# New kitty has not come out from under sofa!



## JulesinMN (Apr 16, 2009)

I got a new kitty on Monday...I know it has only been 2 days, but she has not come out from under the sofa. If I put my hand under the sofa, she rubs her head against it and purrs loudly. However, she won't do more that stick her head out. I have another cat, so right now she is in the room on her own with all her possessions from her other home. Just wondering what I should do if she doesn't come out in the next couple of days. Any tips?


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## ladylilith (Sep 25, 2008)

Has she been eating? My cat hid under the bed for a few days as well when I first adopted her, but she would come out to eat when I was in bed and she thought I wasn't looking. 

As long as she's eating, I think it's ok to let her take her time and come out when she's ready.


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## Heather102180 (Nov 19, 2003)

Just give her a few more days. It can take new kitties awhile to adjust. Maybe just sit in the room and instead of putting your hand under the couch, don't touch her and hope that that'll motivate her to come out for attention.


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## JulesinMN (Apr 16, 2009)

Thanks for both of your replies. My kitty is eating, but will only stick her head or paw out from under the sofa. She won't even show her head unless I stick my face under the sofa so that she can see me and I call her name. She is good about sticking her head out when I call her (as long as she can also see me). Anyway, today my other kitty decided to wonder around her "safe room". It is blocked off, but I thought it would be okay for them to meet seeing as they both know that the other one exists (he meows at the door and she can see him from under the sofa), even though they haven't met face to face. Anyway, when she saw him, she hissed (from under the sofa) and he cowered down and walked out of the room. She is teeny and he is huge so it was funny to see him be so submissive. Apparently, she was the submissive one in her previous home. Any ideas on what this means for their future relationship? I hated to see Lil Man get hissed at and then see him be so passive (not that I would have wanted him to react any other way...I just don't want him to get upset if she does that to him when they finally meet face to face).


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## JulesinMN (Apr 16, 2009)

The behavior continues...new kitty continues to hiss at cat who cowers down and walks off submissively. Wish he would stick up for himself! My room mate is not taking to new kitty because she seems like the mean one...


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## MEOWx4 (Apr 22, 2009)

My 4th kitty did this, although he didn't hiss at the other cats, he did hide a lot as he was very nervous and scared of his new surroundings. We got him on V-Day and knew he was a little sketchy and was going to take some extra time and attention to warm up to his new surroundings. We were lucky he is a very cat friendly cat which is rare, but our cats weren't sure about him and spent some time hissing at him. He would also go hide under our couch and only come out at night or if we pulled him out. 

What I did is pull him out from under the couch and move him to a room where there was no where for him to hide, and I literally spent 3 hours in there with him. Without anywhere to hide he was able to walk around us and see that he didn't need to be scared of us and his surroundings, and it also let him get the smell of our home without being overwhelmed with the size and number of new things. After a little bit of time in the room with us we brought in our other boy cat who is the same age as him and let them get aquanted with each other. 

After we did that he still hid under the couch every now and again if something spooked him, but he came out a lot more to explore the area. It really just took showing him that he had nothing to be scared of and that we were there to love him. It took our 2 older cats (both female) longer to adjust to him but now everyone gets along and he even sleeps on the bed with us. It was a long process, we had him a month before he started sleeping on the bed with us, and he is still unsure of my fiance from time to time, but he is very affectionate with me. 

It really just takes a lot of time and gradual introduction, it is normal for the cats to hiss at each other because they don't know if they can trust each other yet, but over time they will adjust to each other and learn to get along. I think the best thing you can do is move the new cat into a neutral room where there aren't really any places they can hide, maybe a spare bedroom or the bathroom, a room that maybe your other cat doesn't spend a lot of time in. After you spend some time in there with the new cat bring your other cat in and let them have a gradual introduction on neutral turff, they will hiss and cower and such, but chances are they will try to sniff each other out.


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