Some cats are more shy than others.  Quite often, those cats missed early socialization with humans and-or have not been exposed to a variety of different situations.

Those cats lack confidence and have not developed the tools to easily adapt to new situations, such as a new environment.

The shy cat needs :

• To feel at ease in his new surrounding before being able to trust humans
• More time to adapt, which can take weeks, even months
• A calm and stable environment

To ensure a successful adaptation, it is important to follow the rules, and not skip any of the steps.     Otherwise, the adaptation time will be longer and more difficult for the cat

 1 – Adapting his environment

• A closed and quiet room - far from the hustling of the household
• Place his food and water bowls in a corner of the room and his litter box in the opposite corner
• Provide attractive hiding spots such as cardboard box with woolly blanket, small cat tent, open pet carrier, etc.
• Place the hiding spots in a way that you can have a look inside from a distance, ideally away from the entrance to the room to prevent scaring him and keeping a good distance with you
• Provide the cat with elevated observation points, ideally at a height of at least 1.5 meters

2- Respect his pace

• Frequent visits are in order, while maintaining a certain distance at first
• Use a calm and soft voice to address him
• Sitting down on the floor and respecting is height is advisable
• Do not try to touch or pick up the cat
• The cat will let you know when he is ready to establish contact
• Use food to make your visits a positive experience
• the cat is busy eating in front of you, you may want to take the opportunity to reduce the distance between the cat and you
• Always play while keeping a certain distance. Using a stick, cord and feather at the end is an ideal game for the cat.

How do we know when the cat is ready to establish a contact ?

• It will come out of hiding and be curious
• It will eat the goodies in front of you
• It will keep a ‘high’ posture, i.e. body, head, ears, even its tail.
• It will play in your presence

 It is up to the cat to make the first steps towards you, and not the other way around.

3- The power of goodies

• Food is the best incentive we can use for training a cat
• Finding his preferences is a game of trial and errors
• Use goodies every time you pay your cat a visit
• It is possible for your cat to not eat in your presence at first
• The better the goodies, the easier the adaptation will be.

Goodies examples you may wish to try :

• Cheese
• You can find ‘Creamy cat it’ (cats love it !) in an pet store
• Tuna
• Sardine
• Canned cat food.
• ‘Temptation’ or other types of goodies for cats
• Dried fish

Always use small quantities at first, because chances are you will be giving out some more often.