Imagine, if you will, that someone just put you in a box and on the other side of that box is a completely new environment with people you have never met before. You have absolutely no idea why this happened and you are pretty scared of what is going to happen next. How do you think you would handle that? Would you be under the bed, petrified, or acting like nothing happened and completely at home with strangers, grabbing the remote and helping yourself to food in the pantry?
Most cats (and I think I would be with them) choose option A, under the bed. I’d probably be so nervous I wouldn’t even eat! This scenario is COMPLETELY normal for cats. It takes TIME for cats to adjust to new surroundings, They do not know that what has just happened (an adoption) is a good thing. All they know is that they’re in a completely new place, with new smells and people they have never met before and it’s pretty scary! Change is hard for all of us to accept, especially when we didn’t initiate the change. For cats I think it’s even harder.
Please give cats time to adjust. The 3, 3, 3 rule is real (and for some cats it could be 4, 4, 4 or even 5, 5, 5) — please give your new cat a chance to come to terms with change. While it’s true that some confident cats may adjust quickly, people are missing out on really wonderful cats because they just won’t give them the time they need to figure out that where they are is finally home.