I once adopted a feral cat . For the first three weeks all I ever saw was a bit of her tail as she hid behind a hot water heater , inside my couch , or wherever she could . I had been advised by a rescue society to put her food in a room other than the one I had reserved for her the room with the hot water heater , but I found she just wouldn ' t come out for it . That made her a little hungry after a day , so what I did was bring some food into her room and I shut the door while I was still inside . She was hungry enough that she came out of hiding and approached the bowl . While she was eating I started to pet her , which made her very confused she was hungry , happy , and scared all at the same time , so she kind of squirmed around as though she didn ' t know what to do or where to go but she was so hungry she couldn ' t really tear herself away from her bowl . I only touched her a few times , and then I backed away and opened the door . From that day on she started peeking out of the room , eventually coming closer and closer to me . I don ' t remember when it happened , but at some point she was comfortable being on my lap , my bed or even being picked up . I had her for 12 years and I adored her . She was my little buddy . I ' m sure your friend can have a similar relationship with Sasha , particularly since she ' s already been so patient .