For a cat living temporarily in another home while her owner is deployed, hiding is not a problem behaviour — it is her main coping tool in a house full of unfamiliar sounds, smells and visitors. The carer's job is to make that hiding official: one retreat that is hers by design, stocked with the smells of home, in a room the household's social life never enters.
Build the Retreat in Her Starter Room
The quiet spare room where she first settled is the natural retreat site, because she already knows its corners and escape routes. Put a covered bed or a box with one entrance in its most sheltered corner — behind the bed or beside a wardrobe, not in the middle of the room — and line it with bedding, a worn item of the owner's clothing, or her own blanket brought from home. Familiar scent does what no new purchase can: it tells a displaced cat that this den is connected to the life she remembers, and she will choose it over improvised hiding behind appliances or under stairs.
Visitors Never Enter That Room
In a temporary home the rule needs to be firmer than usual, because the cat has no bond with the visitors to fall back on. Guests are entertained in other rooms; children are told the cat's room is closed territory; nobody is taken in to see her, however kindly meant. Keep the door shut during gatherings so noise arrives filtered, and let her hear ordinary household life at low volume on normal days — total silence punctuated by parties is harder for a nervous cat than a steady, moderate soundscape she can learn.
Everything She Needs, Reachable Without Crossing the House
A retreating cat who must cross a busy kitchen to reach her litter tray will either suffer or improvise, and both outcomes strain the temporary arrangement. Keep her food, water and tray in or immediately beside the retreat room, along routes that avoid the front door and the main living space. As her confidence grows she will explore further and use the retreat as a base rather than a prison — follow her pace, opening one more door at a time, and never carry her out of the den to speed the process along.
Report Hiding Honestly to the Owner
A deployed owner will ask how the cat is, and the honest measure is in her retreat use: hiding all day and emerging only at night in the first week is expected; gradually longer evenings out, eating while the carer is nearby, and choosing a lap or a windowsill are the milestones that matter. Note them factually as they happen. Persistent total hiding with no eating after several days is different — that is the point to use the vet contact the owner left, because stress that deep in a rehomed cat deserves professional eyes.
The Owner's Knowledge Shapes the Den
No carer can guess that a cat hides best in a box, ignores a cat tree, and calms down for one particular blanket. A KinsLe Care Pass carries the owner's own notes on her hiding habits, routine and comforts to the temporary carer, so the retreat in this strange house is built around the cat the owner knows.