I'm sorry your kitty is always hiding! Does she only hide when "strangers" come to visit or does she hide from you, too? How long have you had her?

I think the general rule of thumb with cats is that it's best to let them come to you. If anyone tries to go after a cat, it will probably try to avoid being touched or picked up. But if things are quiet and no one is running about, a cat will be more comfortable and less skittish. It will be more interested if you "ignore" it.

My cats often hide when I have people over. Especially little kids because kids like to touch and grab. But generally when things quiet down, the cats come out to see what's going on. If someone approaches one of them to try and pet her, she will most likely scamper away--to return later when the person sits down again. But if a person stays quiet, one of my cats might actually approach the person and sniff them. She may even get on the persons lap and let the person pet her.

When you have friends over, you might ask them to sit on the floor and flip a bit of string around to see if the cat might be interested in coming out of its hiding place to play with the string (usually that's irresistible to cats ).

I think everyone else here will have some good suggestions for you to help your "fraidy cat".

--Margaret

[This message has been edited by margaret (edited March 22, 2001).]