Botan is a 3 year old female tabby. She has always been naturally anxious and hides from strangers. She has always trusted me though, until recently.

First major event was 2 months ago. We lost my senior cat, Max. Max never liked Botan, but I think Botan liked Max, and since he had always been there throughout her life he may have provided her some sense of stability.

Second major event was an appointment 3 weeks ago. She could sense I was planning to put her in the carrier and began to run from me. A 10 minute chase ensues with her yelling and me strategically trapping her into the carrier. Nothing painful happened during this process, it was just scary.

Recently she has begun always running away and hiding when she sees me. She spends almost the entire day in her hiding spot. When she does come out, she displays lots of nervous energy and seems desperate for loving affectionate touch. She’ll want to be pet for a long time, but then I’ll do something as simple as get up and walk around and she’ll go back to hiding.

Two more important notes: she is physically healthy as confirmed by that appointment. She is also subject to bullying by a dominant 1 year old male cat. Feliway did not help with this.

So how do I make her comfortable?​