Excessive "Scaredy Cat" Issue

Did you somehow clone my Tiny? :P Seriously, they are two of a kind that way. Tiny is extremely perceptive, very intelligent, and very sensitive to everything around him. He's easily startled and hides at the first sign of noise.

With Tiny, one of the things that helps through the ordinary nerves is to make sure I am setting a "this isn't scary" example. If I try to "reassure" him, all that happens is that he confirms the idea that this is a threat. So I act normal, pet him, play with him, or just leave him alone. Seems to help.

Does your guy respond to Feliway? It's meant to smell like "happy cat", basically--the way cats rub their cheeks on things that they consider safe and part of their territory. (Not surprisingly, they also rub their cheeks on people they like.)

Some cats feel better around the smell of catnip. Sometimes I scatter some for mine to play with. It seems to help them mellow out a bit.

Since this is an extraordinary situation, have you asked your vet for help? I know they make tranquilizers for cats, and appetite stimulants for cats who won't eat. Assuming he's drinking water, a healthy, normal-weight cat won't be hurt by missing a couple days' worth of meals, but you really don't want him to go longer than that. The option of kitty Prozac is there (antidepressant--also has anti-anxiety effects), but those take a while to build up and show results, just like they do in humans.

Anyway, see if you can tempt the little guy with some smelly wet food he likes. Just make sure he drinks something--that's the important thing. Maybe you can tempt him with KMR, tuna juice, or similar. Don't worry about him eating enough for now; but it's absolutely essential he gets something to drink. If it really has been that long, he's probably dehydrated by now. I'm guessing he's been sneaking out to drink something, because it's been a week; but still--if he's drinking so little that you haven't seen him do it, that's still a problem.

You can tell a cat is dangerously dehydrated if you pinch up his scruff and it doesn't return immediately. If he is, you get him to the vet.

Oh, another scaredy-cat tip: Make sure he has plenty of "safe" hiding spots. This is especially important for Christy, who is just as nervous in her own way as Tiny is. Christy loves boxes and small spaces, so I provide her plenty of places where she can squeeze into a small, enclosed space safely and with a good view of her surroundings. She uses these boxes as "home base", and comes out to explore and interact with me.

I would suggest maybe putting his food and water in his hiding place until the contractors leave. That way he doesn't have to come out when he gets hungry or thirsty. The good news is it's only a couple more days, but he does have to get some food and water in him.

I have a scaredy cat too, and she always hides when someone comes over. She's hidden for hours after company has left, too, but always will eventually come out and get back to her normal self. Once the renovation is done and he realizes nobody is coming back I'm sure he will be back to normal.

Definitely, yes. Make sure he can get to the food without having to come out of his hiding spot. I have been known to throw treats to my hiding cats during the first difficult days after moving to a new apartment, so that they know that this is a Good Place where they get all their old things and all the things they like have moved with them.

Gosh, this is so different than Kramer. He walks right up to guests and demands head skritches.

Anyway, I second the wet food ideas, and also Feliway, although I've never used it myself.

I don't think he's afraid of humans. He's afraid of unpredictable, new things. The contractors and the noise are turning his little territory upside down, and he can't predict what's going to happen anymore, and that leaves him feeling extremely insecure. Once he got to know the new people--which, for a shy cat, often takes weeks--he would probably be okay being around them. But, as it is, as far as he's concerned, they've just turned his safe, predictable home into a scene of chaos.

Think what would happen if you suddenly had a bunch of huge strangers tramping through your home, moving your furniture, taking things away and adding other things, and jabbering at you in a foreign language you'd never heard before when you asked why. I think you'd feel insecure, too!

Yeah, my Larry's a total fraidy-cat. I just had some work done in my apartment (pipe-leakage behind a wall, so the wall was dismantled, the pipe replaced, and then the wall replaced, and two days later, painted).

Larry also goes back in a closet, so I closed the door to the dressing room, where the closet is, and put his food and water in there. I don't know if he came out during the day, but I knew that the noise was more muffled, and all the sounds, and every once in awhile I would go into the dressing room and just talk softly to him. I wouldn't even look in the closet, just used my "soft" and comforting voice, as I was doing things. I went in there to read, I went in there to talk on the phone - just so he'd hear "normal" sounds.

I love black cats!

I adopted Holland when she was 5 months old, had been at the shelter for 3 months, before that who knows? I've had her almost 3 years and she is also loved, pampered and safe. But she still won't go near any human other than me, or let any other human near her. She isn't afraid of me at all, but any other person, forget about it. I even lived with my mom, sister, BIL, nephew & 2 nieces for about a year, so it's not like she hasn't ever been around other people.

I just realized early on that she's a scaredy cat and there's probably not a thing I can do to change her.