HELP my cat is extremly skiddish..!!

i have 2 cats just about to turn 1 year.. Jack is a typical american black and white short hair.. wiskey is a calico tan brown and black.. wiskey loves to play and wrestle with jack all the time and is not scared, though when people come to our house she is very scared and runs and hides for hours until they leave.. but it gets worse, this calico is litteraly afraid of her own shadow.. she is so skiddish and nervous that i worries me.. she has become use to me and my boyfriend and she will allow us to pet her as long as we put our hand out and she walks over.. you can sneeze and she will run and hide under the bed in the spare room.. plaese help us i want her to be comfortable..

ps.. i have heard that female calico's are typicaly like this in that behavior.. just curious if this is true or not and what we can do about it..

I also have one like that from the very beginning she was like that, her brother (from the same litter is different) when my family would come over they never saw her, the joke was they didn't believe I even had 2 cats just one. It took her a long time but finally she did get over it. I would sit on the floor with her and her brother and swing a little plastic spider on a string. They would take turns hitting it (as long as I didn't get too close to her). As time goes by she will see that nothing is going to hurt her and start getting braver. The Calico thing I'm not sure about. Cinnamon is not Calico. Good luck.

Yeah my newly adopted 6yo cat is like that as well. It was so bad I thought she was abused in the past. She is afraid of everything - even her own tail... there was once she was asleep and I patted her on the head because she looked so happy; she jumped up and scrambled over herself, fell over, ran down the stairs, and right into the wall.

I've had her for 4 months and she is slowly coming out of her shell. Takes time. I mostly just let her be; yesterday morning she was wanting me to wake up to make her breakfast - she kept meowing and when that didn't work, she grabbed my scrunchie and dropped it next to my face ("WAKE UP you lazy housewife, tie your hair up and get in the kitchen pronto!").

I thought it was pretty funny. I think she is highly intelligent and she thinks too much... all that time spent hiding in corners watching us... wonder whats going on in that little cat brain.

My Callie, a tortie, was very skittish for the first several years that I had her. I just let her be and she eventually came around and is comfortable in almost any situation with little hiding or running. She really stressed out when we added a 2nd kitty to our family, though, so I started using Feliway diffusers to help her out. They worked so well that I now run one all the time.

she was the same way when we got her too. we always try to play with her. how long did it take before she realized nothing is going to hurt her. i have no problem being patient we love her the way she is but i dont want her to live in fear.

im happy to hear that cinnamin is ok now

Also, remember that some cats are just a bit more skittish or careful or whatever you want to call it. I have one that's all out, no holds barred, full throttle, think after she leaps kind of cat. Then I have one that's much more reserved, calculates every jump, considers all the options before leaping, tests every surface before settling down on any surface kind of cat. She doesn't live in fear, she's just more cautious and reserved. Just give her time. It could take a few weeks, months, or years.

Originally Posted by mommacat0907

she was the same way when we got her too. we always try to play with her. how long did it take before she realized nothing is going to hurt her. i have no problem being patient we love her the way she is but i dont want her to live in fear.

im happy to hear that cinnamin is ok now

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Thanks I saw some improvement in about 4 months then it started to get better and better. Now, she sleeps all over me.