peculiar behavior

Question
I have a 10 year old cat who was acting normally, for her personality, when my older cat died and I adopted 2 kittens from a shelter. After a month or so, the 10 year old has taken to staying in one room and not coming out. She does not appear to be in pain, but has become even more skittish than before, hiding under the bed and accepting only one pet from me before scratching me. Perhaps she comes out when I'm at work, but I can't tell.
What do you think?

Answer
Wendy,

My bet is that the addition of the two kittens has upset her and, mayhaps, sparked some jealousy.  It may take her quite a bit of time for her to get used to the new additions.  Meanwhile, I suspect that the new kittens got a lot of attention she felt she should have been getting.

You are just going to have to wait for her to come to terms with the new arrangement and accept whatever she decides to feel about it.

What I would do is not go after her to provide attention or affection.  Let her come to you when she feels she is good and ready.  By going after her, you are allowing her to manipulate the situation.  On the other hand, if you ignore her except to feed, water, and clean out the litter pan, she may decide to come out on her own.  When she comes to you, pet her, otherwise ignore her.

You may have to just give it some more time.

Best regards... Norm.