Kitten Terrified Of Other People

[sara729]

My kitten Riley is about 4 month's old now, and is terrified by anyone but me in my apartment. When I adopted him at 2 months, he was quite outgoing at the shelter and didn't seem particularly shy or skittish when I was handling him. When my sister visited a couple weeks after the adoption, she was able to hold and pet him and he would be purring in her arms. Fast forward to recently, my mom came to stay for the weekend and for a whole 2 days Riley hid in my bedroom, she would nicely approach him speaking in a soothing voice and he would run under the bed. My sister didn't even have any luck with getting near him. Around me, he's extremely affectionate and lays with me whenever I'm on the couch and sleeps near me every night. I'll admit I'm a bit of an introvert so having company over doesn't happen often and it's usually family so I'm worried I'm not socializing him enough. My other cat (2 years old), however, is very sociable and is always present when there's company so I'm hoping he'll grow out of it? I'd love to hear some experiences of those with shy kittens, if they grew out of it or any tips/advice, thanks!

 

[Hyda]

My cat is the same and i don't mind it, maybe she is scared of them and i think thats ok, do they run toward her or speak loudly or play rough or try to hold her like a baby or pet her a lot? Ask them to not go near her but instead let her go to them when she is confortable.

 

[catlover73]

I adopted Starbuck in 2002 as a 6 week old kitten. She loved everyone she saw for a while. She had some issues that required quite a few vet visits. Over time she became scared of anyone but us. She would hide under the bed when anyone else came over. A couple times throughout the years she would enter the den with company when hubby was in the room. She would leave if our guests even tried to talk to her without approaching her. We told guests to ignore her. Just this year she has started hanging out in the room with certain guests and not running away if they talk to her. She has asked some of our friends who are experienced cat owners to pet her. She asked my friend and cat sitter for pets the last time we were out of town. She also let 2 of our friends pet her. We had company last weekend and she stayed and hung out in the den with our guest. He talked to her and she was not scared. He did not try to pet her because he did not want to scare her.

I have no idea why she finally decided it is safe to be around our friends but I am happy to see it. My friend and cat sitter wants to try to come over more when we are home to see if she can get Starbuck used to interacting with her. She will let Starbuck decide if she wants to interact on her own terms.