New Kitten Behavior

Hi,

As I posted a few times, I adopted a 6 month old kitten about 3 weeks ago. The kitten sleeps with us at night and when I get up in the morning, I have a hard time getting up cause he wants to cuddle. He then will follow me all around the house. I pay a lot of attention to him. Then, at night when I come home from work he hides from me. THis is making me upset because I don't know why he hides from me. Do I need to give it some more time?

Hi Sharper,

Yes, you need to give it more time. You have had this little one less than a month. Think of it from his point of view. He has you all to himself at night and in the morning. Then, you leave for work and he has to find stuff to keep himself occupied while you are gone.He gets used to a big empty house, then you come home and startle him. He then has to get used to having you back in his zone. He is still in his social mode- been surrounded by siblings and mom, and now he just has you. I would consider adopting a second kitten to keep him company during the day, if you can financially handle the committment of a second kitty.

Hi,

Thanks for replying. I do have an older cat that keeps him company during the day. Also, my husband is home from work around 3:00, but when I get home, he hides from me.

Maybe he's playing? Does he seem actually frightened? Spidey loves to play hide and seek and I pretend I can't find him and make exaggerated efforts to look for him and take a while to actually "find" him. He seems to like the game since he initiates it.

Maybe he just likes to hide. My cat will climb or crawl into anything and everything from backpacks to blankets to boxes to coat sleeves. When he's ready for attention he comes looking for it. Just give your kitten some time, when he wants you to pay attention to him, he'll let you know.

But then again my cat also has imaginary friends so who am I to give advice about normal feline behavior.

My Peugeot used to hide when I came home when he was new too. He hid from me for about a month and from my boyfriend and other flatmate for about 2 months. When he did come out we would smother him with love, tell him how great he was and then give him a treat. I think every time he heard the front door he percieved it as a threat. Now when we come home, together or alone, we are greeted at the door with the happiest cat in the world. Meowing hello, kissing us etc etc. It took time, and we left it up to him to set how long it would take. Once we left him alone to come out in his own time and realise nothing would happen to him but good stuff, he was fine. I think it's a matter of when the puss wants to come to you, so, don't call him, just let him work it out and praise him when he does.