It takes time cats are like humans each act differently towards stress.  You
got to be patient 10 days is not a long time at all

If you get a chance stay in the room where she is at  when she comes out
talk to her quiet  don't move towards her .  If she will eats treats give
her a few

Leave the door open no matter what

I would give her more time. If she continues to hide under the bed, see if
you can put her in a room by herself with food, water, litter, and her bed
that doesn't have a bed (human's) that she can hide under. Follow the same
principles. Provide her with food and sit quietly while she eats. Try to
engage her in an interactive toy (feather on a wand). Don't force yourself
on her.
Gail

On 29 Jul, 00:08, nick.h...@gmail.com wrote:

as said before 10 days is NOTHING, the cat we got back in february
(abandoned by some horrid people who moved house and left her behind)
has really only in the last few weeks chilled out to let us come and
sit next to her on the floor and stroke her. Now she rolls on her side
and present me with her tummy whenever she sees me come near here when
she is sat next to the back door birdwatching, as if to say "here's my
tum tum, you can start by stroking me here first, thank you!". she
still does not actually come to us but she has at least started to
stay still when we approach her, whic is start i suppose, and when I
stroke her she purrs like a little engine, it is beautiful.

anyway, all that has taken about 4-5 months to achieve, mainly just
taking it at her pace and not forcing anything, sometimes just sitting
next to her on the floor whilst she sits there, 'meatloafing', and
eyeballs me with great suspicion. now she eyeballs me when i go near
her to see if i have got any treats on me and whether it is worth
flirting for a couple of whiskas temptations, she even recognises the
pink box now.

terri spent 3 days under the kitchen sink when we got her, we did not
see anything of her at all, just had to push plates of food and water
under for her, all we saw was this pair of huge scared eyes looking
out, and all we heard was the sound of munching when another plate of
tuna chunks had been pushed under the units. he cat i had as a kiddie,
Flossie (RB 2004) spent a good 2 weeks under my bed, refused to come
out except at night, spent all night miaowing pitifully. so it can
take a while but it really will be worth it so be patient.

Have you tried anything like a feliway diffuser? they are like plugin
things which emit aynthetic cat pheromones which the cat will find
calming. i have never used one myself but other people swear by them,
espcially when trying to integrate a couple of cats. get them from a
vet I think, about ?15?

you coudl also read the excellent books by Vicky Halls, cat detective,
cat confidential, I have them all and can;t remember which one but one
tells you the best way to get a cat to feel safe inyour presence
enough to let you stroke her and to be able to build up a relationship
with her. Basically as previous psoters ahve said, just sit near where
she is, don't try to interact, maybe offer er some treats or tasty
food, ignore her after that even, but get her to realise that your
presence is not going to be threatening to her and that you mean her
no harm. If you start by forcing your attention on her it may push her
the other way and make her more scared of you which is definitely what
you don't want is it?

Also try to avoid direct eye contact as cats do find this
intimidating and coudl scare her. The one thing you coud try is to
look the cat inthe eyes then pretty much as soon as you have got eye
contact, close your eyes slower and blink at them a few times, and
then keep your eyes shut whilst facing them. cats sometimes do this to
indicate that they are no threat to each other (and to you) and the
cat may take this as a positive signal from you too (has worked for me
inthe past with nervous cat). certainly when you are offering as treat
thnk about looking away or just to the side so the cat doesn't feel as
though she is being 'eyeballed'.

most of all give her time, she may have come form a traumatic
situation and has been shunted from pillar to post with no idea of
what is going on and who to trust or where she is going to be next,
she is not sure right now whether she can trust you and is beign
understandably very wary of you right now until she is completely sure
that you mean her no harm (dontl take this the wrong way). remember
that she doesn't speak english and you don't speak 'miaow' and that
some of the things you may have been doing which have been in the
spirit of welcome and to show her you love her she may interpret very
differently! you just don't knwo how cats view us sometimes or the
stuff we do. just understand that she si probably rather sacred still,
rather confused, but if you go along with all the advice about sitting
near her but not trygin to inetract at first, just being with her in
close proximity, she will calm down and learn to trust you.

btw do we get to see any pictures of her? I bet she is real sweetie

best of luck, the wait will be worth it, bookie, jessie and terri

On Jul 29, 11:08 am, nick.h...@gmail.com wrote:

Hi again everybody,
Thanks for your responses - it's day 12 now and Burberry has still
done very little in terms of getting more comfortable and relaxed. I
managed to track down a Feliway spray today but no luck finding the
defusers. Anyway, I've sprayed that today on her bed and toys and
scatching post and tower etc, just before she made a dash from under
the sofa in one room to back under my bed.

Unfortunately I can't get the bed off the frame to stop her going
under there.

Still being patient and trying to talk to her without looking at her
much, but she really doesn't respond at all. I suppose more time is
the answer, and yes it is hard to be patient when I know there's a
giant snugglebug just a few feet away who is not happy :(

Will keep you posted, going to try and take some photos of her soon

Nick

Well after over a month, she is FINALLY starting to come around!

She is still afraid of people standing up, and still likes to hide a
lot of the time, but has also been interacting and playing and purring
and starting to get to know me! Sooo relieved!

Anyway, here are some pics :) Enjoy

http://nickonz.smugmug.com/gallery/3353398#186979808