Ashton is not a confident or outgoing cat. When a new object comes into the house, she is the last cat to enter the room and examine it, after she is sure Newton and Pierre have both have seen it first and assured her it isn’t dangerous. When the doorbell rings, she vanishes.
Is her lack of confidence part of her nature, or did her experiences nurture the behavior along the way? The answer could be a little bit of both.
Cat Socialization and Confidence
Cats are much more receptive to socialization when they are kittens under eight weeks old. Things they learn during that developmental period become part of their “normal” world, and the more new people they meet during this time, the more likely they are to think new people are no big deal.
Introducing kittens to new objects, situations, and locations can help them grow into confident adult cats, too. The more cats learn they are safe anywhere they go, the more confident they will be later in life.
Kittens who grow into cats whose only experience with going anywhere but their own home has ever been to the vet are more likely to be frightened instead of confident.
Feline Genetics and Confidence
Behavior isn’t like a cat’s eye color or coat pattern. There is no gene for being friendly or for other behaviors. This means that any effects of a cat’s genes on behavior are indirect.
Knowing this, it’s surprising that a cat’s likelihood to be confident and friendly is partly an inherited trait. More than one study has found that kittens who are friendlier toward humans have fathers who are friendlier toward humans. This sounds like it could be something they learned during kittenhood from their parents, but the results held true even when kittens never saw their father.
Cats Can Learn Confidence
Even fearful cats like Ashton can learn confidence over time. It took her five years, but she now allows my husband to pet her when she is on the cat tree.
There is no accident that the more a cat plays, the more confident she gets. Good play experiences where she can catch and conquer her prey make a cat feel confident, and they also serve as great bonding time for her and whoever is playing with her.
Ashton’s Confidence
I had no idea when Ashton was rescued as an injured kitten that she had never been handled before. She was an estimated 8 weeks old, so she was past the period where handling her would have had the best results for socializing her.
Since she was found in a downtown area, she probably had a feral father, so we will never know how friendly he was. We can guess that Ashton inherited some of his caution about humans.
Although Ashton isn’t a fan of wand toys that fly through the air where she can’t judge their distance, Ashton’s confidence grows when she plays and also when she discovers new objects that aren’t actually scary after all. We encourage play with lots of toys she finds interesting, and slowly Ashton has become more confident. No matter what her timid nature is, she has slowly become a more confident, less fearful cat, and that’s encouraging to see!
Research and Further Reading
Applied Animal Behavior Science, The impact of paternity and early socialisation on the development of cats’ behaviour to people and novel objects
Physiology & Behavior, Friendliness to humans and defensive aggression in cats: The influence of handling and paternity
Alley Cat Allies, Socializing Feral Kittens
I do think it is a combination of nature and nurture. My mother and father are known for having especially good-tempered kittens, but if my human had just brought me home and left me there, I’m sure I would not be anywhere near as well-socialized as I am now. I always encourage humans to broaden their kitten’s (and even cat’s) horizons because the only way you know what a cat’s boundaries are is to push her. Unless they are extremely shy like Ashton (or our resident shy cat, Boodie). Timid kitties get a pass and they can stay in their comfort zone. But anyone who’s not so timid – they might surprise you!
That’s so interesting that the father’s traits influence their personality so much. We have three cats – one Elsie is semi-feral and only really trusts me, Moo Shu is friendly with us but hides from new people and objects, and Rosie who is very friendly and confident. Moo Shu we adopted as a young kitten and i do think she is more of an introvert by nature. Elsie and Rosie were both strays and came to us about the same age right around a year, but they are so very different.
Hannah and Lucy came from a house that had over 100 cats living there. I had just lost my last cat and had been to see a very nice cat (male) but I particularly wanted a female cat. The RSPCA found out they were hoarding cats and went and brought many, many cats to their site. As there was so many cats they they were concerned that any single cat would feel scared if they were alone and so anyone interested in one of the cats was asked if they could take two. Of course I didn’t want two but looking at Hannah I was overwhelmed by her lovely black and white fur and she looked so sweet and confident and I took one look at the tabby (Lucy) and brought her home too.
Ashton I surely know what you mean about doorbells. During the last 2 months of renovations ours rang a lot and every time it rang I ran half way up the stairs so I could get a good look when the door opened. I am most affected by voices not people.
