Mary Allen
Fear and shyness in cats can have various reasons. Most oversensitive reactions in an anxious cat are based on negative experiences of the animal.
In house tigers, shyness or even fear usually develops at a very young age – the potential reasons are varied. A fearful cat has often been treated roughly at some point in its life. Something like that characterizes an animal. It doesn’t even have to be a beating or similar assault. For example, if a kitten has been roughly grabbed on the back of the neck and pinned down – perhaps to give it medicine such as flea medicine – it can be traumatized. Such cats are often reluctant to be petted or generally touched.
Shyness in Cats: That’s Where It Can Come From
The situation is similar to extreme shyness in cats at the vet: it is also mostly due to negative experiences. The doctor handled the frightened cat too roughly as a kitten or had to give it an injection, for example. House tigers notice something like that subconsciously. Even if the “culprit” was a doctor other than the one your cat is now afraid of, the surroundings of the practice and the smells alone are enough to evoke this primal fear again.
Anxious Cats: More Reasons
Many cats are afraid of the transport box, for example. Here, too, the cause of shyness is usually what your pet associates with the box – in most cases it will be unpleasant car journeys, i.e. situations that the anxious cat can only assess poorly and which therefore frightens it.
The destination of the unfamiliar journey in the carrier can also be one of the reasons for your cat’s anxiety. Most of the time, the unpleasant car ride probably went to the vet, in whose practice other negative experiences awaited the kitten.