of our kittens disappeared, totally. We searched high and low, Facebook posts about a lost kitten etc. She emerged from behind a row of books in a bookcase! How she squeezed herself in there, I don’t know.

She’s too big to get down behind it now so instead she rakes out all the books and leaves them scattered about on the floor.

We agreed to take on a young stray that someone else was looking after. When he went to find him poor Goodie Gubbins was up a chimney and covered in soot. Had house cats for years and how we managed to keep them indoors ( they did have an outside enclosure too) with having teenage kids and two dogs is beyond me. My first thought , if the doorbell rang would be ‘ where is the cat’. He did escape onto the roof through an open skylight one day and my husband had to climb up a very high ladder to retrieve him.

Whitewave, I am awaiting the next instalment to relate to DH - we remember it all.

V3ra

My son and daughter-in-law realised that their new kitten had managed to squeeze through a gap, and was behind the plinth under a kitchen cupboard... 🙀

We once lost a hamster behind there but a cat? 😯

They say that a cat will not go through a gap if its whiskers will not fit. I hope that is true!

Oh forgot to add that when our Tenzing shot up the tree on his first day out, DH fetched a ladder and gingerly climbed up towards said cat - who promptly shot past him downwards with no problem at all!

One of our kittens did a disappearing trick many years ago. We searched high and low, indoors and outside, for a whole day. No kitten. Then that evening my hubby opened the radiogram door to put on a record, lo and behold, one kitten fast asleep on the turntable!
My daughter called today, she may have found me a cat. Someone she knows is moving in with his girlfriend, he has a 12 year old tortie female, girlfriend hates cats, so he needs to rehome her. Personally, I`d ditch the girlfriend!

We had a tortoiseshell called Tabitha. She was a darling, she came with her brother Timothy.

I’m still trying to get a photo.

We are at the stage of when she walks into the room exploring we freeze so as not to frighten her, and we don’t try to seek her out when she is hiding according to the rules from the CPL.

Who knew it would all be so complicated.

She’s back (we think) under the bed.

Hiding away, WWM, is quite normal, especially for female cats, the boys tend to be more confident.
They come out when ready, as lots of comments have said. Our first cat was a Tortie, very small - and very clever. She had lots of hidey holes, used to like cardboard boxes to sleep in (we brought them back from s'markets) until after about a week they smelled of cat, and were abandoned. Another fav spot was on the chairs tucked under the dining table, just enough room to snooze between the chair seat, and the underneath of the table.

One day - she'd been with us for a couple of years - she completely disappeared, not a sign. We scoured the house, calling, nothing. After several hours, I looked up in the kitchen, there was an eyeball peering down at me from the top of the high level kitchen cupboards. Once discovered, she never went up there again. In the summer, she'd be off down the garden for most of the day.

One point - do you talk to your cats? May help them settle in, feeling that they're being included? And of course, they pick up on key words. The tortie got to know what "vet" meant, and became uncatchable, so we had to find another term!

Whitewavemark2

We had a tortoiseshell called Tabitha. She was a darling, she came with her brother Timothy.

I’m still trying to get a photo.

We are at the stage of when she walks into the room exploring we freeze so as not to frighten her, and we don’t try to seek her out when she is hiding according to the rules from the CPL.

Who knew it would all be so complicated.

She’s back (we think) under the bed.

She sounds like a real character - Hope she settles in well.

DrWatson

Hiding away, WWM, is quite normal, especially for female cats, the boys tend to be more confident.
They come out when ready, as lots of comments have said. Our first cat was a Tortie, very small - and very clever. She had lots of hidey holes, used to like cardboard boxes to sleep in (we brought them back from s'markets) until after about a week they smelled of cat, and were abandoned. Another fav spot was on the chairs tucked under the dining table, just enough room to snooze between the chair seat, and the underneath of the table.

One day - she'd been with us for a couple of years - she completely disappeared, not a sign. We scoured the house, calling, nothing. After several hours, I looked up in the kitchen, there was an eyeball peering down at me from the top of the high level kitchen cupboards. Once discovered, she never went up there again. In the summer, she'd be off down the garden for most of the day.

One point - do you talk to your cats? May help them settle in, feeling that they're being included? And of course, they pick up on key words. The tortie got to know what "vet" meant, and became uncatchable, so we had to find another term!

Our son and DIL’s last cat was a beautiful, petite tortie, in all of her 16 years we hardly saw her, she would hide away from visitors. When they adopted a 15 year old female cat just before Christmas it was a very different story, when we first visited she came up to us immediately vying for attention and fuss. She settled in almost immediately, feeding well and using the litter tray, she is a house cat so no worries about losing her.

She so far - into her third day, only comes out as it gets dark from her hide hole under the bed and spends the night doing her thing.

She comes into the sitting room when we are sat, but if we move, she shoots back out again, - so we sit frozen whilst she wonders around investigating everything.

Last night she actually came into our bedroom and jumped onto the bed, we remained frozen because if we move to try to photo her, she runs off. So she settled down and had a thorough wash before jumping off and resuming her nightly adventures whilst we went to sleep!!

She has entirely ignored all the beds we had for her including the cardboard box. Eats like a horse and drinks well. Uses her litter tray scrupulously.

I reckon that is how she survived being on her own for 7 years - holes up in her secret place during the day and comes out after dark. She is a very dark tabby so would be impossible to see.

Definitely getting over the trauma of the move though and beginning to be more confident about the rooms she has so far been allowed into.

I’ll post photos as soon as I can get some!

I do think a Feliway plug in could help.

On the up by the sound of it. It's great that she's using the litter tray and eating well. This time next month she'll be in the couch next to you.🤞

If she’s been used to a nocturnal lifestyle it will take a while for her body clock to change. She will gradually become accustomed to being fed at regular times during the day rather than hunting at night.

MayBee70

I do think a Feliway plug in could help.

Ordered!!

I made the mistake of putting one under a kitchen cupboard and realised that it needed to be completely clear all around. I don’t know if they work or not but always get one if I introduce a new dog or if my dog has an operation. I wonder if they make a human version to stop me worrying about my dog all the time…

Winnie is quite a good traveller unlike my previous whippets, but sometimes shakes for a while at the start of a journey in case she’s going to the vets. But when we travelled home on Sunday I sprayed her bedding with Adaptil spray and she settled down straight away.

As well as Feliway you can buy calming spray to spray around bedding or wherever she goes. Also works well on the scratching post I found. My cat used to love it.