If I adopt a shy cat that hides from humans, will it become friendly within 6 months?
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530Ṁ1184
resolved Mar 17
Resolved
NO

"Friendly" means that the cat seeks out petting and voluntarily sits on at least one human's lap. When I met the cat, it was hiding under blankets in an animal shelter.

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Question resolves NO. Although the cat became much more comfortable around humans, especially after I got a second cat, she is not friendly per definition. The cat just recently got to the point of sometimes tolerating petting without running away, but she does not seek it out.

Three month update: I adopted a second, more confident cat. The shy cat is following the dominant cat around and has become more comfortable being near humans and exploring and playing in the daytime (not just at night). I still see no indication that she is interested in being petted.

predictedYES

Not looking good for my prediction, but I still have hope for the power of Peer Pressure.

predictedNO

@KaylaGamin so cute! ❤️

Obvious pro-cat friendly bias. Bet against it.

predictedNO

@MaybeNotDepends Also strong recommendation to get a second cat. A solitary cat gets bored.

predictedNO

@MaybeNotDepends And my semi-skittish cat, loves the more friendly other cat that we have.

predictedNO

@MaybeNotDepends as a counterexample, my cat thrives by himself. Other cats stressed him out a bit, even though he grew up with other cats and is well socialised.

@MaybeNotDepends Thinking about a second cat, but the plan is to give the shy cat some time to get acclimated. How much time, I'm not sure. What do you think?

@KaylaGamin it's been nearly two weeks, how is the kitty?

@chrisjbillington Still quite shy. She tolerates petting but prefers to hide

Update: I adopted the cat! I look forward to testing the market's predictions

predictedNO

@KaylaGamin Darth Kitty!!!!!!!

@KaylaGamin Aw!

Sitting on lap is a high bar, even many cats around humans from kittenhood aren't lap-cats. Mine used to be when he was a kitten, but grew out of it :(.

But seeking out petting is more likely!

Best of luck to you and your kitty.

Age of socialization is a big factor. Probably won't hide from humans anymore, but likely to still be kind of skittish etc

predictedYES

There’s many ways of friendly. If you insist on lap sitting as a condition then that may never happen. Plenty of friendly cats just don’t like that.

@NicoDelon It is however very likely that a cat who seems shy out of the shelter could become very friendly in many ways. And kudos for adopting one! Can we see pictures?

Kitty is significantly less likely to sit in a lap, even after a year. A cat a friend of mine owns is STILL shy of laps even after 5 years, despite loving pets.

predictedYES

Disclosure: in an upcoming podcast, Bryan Caplan discusses at length why this specific market should trade at 20-35%. Bottom line summary: cats hold a grudge.

@JohnBennett Yeah, but Bryan had to cut off his cat’s tail. I’m not planning to do that

predictedYES

Here is the podcast with Bryan Caplan: https://feeds.captivate.fm/acx-and-adjacent/

How old was the cat when you adopted it?

@a2bb 1 year old

Are there children living in the house?
Do you host parties in the house?

@lukres No children, rare parties

predictedYES

@KaylaGamin Sounds good, what the age of the cat? Did he or she have contact with humans before?

@lukres 1 year old. Unknown, was a stray

@KaylaGamin Should normally take much less than 6 months to become friendly, but please be mindful of the cat’s personal space. The cat is much more likely to seek out petting than to sit on a lap. Some cats will never be comfortable with that and instead like to always sit next to the human

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