Shyness

Gemini has gotten quite shy. You would think a kitten that runs and plays and acts the way she does wouldn't be shy, but she is. A friend came over and she ran and hid. Another friend came by and she hissed at her. I worry about this as I hate the idea that she is frightened of people.

It's not too surprising. She was afaid of me when I found her and took her in. She'd hiss from behind the toilet and then purr when you petted her anyway! I suspect that for the people she's currently afraid of, she'd purr pretty quickly. She's bigger now and can run and hide faster. She knows the house.

I have discovered that she likes her toys too much to completely hide. I had a friend who she was afraid of bounce the feather toy around and pretty soon she was playing happily. She didn't like being petted by her though. Still she will stay in the same room. Hopefully that will be enough for awhile and then eventually she'll enjoy people. I'll be going away for a long weekend soon and I am having some people feed her and my other cat. I am hoping that seeing she is a very food oriented little cat, having someone else feed her might allow her to trust another person.

I've had other shy cats, but they seemed to come to me shy. As time went on and they got more comfortable in their surroundings they became less shy. Still they disliked repair people and such. I've never had a kitten be that shy before though and I'm not sure why or how to work with it. I'd be open to suggestions if anyone has any.