We've taken in several rescue cats over the years, so we know what we're doing, but I'm worried about our most recent pet.
We adopted a six month old neutered tom two days ago (on Saturday), and since he got here he's been hiding in a tiny gap behind our refrigerator. We have another cat, a neutered queen who has been fine with him, we've tried to keep them separated as much as possible while he settles in, but since he's chosen to hide in the kitchen it's impossible to stop her going through to use the cat flap to go outside, though when she has passed by she's only stopped to sniff him and then continued on without any hissing or fighting.
Colin (the new tom) has eaten nothing but two mouthfuls of chicken that we gave him since he wouldn't touch the cat food he had been eating at his foster home. He has had nothing to drink and his litter tray is unsoiled, I'm also fairly sure he hasn't passed urine or excrement behind the fridge as I can't smell anything.
I am aware that he needs time to adjust, so nobody has tried to touch him and we have left him alone besides placing a little bit of chicken as close to him as possible. We have kept Holly (our queen) in the dining room with her bed, food, water and litter tray apart from when she goes out, and we know that Colin cannot get out as we have a magnetic cat flap which Holly has a trigger for on her collar.
We have had rescue cats before who have taken a bit of adjusting, and when we got Holly she his under the sofa for three days but would eat and drink what we left out for her, we are worried about Colin as we know that not eating for extended periods can lead to severe medical periods. do you have any ideas what we can do to help him eat or when we should be contacting a vet? His foster parents have already been contacted and have assured us that he eats well and is very affectionate usually.