My new kitten is being incredibly shy, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do.

tsuki

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Hi guys :)

We brought our beautiful new Bengal boy, Loki, (3 months) home yesterday night, but he's seeming very, very shy, even more so than I'm used to from a new kitten.

He went in the cat carrier quite happily when we were at the breeders' house but then hid under his blanket all the way home (understandable!) When we got home I left him alone in the carrier with the door off, he was still under the blanket for quite a long time, so I made sure he was ok before moving him to his comfortable igloo bed (he was insisting on sleeping on the hard plastic in the carrier) and to his safe room with the carrier in there just in case he opted for his original space.

I got up this morning only to find his dry food untouched but he had used the litter tray, which I promptly cleaned out, and I could tell he had, had a wander at night as he had left a little litter trail ^_^. But all day today he has been in his igloo bed, even going to the trouble of going under the cushion to hide himself! He won't take treats and I've had to take him out of the bed and plop him down in front of his wet-food just to make sure he had eaten something today (he hadn't eaten since 6pm-ish last night) He quite happily ate some of it before looking back at me and running behind his igloo bed.

I've never known a kitten to be so shy, he purrs when I go close and talk to him but then backs away if I get any closer. Also I've noticed he has crusted 'tears' under his eyes, is this normal? I've never noticed it so bad on other cats, and he doesn't seem to be trying to clean it away himself.

I'll be taking him to the vets on Monday, just for a '48hr at new-home' checkup, and I'm hoping the vet will be able to tell me more about the 'tears'. He's already had all of his vaccinations and has been wormed and de-flea'd.

Any advice anyone can give me would be really appreciated!

Thanks! <3
 

jmljml19

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I had the same problem with my kitten, it took a couple days for her to eat or come out to be social but i put toys in front of her and playing with her helped her a lot, now she can't stop playing and it's been 8 months lol. she loves chasing the feathers at the end of strings lol. as for the crusties in her eyes, my kitten had those for months and she would never clean them, I had to clean them away but now that she's 1 year old (today actually), she rarely has any. guess it just takes some kittens time to learn to clean themselves, just be patient, it'll happen.
 
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tsuki

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Thanks for the reply! It's a relief that others have experienced the same things! Hopefully he will be as happy as your kitty sounds! ^_^ I got up this morning to find his bowl empty and a used litter tray, I gave him fresh food and water and cleaned his tray and he watched absolutely everything I did. He seems calmer today, so I sat on the floor a few feet away from his bed and he started purring...CONTINUOUSLY! I'm not sure whether to be happy about this or not because I know it can be a sign of nervousness as well as happiness, but he does meow a lot when I leave the room.
Hopefully this is him warming to being here :)
 

dawn mckimm

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our kitten Fifi had the same sort of problem when we got her in Feb only problem was her shyness came with gassing we are used to it now but if she dosnt know you she will gas and run away but dont worry your baby will come round when they are ready and have gained your trust it just might be that they are just naturaly shy just like some humans
 
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