Hello everybody!
I have a question about a real scaredy cat (pun intended). Me and my boyfriend bought a new apartment about a year ago and a few months later, in May, we got two kittens, Spooky and Scully. They are sisters, black as the night and gorgeous, and they were 8 weeks old when we got them. We were quite careful with them in the beginning and kept them in one part of the apartment so they'd get used to their new surroundings, and eased them into our home and company. Also, they are indoor kitties so they've never been outside.
We saw, basically from day one, that one of the kitties, Scully, was more reserved and more cautious than her sister, Spooky, and with time, we have noticed her getting "worse". It goes a bit up and down, but within a few months after we got them, she started getting really scared of my boyfriend. I could/can pet her, and she'll come lay with me on the couch and so on, but sometimes it's enough that she just hears my boyfriend walking around, and she'll run away... In the beginning, they'd both sleep with us in bed, and they'd lay beside him on the couch and such, but that has basically stopped completely. Lately Scully has been more and more reclusive, and she'll barely even let me pet her and when you approach her to fast (i.e. normal walking speed) she'll jump up and run away. We had electricians working here the other day, and of course she disappeared, and the following days she hid and I was almost scared something had happened to her 'cause I couldn't find her at first.
To our knowledge, noting "bad" has ever happened to her. And my boyfriend certainly has never done anything to her, worse than "yelling" a bit at her when she does something bad.
We're getting a bit desperate... She's so scared of everything! Her sister is absolutely fine and is anything BUT scared.
Is there an good way of changing this behavior? We just want her to be happy and have a nice life, our beautiful girl! <3
Thank you so much in advance!
Jenny, Scully and Spooky
I have a question about a real scaredy cat (pun intended). Me and my boyfriend bought a new apartment about a year ago and a few months later, in May, we got two kittens, Spooky and Scully. They are sisters, black as the night and gorgeous, and they were 8 weeks old when we got them. We were quite careful with them in the beginning and kept them in one part of the apartment so they'd get used to their new surroundings, and eased them into our home and company. Also, they are indoor kitties so they've never been outside.
We saw, basically from day one, that one of the kitties, Scully, was more reserved and more cautious than her sister, Spooky, and with time, we have noticed her getting "worse". It goes a bit up and down, but within a few months after we got them, she started getting really scared of my boyfriend. I could/can pet her, and she'll come lay with me on the couch and so on, but sometimes it's enough that she just hears my boyfriend walking around, and she'll run away... In the beginning, they'd both sleep with us in bed, and they'd lay beside him on the couch and such, but that has basically stopped completely. Lately Scully has been more and more reclusive, and she'll barely even let me pet her and when you approach her to fast (i.e. normal walking speed) she'll jump up and run away. We had electricians working here the other day, and of course she disappeared, and the following days she hid and I was almost scared something had happened to her 'cause I couldn't find her at first.
To our knowledge, noting "bad" has ever happened to her. And my boyfriend certainly has never done anything to her, worse than "yelling" a bit at her when she does something bad.
We're getting a bit desperate... She's so scared of everything! Her sister is absolutely fine and is anything BUT scared.
Is there an good way of changing this behavior? We just want her to be happy and have a nice life, our beautiful girl! <3
Thank you so much in advance!
Jenny, Scully and Spooky