So once I hear their voices I may or may not let them meet me. Thankfully we had my safe room set up in my blog office too.
Hugs madi your bfff
this is interesting….we have been thinking about the same thing since we got the tree kittens. some of them are just SO outgoing and friendly, yet 2 of the tortie girls would rather play with the siblings and avoid people. we know their mom was feral, but they came into rescue at about 6 weeks old.
love the picture of Newton and Ashton in the crate….. 🙂
Our pawrents wished they knew about all these socialization when they first got us. We are not as quick to welcome introoders (pawrent’s friends) in the house, but we are okay.
I didn’t meet Bear until he was 7 or 8 months old. He’s always been timid and easily scared. The one that really gets me is his intense fear of birds and squirrels – until I brought him inside, he was homeless so it seems odd that he’s scared of something he was exposed to from early on. I imagine being that fearful is stressful too – I wish I could help him not be so scared.
We really think it is a combination, and a shy cat can be “taught” to be more outgoing. Though we have tried with our Zoey and she still is timid and afraid of almost everything.
Very interesting post ! We think that nature and nurture both influence the personality of a cat. Purrs
my stars girl, I never knew my dad; and in my 13 years; I’ve only allowed three people to SEE me; let alone have contact…I wont list all the things I run from; but I am fierce when I see intruders on my property..no doubt ♥♥♥ hugs from dai$y =^..*=
because of my experiences, I fully believe that there is an inherited component to confidence/wariness in kittens. I have had litters of kittens who had no known contact with humans be very social almost from the beginning. I have had multiple litters of kittens who were born to feral mothers who some of the kittens were quickly socialized while their siblings took forever to trust. My last batch of kittens was like that. Rose and Lily were the last ones to come around when the boys and their three-legged sister all took to me quickly.
Fighting nature with nurture can be done, but it can be a battle.
I have no idea what Mudpie’s kittenhood was like but she must have been well socialized because she’s so outgoing and just loves people. Don’t tell anybody but she’s more excited when someone comes over than I am 😉
This was super interesting. I think Cody is so confident because he was only about 10 weeks old when I adopted him. Prior to that, was living with a fantastic foster mom who ADORED him (she said he was her favorite). He was taken to Petco adoption events from a very young age, so I think that helped him become used to people. He is truly a “people cat” and fearless
I’m glad you are gaining your confidence sweet Ashton! We used to be totally confident until the noisy roofer humans came and now we’re a lot more cautious!
Good to see Ashton is gaining confidence. I wish I could get my Snowball to play, she has no interest in toys or us, she only wants Phoebe.
Ashton is a little doll. It took our old sis Gracie years to gain confidence, too, so we know it eventually happens!
Hmmm, I bet I had a feral father. MOL! I certainly wasn’t socialized before the peeps got me at about 7 months. I go to the door if it rings or I hear humans and pets in the hall but run if someone enters the condo except if they’re delivering Chinese food.
I also think behavior is a combination of nature and nurture. Truffle was born in a loving home with lots of cats and kittens around. However, once she came to live with Mom Paula, she became shy when strangers come by. She’s getting better, but it takes her a while to come in the front of the house to socialize.
Admiral would have nothing t do with anyone but me and her human brother. Katie loves everyone. Admiral was that way because she lived with me of corse and I was working 12-16 hr rotating shifts. She only got to interact with me on the few days off. The rest, she slept with me day or night as the case was…and rarely got to see anyone but Brother. So she never had a chance to be socialized.
Some of my kitties have been naturally cautious and others downright afraid of humans and new things. Astrid was just about the least confident cat, but now at age five she is really starting to come out of her shell. Both my short-haired grey cats have been scaredy cats, whereas both had siblings (that were also part of our household) who were outgoing and gregarious. So it does seem, that there is a bit of both nature and nurture going on.
What an interesting post! Our oldest cat is not very confident at all, and we’ve had him since he was about three weeks old. He loves to explore, but VERY slowly and cautiously. And the slightest thing will set him off running to find a hiding spot.
This is so interesting. I do not know that cat can have confidence. But sometimes I think some of them are quite shy.
Wow. Another thing to know. Even though i’m a cat owner, I don’t know that cats have confident issue. I don’t think my cats have this problem but your post makes me think about it. Thank you for sharing!!