Is it normal for my cat to hide all day?
Often yes, especially in the first weeks after a move or adoption — hiding is a self-protective reflex, not a verdict on you. What matters is that she eats, drinks and uses the litter box, and that the hiding slowly shrinks. Sudden hiding in a previously confident cat is a vet call.
The useful question is not how much she hides but which direction it is moving. A cat who came out at 3am in week one and comes out at 10pm in week three is progressing, even if you have still barely seen her. Hiding that is slowly shrinking is the normal shape of settling in. Brief startle-and-hide is ordinary cat behaviour; hiding that stays at most of the day, and does not shrink, is a welfare question rather than a personality quirk (ACVB, Decoding Your Cat, ch.9; Galaxy, Total Cat Mojo, ch.19).
Three things separate normal from not: is she eating and drinking, is the litter box being used, and is she retreating deeper or holding her ground when you enter. Two of those you can check without disturbing her at all.
The line that is not about patience: hiding that starts suddenly in a cat who was confident, or hiding plus not eating for more than a day, is a call to your vet — no method fixes a medical problem. Otherwise, the fastest route out of hiding is giving her a better place to hide: how to get a scared cat to come out from under the bed.
Behaviour and wellbeing only. Nothing here diagnoses or replaces a veterinarian — if something about your cat worries you physically, that’s a call to your vet.
New articles, as we publish them
The everyday moments and the behaviour questions — and first word on what we make, offers included. From Deni & Helen.