Loud Noises and 5 mo old kitten

Hello, I am a longtime cat lover. All my former cats were DSH rescues, until the Fall when we adopted 2 beautiful MC kittens from a reputable breeder. I am in love with them, and I love reading about them, talking about them, and all things MC! They are not related and are one month apart. My male is a "ham" and a clown. My female is very sweet and wants to be near us, but she is frightened of loud noises and runs to hide. I am afraid if she is this way at 5 mos that the problem may only worsen as she gets older. Are there any type of activities I should be doing or not doing at this age that could improve her chances of being more confident? She is a tortie, and I know sometimes people associate certain personality types with torties, but I thought torties were usually "too" confident. Also, she is not as tactile and into cuddling with humans as my male. I know some cats are just different, but I wanted to know if there is anything I can do now while she is still in adolescence that could increase my chances of her being a cuddle bug. (Maybe some of this is the "teenage phase?"). She follows us around everywhere, but she would rather not be held or picked up. Thank you!

Katie
Rocky & Zora ("The Maines") and the DSH Rescues!

hi Katie, have you tried Feliway? seems to have worked for mine, who was quite high strung...

Don't project your fear on her, let her behave like she want's.Maybe she will change maybe not, if she is happy then it's OK.People are also different. That makes our world so interesting.Clones can be seen in Nord Korea.

Hi Katie. Not quite the same as loud noises but my eldest MC always used to run away if I tried to stroke him whilst he was on the bed. Very odd as he never reacted like that in another part of the house or situation. I never gave up and attempted the strokes nearly night and finally, after about 7 months he's stopped doing it.

I guess what i'm trying to say is carry on as normal and be patient. She will grow in confidence and trust as she gets older. The worst thing you could do is shield her from loud noises (in my opinion).

I agree with Devolens, each cat is different. I have one that is a cuddle bug and one that isn't. Bit of a lottery I think.

Best of luck :smile:

I believe it depends on how often and the type of loud noise. Whiskey would flee and hide under the bed whenever the doorbell rang. But at Halloween, he got used to it ringing. After a few times, he would actually rush to the door whenever the doorbell rang so he could greet the kids. My other cats could care less about the doorbell. Now that Halloween is over, the doorbell doesn't ring as frequently and its Whiskey back to hiding under the bed. All of my cats have ran whenever you'd shake out a plastic bag. Of course there is always the loud bang that make them all flee when something, that shouldn't, hits the floor.

So I agree that each cat is different.