Black kitten seems to be scared of human contact. HELP

[wheetos]

I have 2 kittens at the moment, one black and one blue tortishell both female. I treat them with lots of love and I always put them before myself, I play with them everyday and feed them when ever they ask. However I am quite concerned about the black kitten as whenever someone tries to stroke or handle her she gets scared and runs under the sofa, We don't have this problem with her sister and they are treated the same way. Am I doing something wrong or is she just shy? She is a beautiful cat and I wouldn't want her to live in fear, is there anything I can do to make her more friendly and loving toward humans? Thank you

[spirit3]

Ditto everyone else!! Everything I used to lure a shy baby to trust me is all right here!! Best of luck to you!! And patience is your best friend here.

[wheetos]

I've uploaded a picture of her onto my profile :) feel free to tell me your opinion on her. I think we're getting somewhere now :D she purrs at me sometimes but still a bit scared of being stroked, slowly making progress

[opus88]

welcome to our site!!!
first you need to have photos loaded into your computer, I assume you've done that.
at the top of this forum you'll see MY MEDHELP on the blue banner. click on that it will take you to your home page.
when on home page look at the apps on the left hand side, scroll down to PHOTOS, click on that. it will take you to a page where you'll see a button that says UPLOAD PHOTOS the rest will self explain, good luck...looking forward to seeing photos.

as the others have said, it just takes time and patience..this is a huge adjustment for some of the more timid kitties to come to terms with, a new home, new mommy and perhaps other members....more animals...its overwhelming to some. give her time and patience and lots of love. does help as Pip has done to give her a room of her own for a bit...with her own food and litter box so she can determine herself when she is ready to come out slowly and explore....good luck, it will happen just takes abit longer with some :)

[wheetos]

Thanks for the advice guys :) It's the first time this has ever happened as all my other cats are very loving and sleep on my bed with me. This weekend I'm going to buy a few toys and some treats for the kitty and see if she loosens up a bit around me, as her older brother Simba broke the last toy -.- I'm new to this site so I'm not sure how to upload a picture to this post, if you could tell me I would be more than happy to upload one :)

[LindaTX]

Wheetoes, I'm going through the same thing with a kitten (3-4 mo. old) that I "rescued" from a woman out in the country who didn't even know which litter this kitten was from.  She had two mother cats and they had each had 5 kittens at the same time.  My kitten had probably not been touched by another human.  Little did I realize this until I got him home.  He was so scared.  After the first couple of days I was able to approach him (he was confined to a small bathroom) and a day or so after that after getting down on his level, as Pip suggested, i was able to pick him up, and I don't know if it's just his personality but he thrived wiith me holding him close.  I can only guess he felt love and protection from me.  I was surprised that he allowed that.  After this past week, he is actually coming out of the bedroom where he is now confined and meowing or coming up to me, wanting to be held.  He is so sweet but he still is afraid of anyone else.  I can only say to you to be calm and relaxed with him, some kitties just don't like too much handling.  He will let you know how much he can tolerate so just give him patience and space.  I'd love to see a picture of him.

[Piparskeggr]

Patient, persistent kindness, that's how I reached a semi-feral 10 1/2 year old kitty my wife and I took in a little over 3 years ago wen her previous people (who had rescued her from the streets at age 6 months) lost their house to foreclosure.

Teia was fearful and very defensively aggressive when we first took her in; bit and scratched both my wife and I, attacked the other cats if they came within eye shot (when she wasn't hiding).

First few days we weren't even sure she was eating.

However, it reads like you are trying that already with kitten.

To broaden her knowledge of people you might want to try something I did with Teia.  Anita or I would sleep on the floor of the room in which she took refuge, bunkered up under the guest bed.  Lying there still, showed no threat, plus our bulk was not towering over her.

Do a search with Teia as the key word for more of her story.