Kitty runs and hides when company comes over :(

Every time I have company, he runs under the bed and hides.

It's very frustrating. Many of these people are cat owners, and would like to say hello.

Any way that I can encourage him to be a better host?

tyvm

Some cats are just like this. As a human who tends to do the size-appropriate equivalent to this, I can totally sympathize with your cat.  If they're shy, they won't go out and outwardly greet people. He could be scared and insecure, he may just not be good with strangers. We have one super social cat and one super shy cat, but we seldom have guests over. The times we have so far, while one of us was coming in the door with guests, the other would gently pet and talk to her so she wouldn't run away (she's very reassured my physical touch).

Our shy girl is now at the point where when people come in, if she's on the cat tower, she'll just stay there and not run. The best we've had is a good long sniff when a guest knelt down in the foyer and she came to him. Encourage and celebrate all the small victories! If he usually runs under the bed, encourage that he only made it to the door frame and didn't go all the way under and work out step by step.

A lot of pets are nervous about new people coming into their home anyway, so it's best that you let him run and hide if that's what he feels he needs to do, and then let him come out on his own to greet them on his own time and his own terms. You can arm your guests with treats to offer, have them call his name if he responds to it, and offer his favourite toys.

Treats help lure out Pinball for SOME of my guest but for the most part, he hides. When it's just my husband and I, he's a social butterfly...He just doesn't care for strangers. Whereas my boy Oliver is the total opposite and has no boundaries when it comes to company. Even though most of my guest like animals and want to say hello, I try not to view his skittishness as a complete downfall....Cause some of those same guest are bad about shutting doors and I've had Oliver run out before but NEVER had to worry about Pin running out which for me is more important than him socializing with guest. JM2C. I'd offer plenty of ways (ie. Cat trees, shelves) for him to wander safely around guest, give them treats to offer him or toys to try enticing him to come out and play. Maybe use his FAVORITE toy or treats -only- when guest are over so that it's a really valuable "prize" for being social. He may come around but he may not, some cats don't care for anyone outside of their "family".