Nervous kitten.. so they end up nervous cats?

[MedusaIsHavingaBadHairday]

There is the possibility I may be taking on two kittens . One is a little girl.. in your face friendly and lively and nuts. The boy however is very timid indeed.. hides and keeps his distance. They are only 7 weeks old at the mo, and if I take them on it won't be for another month as I'm going away on holiday.

I have never had a timid kitten before.. will enough handling and socialising bring him out if himself or is he likely to stay a non cuddly cat?

(and yes I know.. just lost Morph and grieving horribly for him, but another cat (or two) is the only way forward for me!

I can only speak from experience in that I rushed into getting a kitten straight after my one died, made arrangements to go to the woman's house to see them but she then offered to meet me half way at it was a long drive, the kittens were very timid and hissing but I though it would be ok as they were just frightened of being in the car, the one I took was terrified when I got her home and hid constantly and didn't like being picked up or stroked despite all our efforts, we still have her and love her but she hasn't changed her personality at allowed, doesn't hide anymore but still doesn't like being touched and will lash out, I'm convinced she wasn't handled as a young kitten and by the time they get to seven weeks it's a tough road to change things,

She's recently had kittens herself and it's been the only time she's shown any affection, the kittens have been handled loads and the difference between them and herat that age is dramatic, still wouldn't part with the bad tempered boot though! Good luck!

I think it depends on the cat and depends on you, Medusa. My temptation would be to take a shy cat as a singleton on the basis that he wouldn't then have a gregarious sibling bossing him around - but issey and others have had great success with shy ferals/semi-ferals and although this may not be one, I think there are probably lessons to learn from their experience. Maybe they'll see this thread and comment.

My cat was a shy kitten who didn't really want us picking him up etc, by the time we got home (4 hrs, only took us 2hr to get down there) he was very confident.

He was with his mum and sister so he was under the cosh a lot around them.

some kittens will turn round and become affectionate and outgoing with lots of love and attention, some like my jasper will still be on the nervous side whatever you do, jasper was born in a house , has never been neglected or ill treated and 8 years later though hes very loving with me is still a bit on the timid side

by the way feral born kittens are different because they havent had human contact from the start you have to get them to believe that humans are nice and once they trust you seem to stay freindly

ovaryhill it sounds like yours was either feral born, farm born or backstreet breeder born and hadnt had that contact in the vital first few weeks

I agree issey, I'm pretty sure it was a farm cat and hadn't been handled

Mine was the well loved, well handled kitten from a family pet. She was stupidly timid (spent most of her first week under the piano and up the curtains). I eventually caught her and just held her very snugly until she calmed down enough to lick taramasalata off my fingers, which took about 20 minutes. 4 years later, She's still a bit twitchy, but she's never scratched and is very affectionate once she feels confident. She's very keen on me, comes to call and is quite a character.

Our little boy came 4 years ago and was extremely timid, recused as a kitten from battersea. He hid in our bedroom under our bed for two weeks and eventually came out due to boredom, despite me lying on the floor talking to him for hours at a time! Now he's the most confident friendly cat I've ever had. I grew up with animals and my three cats were all pedigree from registered breeders and not half as relaxed and friendly as my current boy. My neighbours love him, especially the one with 4 children, he visits them when he's allowed out. I worried initially he would be terrified forever as I always had confident kittens. Don't worry love him and enjoy him!