Scardy cat?

I guess I should say scardy kitten. I have a ragdoll 7 month old kitten who was stepped on by my boyfriend about 2 months ago. She is well now and I couldn't be happier for her. She loves ME like I'm her mother but as for the boy, she seems scared of him. I don't think she's angry because she is not aggressive (ragdolls I hear aren't very aggressive anyways) but she crouches low to the ground and runs away from him. If he's sitting next to me, she is generally all right but she will run sometimes. She doesn't run to any particular spot, just a w a y.

Any pointers? I would LOVE to have her come around for him like she was in the beginning. I didn't think cat's held grudges that bad, especially since he shared 50 % of the care taking duties when she was in her neck splint. He did a wonderful job for her and is even taking on a second job right now to help pay for the VERY expensive vet bills!

I just want us to be a happy family not I'm the good guy, he's the bad guy. If there is a link I'm missing to check out I will gladly head that direction just wondering if anybody has had any experience with a kitten that loves one and hates the other.

Much appreciated!
Marisa

Oh, man, that's a tough situation. I bet it compounds the boyfriend's guilt when the kitten runs away from him.

I have a cat who doesn't like my spouse, and it hasn't changed much in 4 four years (although she has gotten friendly towards him), but there isn't an event that made her dislike him.

I hope other people will have useful advice, but I suspect that with more time, continued friendly treatment and no more accidents, she'll learn to love him. However, I have no experience with how cats who were injured by a person act around that person afterwords.

One of my girls was afraid of both of us when we adopted her. She would break my heart because she was so afraid. But we both use to sit down on the floor with a rubber spider on a string that was connected to a little stick, that way she didn't have to come too near us to try and hit it. We swung it back and forth. Not necessarily directed at her just swinging it nice and easily and quietly, she would get curious and come out and hit it when it came near her. We did this a little while everyday, and she finally came around and was very friendly. Because I had good results with this I socialized 2 feral cats I took in the same way. Sitting on the floor brings you to their level, your not towering over them. Good luck.

Aswient has a VERY good suggestion, getting down on the cats' level has always worked for me in the past, too. People don't seem so intimidating that way.

I also agree wholeheartedly with what Enuja said: "more time, continued friendly treatment and no more accidents".

Yeah, your boyfriend should sit down on the floor with something super yummy for your cat to eat. He should take it slow, let her come to him and give her the treats when she gets there. If he's willing to put in the time she'll come around.

Also, it's not that she's holding a grudge. It's more that she has associated him with danger. That makes a powerful impression on a young cat. The good news is that if he's patient and spends time she'll learn he's cool and over time will forget all about the accident.

You all have great suggestions! I will try them all Thank you so much for writing back!!