George is scared of me, what do I do?

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

My Mum's cat George has been quite shy with everyone except her since he adopted him. He's got better with everyone now though - except me. As soon as I set foot in the house he runs and it's not just a normal run, he's panic stricken looking for somewhere to go. He usually hides behind the curtains and even tempting him out with Dreamies doesn't work - he eats part of the trail and then backs off!

I have NEVER hurt him, even by accident so I don't know what I've done or how to try and win him round. He's overdue for his Advocate and Profender and it'll have to be me and DH doing it so I really don't know how it's going to work (George hasn't been outside so it's not urgent - yet). I'm also the one who will have to take him to the vet...

We've taken him to the vet for a check up once and put one lot of Advocate on him and he still tolerates DH but seems to think I'm the cat equivalent of the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

When Mum adopted George I promised her that, if for any reason she couldn't look after him, I would try to take him on. I knew it would be difficult because of H (who would obviously come first) but I would give it a go rather than just take him back to Battersea. Unless things improve with George and I that would be impossible as it wouldn't be fair to him and I don't think I could cope with livingt with a cat who disappeared every time I walked in the door! H may be sensitive (and superior!) but he's an easy cat to look after.

Sorry this is so long but I'm at a loss about what to do for the best!

I'd do nothing, apart from vet him as necessary.

When I first met Seniorboy, he ran and sat hunched and fearful on top of the kitchen cupboards. (My Mum hadn't trained him.) He was vaguely friendly to my father - who brought him ham treats - but the rest of the family, myself in particular, could go hang as far as he was concerned.

Now he's a love sponge who panics if he's awake and can't find me. Things often work out surprisingly well with cats who are very close to one person and that person is no longer around.

I'd just ignore him and let him make any of the running. No going after him unless you have to, no stroking him - no nothing. Aim to become part of the wallpaper in his world at this stage.

PS - if your Mum's not so mobile (and I don't know the score there) then it may be that he's just a little apprehensive at your moving around and being more active. Just what he's used to and that would change soon enough.

(It probably means that he likes you/you're an important person to his world and that he can't get on top of his anxiety yet. Try lots of talking as well in the sense of announcing where you are in your Mum's house so that he knows your location. (But no initiating physical contact.))

Thanks for the good advice (as always) Cozie.

I'm going to see them at the weekend so I'll try just speaking to him rather than trying to stroke him - he might learn to like me when he realises his source of Dreamies isn't taking any notice of him!

Mum is pretty mobile although she does have balance problems and is partially sighted (a completely black cat probably wasn't the best idea . She gets around pretty well all things considered and George is great company for her which is the main thing.

Good luck with him. (Although remember perhaps not to try to win his love completely - your Mum might have a secret little frisson of glee that George is very much 'my cat'. Just accustoming him to you enough at this stage for her reassurance is probably adequate.)

I think there is a little bit of smugness when mother points out how affectionate he is! It was different when she was feeding H though and used to tell me what an affectionate boy he was to her!