guatemalense

I've had a cat named Tiger for over a year now. He is absolutely
wonderful. Adaptable, sweet, loving. Since I have been terribly busy
at the University, I decided to get him a kitten to play with. The
kitten's name is Tito--after a Guatemalan writer, not after the
Yugoslavian dictator--and he is not quite as affectionate as Tiger,
although he does like to snuggle when he's sleepy.

Now, the biggest problem I have with Tito is that he gets extremely
scared every time I approach him. He runs away like crazy! Just the
sight of a hand approaching him, and he's off. Even walking about in
the house without any intention to get close to him can trigger his
escapes.

It would all be good if I were the only source of food, but the thing
is more complicated. Tiger is extremely patient and non-territorial.
It took him a little bit to adapt to the new kitten, but within few
days he was grooming Tito and playing with him. The problem is that
Tiger defers to Tito when Tito comes to eat from his bowl. So Tito
can eat from Tiger's bowl, and often invades Tiger's litterbox,
without Tiger protesting at all.

The litterbox thing is kind of a blessing, because Tiger does not do a
good job of burying his waste, and Tito is kind of a compulsively
clean kitten, so Tito ends up tidying Tiger's litterbox. The problem
is that Tito never comes to me for food. Tiger does--of course--and
the upshot is that Tito gets fed whenever Tiger is being fed, and
doesn't learn to look for me to get food.

Any advice?

confidential

Your kitten may be semiferal (half wild), so even though he may be very
affectionate with your cat, he's afraid of humans. That's just the nature
of feral kittens.
Just have patience. It may take as long as a year for Tito to warm up to
you, once he knows you won't hurt him.

lkrz

That's normal. It means that Tiger considers Tito his kitten. Give them some
time and you'll have to very loving cats.
It's actually good that Tito is a little afraid of you and looking to Tiger for
affection. This will bring them together faster. You don't really want to
interfere with their bonding at this point.
When the little one sees Tiger getting all snuggly with you, he'll eventually
want to be included too. He may never be as people-loving as Tiger is. All cats
are different.
Tiger will teach him what he needs to know.


laurak@madmousergraphics.com
http://www.madmousergraphics.com
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nickknight

Remember though that some cats don't like to be held. I
have a 17 year old who loves affection but after all these
years he still doesn't like to be held.
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thomas

In article <21416406.0308290816.4e30618e@posting.google.com>,
guatemalense@hotmail.com says...


Just catch him and pet him as often as possible, to get him used to you
and to teach him that he doesn't need to be afraid of you. Keep this up
for many months.

If that doesn't work, then kick his furry little ass out the door and
get a new kitten.