I predict the kitty will be clever enough to run out right behind the dog but will have no clue how to get back in!
Re: enabling! If you think it will work for your household go get a kitty!
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I reckon he will figure it out, but after over 3 years, Puddin never has!
OK, I have him! He is hiding in the cat room at the moment. The way the cat room works is that it is right off the living room. No hallways here, rooms are just stuck together. On the other side of the cat/laundry room is the bathroom. The cat room and bath room are the only doors in the house that close rooms. You say where is the needed bedroom door? When I was much younger and more stupid, I took it off and got rid of it. It kept bumping up against a closet door, (closet door more important than bedroom door?) but whatever. I may soon have it replaced or some semblance of a door for keeping a distance from some of these critters.
Both of the other cats have gone to the door and asked to be in, I politely said no. Bear/Tater is exploring on his own. He did love the scritches I gave him at the shelter, and even let me massager his belly. He sheds worse than the dog though. He did come in with a magnificent Tuxedo, but I was told they were not bonded. I hated to leave him but I CANNOT take on another. He seemed to be very happy on my lap, but there was no purring. That was a bit disturbing, but hopefully, he is just nervous. He was hiding under my bathroom seat, so the pictures aren’t great, but this is what I have so far:
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OK, I have him, sort of. I was warned at the shelter that he was very shy, but not that he was VERY shy. I brought him into the cat/laundry room, attached to the bathroom. I let him out, and he got on my lap in the bathroom on my newish bench. He was frightened. We sat for a while, and I thought it might be helpful to leave him alone in the two rooms to explore and get used to being here. Sigh, well, a couple of hours later I went back in, closed the door behind me, and looked for him. Not to be found. I looked EVERYWHERE and there isn’t much there there. There is NO escape from that room. The only crack in the system was the former closet which now is home to a washer and dryer, which was cracked open. I NEVER do that. Why would I have done that I wondered? I looked in there. There is space behind them and a nimble cat could do it, but there would have been rustling from the rolls of Christmas paper, and there was none. I looked all over the two rooms, then closed the door behind me again, and looked around the house.
He was nowhere to be found. And the current residents raised no alarm as I figured they would do. Not the dog or either cat. I knew he had to be here, and remembered some of you have had very shy cats before, and said to just let them be. some lived under beds for a long period of time. So, I left it overnight. Of course, I have closed the doggy door for the time being. I left the cat room door open so he could get back from wherever he had taken himself, and sure enough, I saw him trot back into the room from the living room the next morning. I followed him in and closed the door. He saw me and was frightened. He scurried into the tiny bathroom and jumped onto the sink. He began to cry in terror and made a jump into the bathroom mirror. He managed to break one of the lights over the sink and was very fearful when I picked him up. I put him on my lap and he soon stopped crying. We sat there for about a half hour, and he got down and walked around a bit, then he went back into the carrier which was still there. I put down a little food as it had been 24 hours since he had eaten anything. I left him alone again, and again, he disappeared. That was yesterday. He is still loose in the house. I feel awful as he is clearly terrified. What should I do now? Leave him alone? Or hunt him down? I don’t even know where I should put food, as anything outside of the cat room will immediately be snarfed down by the dog.
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Can you get a baby gate and set it up so the cat can get under it, but the dog can’t? What about up on a table or counter in the cat room?
My suggestions: Keep him confined with his own litter pan and scratching post so he can establish territory. You can expand on that throughout the house once he feels safe enough to explore. Regular feeding times (i.e., 3x day, small meals). Always lightly tap on door and call to him so he knows you’re arriving and not ambushing him. A feather wand or ‘live’ toy might engage him enough to calm down.
His whole world has been turned upside down, and having been in a shelter he might now be wary of humans, so he’s probably learned to be suspicious antsy. I have human friends who had to stay in a shelter (gym) during our recent fires and they said it was as stressful as evacuating. Give it time, don’t hunt him. It may take some time but it is worth it. With Nic I was willing to go for months if needed but it only took a few weeks and he is now a barnacle PITA.
He is a gorgeous cat and reminds me of a wise old owl. You have done a wonderful thing. Welcome home Tater.
