We adopted 2 cats 2 days ago, all they do is hide.

Question
I wanted to know, what kind of behavior I can expect from the two cats we adopted. They are 3 years old, both neutered males and litter mates. We brought them home Sunday and the only information the humane society would give us on them is that they were "owner released". They appear to be healthy, but they seem only to hide from us and don't appear to be eating, or at least a very tiny amount, and are not drinking much. We have a 3 bedroom house, and my girlfriend just sprang this on me, I've never adopted a pet that didn't interact with me before I brought them home, so this behavior isn't what I expected. Please help me out, I don't want them to become ill. One of them is overweight and I'm concerned that he might develop fatty liver disease if he continues to refuse to eat.  

Answer
Yes, you're definitely right on about the concern over fatty liver.  See if you can get him to eat ANYTHING -cooked chicken, tuna fish, baby food (chicken, lamb, turkey, beef, etc. - just make sure it contains no onion powder), Fancy Feast, whatever is smelly and tempting, for right now.  Place it in a bowl and leave the kitties in peace.  Hopefully that will be tempting enough for them to eat some.

The behavior is certainly normal, especially for adult cats.  I think you will see slow but sure improvement over the next few days.  It typically takes a couple of weeks for adult cats to start to feel comfortable in their new skin.

However, if they're still refusing to eat, I'd get them to the vet within 24 hours.  They will probably need subcutaneous fluids to prevent dehydration, and the vet might suggest force feeding them with a syringe and a high-calorie prescription food, such as Hill's a/d.