Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Any advice how to deal with guest-shyness of my cats? Tonks are supposed to be very open minded and friendly with strangers. Not mines! If someone comes, even if it is one person, they will run like a bullet into another room and hide under the sofa or behind the wardrobe. Nothing conviences them to come out, even when I approach them they are hiding. The breeder had them well socialized and they lived in a family full of children other cats and dogs. When I used to go to visit them, they never escaped and were quite friendly. I wonder what happened to them since they moved to my house. They do stay alone all day from 8 am to 8 pm. Could that be the reason?

Sina is like that too. I think it is just that she gets overwhelmed and most cats are naturally cautious. My suggestion is ask guests who come over to be calm and quiet around the cats. Both my girls shocked the hell out of me by sticking around when one of my male friends came to visit. I think it was because he was quiet and had cat experience and waited for them to approach him. When my apartment was being shown by my landlord a week or so before that Sina and Lea ran and hid! I think it is all about how your guest acts... Sina and Lea even sat in my friend's lap while we watched a movie! If you have a few different friends who are willing to help you out, I would suggest having people come over and just be calm and quiet. Eventually if they get used to people acting like that they may not feel the need to run off.

Generally cats do things in their time and on their terms...Tonks are more social by nature, but that doesn't necessarily mean every Tonk is going to greet every guest at the door...Out of my 3, Finster has to be in the middle of everything...Alastair could care less if anyone comes over, and for the most part could care less about any human other than me...Bentley will come and decide if the person or people are interesting and that determines if he stays...if there are kids he prefers to find somewhere else to be. But I do not particularly remember them coming to greet strangers when they were kittens...they are still young and still figuring things out...

Cats are teriitorial so even though you think they are "hiding" from your guests, chances are they are just scoping things out from what they feel is a safe distance...I had a cat once who sat on the top of the breakfront everytime a person came over, she did not want to be a part of the action, but she was watching to make sure everything was okay...

Just give them some more time and trust me...you will have cats hanging out all over the place...

When we got Alastair, he had to stay at the breeders a month or so longer than normal and then my parents picked him up, kept him a few days and then drove him down to NC for us...he was all screwed up as to who he was supposed to love and it took a good year before him and I were able to successfully bond...he still, however, is the most aloof of the three...but he is also just as much Tonk as any of them...he just does things in his own way...