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the problem is, he is now loose in the house. I can put some food on the dining table in the living room. I did that for Bug last week when I was gone for a long time and he didn’t get his breakfast. Sigh. I have a large dog crate in the bedroom and if I can get a hold of him, he will be going in there. It is about the size of what he had at the shelter, maybe a little bigger. I just feel like an idiot for letting him get loose TWICE. um the dog hops over any baby gate. I set up an elaborate blockade of the kitchen/living room door, and he made it thru there with no problem. I may just have to get a door for bedroom or kitchen.
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Just keep trying. You’ll get there, both of you.
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Also OP, do not discount the power of shaking a bag of Temptations or Greenies. He may know that sound already. You don’t have to hand feed him; you can just put some out in a bowl (and leave if he is still too shy).
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Be strong, have Faith!
My Cheeto cat - feral from a shelter @ 6mos - lived in my basement for 4 Years 
I adopted 2, the other was from a hoarder & decided upstairs beat the basement in about a month.
But I had no other house pets then.
If I hadn’t needed work done in the basement he might have stayed there 
But once livetrapped & relocated upstairs it took him almost 7 months to first hide on a window ledge in my cat room/guestroom, then venture out & eventually become my Fat Orange Barnacle.
I’m sorry I can’t give any tips for integrating with your other cats & dog.
Cheeto did pal up with Bounce, as I posted above.
Hope Tater takes less time to fit in 
Also: apologies, but I am still wavering on going back to look at Beggin’ Paws 
I may be a 1-cat household now.
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Thank you so much 2 dogs!! I would just feel so much better if I knew where he was. I cannot open the back door, because I cannot take the chance he is back there and will flee thru the doggy door. I am not worried about the dog. I am a little concerned about the cats. But, there has been no reaction whatsoever. I would think they could smell him, but they are acting completely normal. Well, except that they are not fighting at the moment.
I am so sorry about the loss of your big cat. He was such a character! I will admit to being an enabler, but I also will express caution. Because as you know it is a big responsibility to take one on. But if you think it may be OK to just look… 
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A friend’s cat used to disappear in her apartment. It turns out the kitchen cabinets, and probably the bathroom cabinets also, were open underneath in the corners, and ends, and the cat would go under there. She had to get some kind of cloth stapled under there to stop it.
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Forgot to add:
When Cheeto was resident downstairs, I’d almost never see him.
Sometimes a flash of orange as he disappeared himself…
He’d also paw open the cabinet doors (in-law apartment kitchen down there) & hide inside.
Bounce said "tell Tater to stop being invisicat! The noms & scritchlady are better when seen
From his mouth:
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from your mouth to Tater’s ear…
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I have had a brief sighting of him!
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One of ours managed to hide INSDIDE a clothes drawer, with the drawer closed.
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At varying times I have finally located new-and-missing cats inside the box spring of a bed, and inside of both a couch and armchair. The bottoms of many types of furniture just have fabric tacked over the innards and a cat can make a hole in the cloth and be up inside the furniture in seconds. Unless it’s a recliner, they’re in no danger (although your furniture certainly will be!)
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well, the darn cat is MIA again!
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I’m so sorry to hear all this! Poor Tater. He’s scared out of his mind. My idea may be out there but are you open to sitting down where you think he is and meditating?
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I am just not sure. I cannot believe he has levitated out of the cat room. When he hid before, I saw him hiding behind a laundry basket. This last time when I saw him he was in there, and I didn’t try to pick him up. But I put an open can of cat food right near where I last saw him, sitting on the bottom of a clothes rack on my last 100 albums. I keep my clothes there because it is next to the bathroom. There is little spare space between clothes and albums, but definitely room for a frightened cat. I have kept the door closed, so I could then open the doggy door so the two that go out, one dog and one cat, could peaceably come and go. This morning, when I couldn’t find Tater again, I closed the door. Even IF he could make his way to the back door, (not likely,) it is unknown whether or not he could use the doggy door. So at the moment, the cat room door is open, and the back door-doggy door is closed.
I need to go pick up my new glasses this afternoon, so I am hoping that by leaving the house open, he may come out from wherever he is hiding. I am distraught over this. I know he is terrified. BTW, he didn’t eat even a bite of the food. The thing that really puzzles me is why aren’t the other two cats reacting. Surely they can smell him?
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