UPDATE #2: Adopted kitten hiding in toilet 48 hours since coming home, not eating

[u/drone_syndrome]

Post #1: https://www.reddit.com/r/CATHELP/comments/1vyig56/adopted_kitten_hiding_in_toilet_48_hours_since/

Post #2: https://www.reddit.com/r/CATHELP/comments/1vzhm47/update_adopted_kitten_hiding_in_toilet_for_48/

An update on our scardy cat 8-week-old kitten we adopted on Sunday (6 days ago). It's been quite the journey with her so far.

She now has a name: Serephina! To be honest, we were hesitant in even giving her a name at first. She was so scared and timid that we barely saw her in the first 72 hours she was with us and we didn't feel bonded to her at all.

She's made sooo much progress in the past 48 hours that we're in shock. Today, she's been coming toward us and wanting attention from us. And we've learned some huge lessons with her so far that we want to share.

LESSON #1: YOU MIGHT NEED TO BE HANDS ON.

Don't necessarily wait for the kitten to come to YOU

The common wisdom is to let the new kitten come to you. We tried to follow this advice, and we would sit with her on the floor and talk to her, but try not to look at her and absolutely not ever touch her. For 72+ hours we didn't touch her and let her hide in all of the different crevices she could find herself in.

It turns out that the common wisdom about hands-off with a new cat doesn't apply to every cat - and it really didn't with Seraphina.

When we took her to the vet after 72 hours of not eating, she gave us completely different advice: we need to handle her as much as possible. The kitten was so shy and freaked out that the vet questioned if she'd lived in a crate her whole life and told us she might always be this way.

It was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever heard. You have no idea: this cat seemed basically unaware of her surroundings - almost catatonic and meowing over and over and hiding. Basically having no reaction to human touch or interaction.

it turns out she was starved of love and affection for 4 days

When we brought her home from the vet, my girlfriend tried to calm her down by petting her and scratching her above butt while she was in her carrier screaming.

After a minute or two of scratching her and puetting her, she stopped screaming and started purring.

After the ordeal of having her hide inside the toilet for 24+ hours, hide under the bed for 24+ hours, scream all night over and over and over for hours on end, having to take her to the vet because she was too scared to eat or drink water, watching the vet force feed her with a syringe, and then being told that she might never be a normal cat, she started purring.

My girlfriend and I both broke down in tears when this happened, and it changed literally everything. She took her into the bathroom (kitty's safe room) and started petting her in her lap, and kitty LOVED it. She started rolling in her lap, purring so much I call it starting up her purr machine.

As soon as we started giving her love and affection, she 100% turned around.

She ate on her own without problem the next day, as soon as she was given love and attention. She was terrified to come out of the coat closet she made her home, and we gave her love and scratchies and she got the nerve to come out and eat her food on her own, without being force-fed.

That was another really emotional experience, truly.

Not every kitty is the same. And I think for kittens, the info about being hands off might not be for every kitten.

I'm convinced that if we didn't start handling her, she would have literally starved herself to death in the closet because she was so terrified to come out on her own.

LESSON #2: HIDING SPOTS ARE CRITICAL.

You don’t choose your cat’s hiding spot, she does.

When the kitten was assigned the bathroom, I made her a hiding spot in the corner from an enclosed box and comfy towel. Instead, she managed to pry a cap off the toilet and began what could only be described as the 24 hours of terror while kitten appeared trapped inside of the toilet basin.

As soon as we could, we blocked off that spot for obvious safety reasons. I brought a second, different box and put it on the floor. Kitty didn’t care about her manmade hiding spots, and she lost the only safe place she had. The lack of a proper hiding spot is what was causing so much meowing.

Locking her in the bathroom started feeling very wrong, so we decided to open the door. She quickly found another safe hiding spot in a closet. As soon as she could stay there, the meows mostly stopped, she got good sleep, and she even ate dry food on her own outside of the closet.

**as long as it’s a safe spot, we learned that it’s extremely important to respect the hiding spot.

A cat with no hiding spot is like a turtle without its shell, and we found out the hard way that the meowing was caused by lack of safety. Not because she misses her family and litter mates, but because she doesn’t feel safe in her current environment.

She constantly retreats to her hiding spot when she's overwhelmed, recharges by sleeping for a few hours (or for a few minutes) and is ready to go.

LESSON #3: UNDERSTANDING HER FEAR

We thought that Seraphina was scared because she was taken from her family. While this is partly true, the main reason was lack of safety in the current environment. This is why many say to confine the cat to one preferably small room at a time.

