5 Ways To Help A Hiding Cat - PetMD

By John Gilpatrick

It’s hard to say if Garfield started the stereotype of the mischievous, anti-social cat, but he certainly reinforced it, and to be fair, there’s some basis in truth.

While some cats are friendly and cuddly, many others spend their days in dark enclosed spaces and prowl the house at night.

“A lot of cats lead nocturnal lives,” says Myrna Milani, DVM, an author and veterinary scholar in the fields of pathology and anthrozoology.

If your cat usually spends its day hidden, that’s generally fine and normal, Milani says. The problem arises, however, when social cats suddenly start hiding. This behavior is often indicative of stress, fear, a medical issue, or some combination of these.

Continue reading for tips on identifying problematic forms of hiding behavior in cats and what you can do to resolve the underlying issue.

Allow Your Cat to Warm Up to Visitors

One of the primary causes of stress in cats is a change in their environments, and one big change that often induces hiding is the addition of a new person to the household.

Whether this is in the form of a temporary visitor or a permanent resident, cats are naturally inclined to assume a new person is a threat to their territory. (The same goes for the addition to a new animal.) As such, you might find your feline hiding or marking areas with her scent.

Milani says it’s important to give a cat time to adjust to the change and accept the new person on her own terms. “The worst thing you can tell the new person to do is play nice and ‘kissy face’ with the cat,” she says.

Instead, short-term visitors can sit near the hiding spot and let the cat come to them, maybe coaxing her out with a treat or a toy that will boost her confidence and make her feel more like predator than prey.

Milani suggests longer-term visitors or new permanent residents rub themselves all over with a dry towel or washcloth. Then, leave the towel in the middle of the floor overnight and allow the cat to explore the scent on her own time and at her own speed.

The cat should start feeling more comfortable the next day, though if the towel has been peed on, “That’s a message, and you need to keep being patient,” Milani says.