Hi everyone,
I must apologise for what is going to be a very long winded post, i want to get a fair bit of background info in.
My girlfriend and i adopted a 2-5 year-old neutered female tabby about three months ago, we live in a large two bed 4th floor flat and she was rehomed to us (from battersea) as in indoor cat from a nine cat household and has never had any inclination to go outside and extremely timid.
When she first arrived she spent a week in a small bedroom and adjoining hallway and hid in every tiny gap in that room (often face first in the corner behind the door) but finally settled behind a propped up picture where she stayed for around three weeks even after the living room to explore.
She has used her litter tray almost without fault, the only blip being a wee under the sofa before she became bold enough to wander over to her tray with us in the room, unfortunately she managed to get some wee on some wires under there which transferred the smell onto the sofa after inadequate cleaning and led to her going on the cushions twice since, however once it was cleaned she's not been back there to do her business. Her eating has been spot on and recently has learnt to ration her biscuits to last all day while we're out (something that i think she had problems with in her last household because of the other cats) instead of wolfing them as fast as possible!
Her shyness has improved no end but i feel we've hit a wall in the last couple of weeks which is why i'm asking for some help!
She's now fine using the tray infront of us (sometimes during our dinner time, thanks) and now purrs and shows real affection more often but only when she feels like it, she'll also wander around and play with her mouse while we're in the room and also likes to spring up and down the hallway at about 4am every morning (regular as clockwork).
The only thing i'm concerned about at this point is how terrified she gets when caught in the open with either of us, it always leads to her darting under the sofa or table and often recoiling afterwards when we go to stroke her. The exception being when there's the possibility of food in which case, she'll hang about. We have tried playing with her but this is only acceptable when the feathery wand is dangled infront of her hiding place where she can have a good swipe, anywhere else and she's terrified again. She's not a catnip cat form the looks of things so chilling her out with that won't work either. She's on zylkene and had a feliway diffuser which has run out and probably won't be replaced yet to see how she copes. Outside of the living room is a different story, only in the way that we become even more scary there and she wont even come close despite often wandering in there, if she's already in there when we come in, she will charge out. She will sit in there when we're going to sleep but that's about it!
If there is anyone out there who has had experience with socialising extremely shy cats i would love to hear from you, i desperately want her to finally feel like she rules the roost and to be completely comfortable with us after the stressful time she had in her last home. Any secret tips anyone knows of to make being in an open space with either of us more bearable or even appealing would be fantastic as it seems the only interaction she will tolerate is under cover of something when we go to her and as she never comes out to us outside of meal times. We have room to get a playmate for her and have considered it but given her history i think this would do far more harm than good.
There seems to be a lot of experts on this board, and i'm sure i'll get some great advice, really sorry for rambling and i can't wait to hear what you have to say!!!
