So let me start by saying, I grew up with dogs. I've had a dog as long as I can remember. Obviously not the same dog, but multiple ones. A few years ago I adopted my first cat, who has since passed away. I worked at a pet supply store that had rescue groups that ran adoption events. I applied to foster a cat and they matched me with Fiona. She was, in my opinion, the best cat. She was estimated to have been 2 years old and already had at least one litter of kittens. Since I didn't know shit about cats, I didn't know that they would meow for more food even when they didn't need it. She got pretty fat. Not extremely round, but definitely chubby. But I loved her nonetheless. She would sleep on my pillow, cuddle with me, was happy to get love from anybody, didn't particularly like my dogs (she would lazily lay on her side and half ass swat at them as they walked past.)
I got her a friend after my foster fail. She was just a kitten (~8-12 weeks old) she was in a litter of cats from a feral kitty. I got her from a co-worker's SIL. She was very skittish and took some time to warm up to me and Fiona. They soon became the best of friends. Fiona loved to groom her and nap with her.
Its kind of a long, strange story of how Fiona died, but she got sick very quickly. I miss her all the time. (It's been over a year since she passed) I have a habit of comparing her to Doja, my strange scaredy cat. She's a weirdo, but she's my weirdo. Doja would slink away when I tried to touch her, only coming up to me on her terms. I respect that and give her her space. She hides all the time. Sometimes I come home for lunch and never see her. My friends/family joke about me not actually having a cat because they never see her. Dojas idea of cuddling is sitting somewhat close to me and staring at me. I still marvel about how cute she is, even when she is doing absolutely nothing but laying there.
Doja has warmed up to my boyfriend and our new apartment quite well. She still hides from time to time and never comes out when people come over, but hey, that's just how she is. So it's been almost 3 years since I've had Doja and she really has opened up. She doesn't run away when my boyfriend comes home, she doesn't flinch when we cough anymore (we are fans of cannabis if you couldn't tell by her name) and doesn't really bolt when we get close to love on her. She has become increasingly "needy" and I love it. She meows for me as soon as I wake up, follows me everywhere, and head boops me for pets. She still has her skittish tendencies though.
I guess my question is, do cats' personalities change or evolve? When do they stop maturing from kittenhood? She will be 3 years old sometime in August. What is your experience with scaredy cats? Is it possible that another cat boosts a cat's confidence? I know that's true for pairs of dogs.
Also, sorry for such a long post, I was really trying to get some background set up. and en then, there is still a lot I left out.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/b1s9f4/do_cats_mature_or_ever_grow_out_of_being_skittish/
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