Hello! I am hoping for some advice/reassurance in this situation, if you don't mind. I'm feeling totally lost and inexperienced with this.
Growing up, my family always had cats, and we always got them as kittens. I was used to them taking maybe a day or two to get used to the new house but I never thought much about the time it would take for a cat to get acclimated.
I haven't had a cat since becoming an adult, though. I've been wanting a cat for months, and only recently was I in a position to get one. I adopted a 2 year old adult cat from a local shelter who was extremely sweet and gentle when I met her, if a little bit shy. When we in the room she hid under the chair but still came out to get pets repeatedly. She nuzzles all over people's hands. I thought she seemed great.
We took her home and tried to set her up in the bathroom to start and she immediately escaped to the closet (she darted out the second we tried to open the door.) So we set her up in the closet instead with the litter box and food and water, etc. She stayed in the corner of the closet for the first 2 days, but she would come out for pets if we came to visit her. She did use the litterbox, eat, and drink normally even from the beginning.
She improved a lot in the first week but has hit a plateau. We've had her for almost 3 weeks now, and since then, she's slowly expanded to the rest of the house, going back and forth between hiding under the sofa and under the bed. When she hears our voices, or if we coax her out, she comes out and nuzzles all over us but if anything startles her, it's back under the furniture she goes. We got her a brand new cat tree in hopes that she'll feel safer being high up but she's barely touched it. Sometimes at night she's playful and will even jump on top of the bed and lay next to me for a little bit, but again, if I shift at all she races away.
I'm starting to worry that she's going to keep being like this, and that maybe we aren't a good fit for each other. My cats growing up were always very friendly and affectionate, which is why I was immediately drawn to her, but I've never experienced such a fearful cat before. Another concern I have is that the house itself may be scaring her. We have a very calm household and we've been extremely gentle with her, but we live right next to loud traffic and they often do construction outside the other window, so it may be a bad fit in that regard too. She seems very sensitive to any noise at all.
Please let me know if you have any advice for this situation, or if you've been through something similar. The shelter gives you 2 months to ensure it's a good fit, but I really want to give her as much time as I possibly can to become comfortable. Thank you in advance.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/c70q9g/new_cat_nervous_in_new_home_new_owner_nervous/
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