Cat afraid of me

Question
I recently adopted a 2 year old.  She hide in my apartment when I am home.  This has been going on for a week now.  Is this normal?.  Will she overcome her fear?

Answer
John,

Your cat is going through the trauma of being in a new territory with new people, new food, and the like.  It takes some cats quite a bit of time to get over this. It is not that she hates you, she is just being wary.

Things go better if her approaching you is her idea to be done in her own time.  So you leave down her food, change her litter pan, and otherwise ignore her.  Make pretend she is not even there. Do not approach her! Do not try to pick her up!

Wait for her to make the first move.  If she asks to be petted, slowly reach to pet her.  Make sure everything is her idea!

In time she should warm up to you. It may take a few more days or many weeks.  Without knowing her history and life experiences, you do not know if she has been abused by people in the past, so you really need lots of patience.

One other hint.  Do not look directly into her eyes. Instead, if you must look at her, blink your eyes repeatedly, this is a sign that you are submitting to the cat, so she thinks she is in charge.

Please let me know if you have further questions and how it all works out.

Best regards... Norm