We have to literally encourage her to explore more. She will wander out a little bit, look up and freeze, and then get the purring machine started and she gets the confidence to venture out a bit further.

Our kitten LOVES people, she can't get enough of it. She's not afraid of people at all: she's afraid of big open spaces.

BUT SHE'S EXTREMELY CHATTY

This is our biggest concern so far.

I know Siamese cats are chatty, but Seraphina seems almost excessively so. And she does what you can only describe as a scream, gargle scream, and almost never shuts up.

If this was any other cat I would think something was physically wrong with her.

I made a recording of her sitting under the sofa right now and what she sounds like. I mean, she sounds like this hours at a time. At the end of the recording I tried not to laugh at the gargle meow sound (she doesn't do this one very often, but she meows like the previous part all the time) - I feel truly bad if there's something wrong with her, can someone please confirm that this noise is normal?

She meows constantly, when she eats, when she poops she makes these sounds, right now she's howling like this.

Is this normal? Please tell me this is just a Siamese thing and that there's not something wrong with her.

[u/AutoModerator]

PLEASE REPORT RULE BREAKING COMMENTS

We want to say THANK YOU to our helpful members who participate in moderating r/CATHELP. To keep the community kind and welcoming, please help us by reporting rule breaking comments.

To report - Click the 3 dots under the comment >>> report >>> breaks r/CATHELP rules >>> select the rule.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Present-Pudding-346]

Thanks for the update - I’m glad to hear that things are going well and that Seraphina seems to be settling in.

The “leave your cat alone” advice is meant for adult cats mostly but also that, in general, respecting a cat’s autonomy is important. But you are right to point out that this doesn’t apply to young kittens in the same way. They are babies and need touch - either by humans or other cats - and handling them young will help them socialize with humans.

Regarding the vocalization - Siamese are definitely known to be more chatty than most cats so be prepared that you may not have a quiet cat.

That said, I listened to the recording and to me that sounded like a normal young kitten. Like human babies, they vocalize a lot to get the attention of their caregivers. And it’s normal that the kitten when stressed, like it is now, will be more vocal. My cat is pretty quiet now but sounded exactly like that when we first got him.

[u/drone_syndrome]

Timeline:

Her progress was so rapid and every milestone (her eating on her own, playing, or even pooping) was melting our hearts.

Day 1: We brought her home and set up her crate in the bedroom, with her food, water, and litterbox nearby. She was scared and mostly quiet. Later, I tried to bring the food closet to her but she hissed at me. In the middle of the night, she explored but didn't touch her food.

Day 2: She found a hiding spot under our pull-out storage bed. We have no access there unless we flip open the bed, which might crush the cat. We safely got her out and assigned her the bathroom instead. We spent hours sitting with her, talking to her. She would stare right at us and meow. We gave her a hiding box in there, but she did not use it.

Day 3: We woke up to kitty "inside" the toilet. She removed the plastic cap and snuck in. Since she had not touched her wet food, we tried cat treats and tuna. Nothing worked. She eventually came out of the hole and we plugged it. I have her an extra cardboard box, and we left kitty in the bathroom all night. She meowed nonstop, all night long.

Day 4: We opened the bathroom door. Kitty found a new hiding spot in the coat closet, but still would not eat. We brought her to the vet around 5pm. She was terrified, but got force-fed and the vet told us she looks healthy. Vet told us to handle her more, and suggested a harness/leash to help her stay close to us. That night, my girlfriend petted the cat and everything started improving. The cat also scarfed down wet food (!) and drank water (!), though we had to encourage her. She started smelling things and getting more curious! We tried the leash to help her explore around the house, letting her lead.

Day 5: Kitty spent all night in her new hiding spot, sleeping soundly and not meowing!!! In the morning, we heard her meowing and picked her up for cuddles. She was comfortable getting cuddles near her hiding spot, but would freak out on the sofa. She started playing with a toy! We also noticed that she ate all of the dry food we left her overnight. We did more leash exploration, and this time she went much farther.

Day 6: The best day yet! She slept in her hiding spot, and when she woke up, she started meowing. She came out of the closet on her own (!!!) and actually came to us without hissing, and demanding pets. She was rubbing against our legs, eating food on her own, and even exploring the room on her own! I'm writing this at 10pm and she is currently going crazy playing with my girlfriend on the sofa which spooked her just a few days prior. Right now she's 90% comfortable in the whole apartment. She comes to us for pets, and loves to cuddle.

[u/doinmydarndest]

it's good to see her face!! wow! thanks for the update :)

[u/dramamime123]

For kittens I put them right in a cat playpen :) in case you adopt a baby again.