Why is my cat scared of everyone?

Question

My cat Mr.Tubs is scared of everyone! I have had him a year and he's still kind of scared of me! What could it be?

Answer 1

He could be just shy of people... not really scared, but not "people sociable."  

Answer 2

i had the same problem wiht my cat! when he was a kitten he lived in a neighborhood with these 2 people and boys in the neighborhood would throw rocks at him and they cut his neck with a knife and he had a huge cut!  so wehn i went to get a cat i had to choose between him and his sister and i chose him cause i felt bad for him. so at first he was so scared of me! probably the first year. than he started slowly trusting me mroe and more. than about 2 years after i had him he trusted me 100%.  but he was still afraid of eveyrone else in my family even though he lived wiht htem for 12 years now. he died 3 months ago though :(  but im glad he trusted me and was my best friend. so im guessing ur cat must of had something traumatic happen to him also that makes him afraid of people. but he will slowly trust you as long as you take it slow. dont chase him and force him to stay wiht you. just pet him here and there more and more and than he will finally trust you and will hopefully become ur best friend. good luck!  

Answer 3

All cats have different personalities.  Some cats are the type who never leave you alone, others are ones who are quiet and follow, and some are the type who love you from a distance.  Some of it depends on their past (a feral cat may never be as friendly as a home-raised cat.)  But some of it is because of just personalities.

Some things to do are to give him cat-trees.  The higher a cat is, the more confident he feels, and that can make them more friendly.  Also giving him a safe perch to watch people from can really help him out socially.  

Other ideas are things like only give him wet food while you're there, give him treats, do training with him (clicker training works best), and just make every interaction the two of you have happy and good.  Keep his box clean, the most aloof cats I've known have always been fascinated by me scooping, I have NO idea why but it always helped us bond.

Read to him.  Just sit down on the ground or lay down and read.  You relaxing will give him permission to sniff you more, and your voice being that calm will help him feel more relaxed.