Question
My 10 year old daughter is irrationally afraid of our new cat. This is our first family pet and we were all (including our daughter) very excited to bring her home as a kitten about 2 months ago. The cat is playful and does tend to become frisky, zooming around and sometimes jumping on us, biting or scratching as she learns her new boundaries. We have spray bottles for those times as a consequence, however even giving our daughter her own spray bottle does nothing to allay her fear. I have tried giving it as little attention as possible, but it becomes difficult when she won't come out of her room by herself, wants to eat her breakfast in the pantry instead of in the kitchen (our pantry is actually a sizable room with a counter top, but still), won't come out to the living room to watch a movie with cousins, and the list goes on. As an aside, our daughter has a genetic disease which has caused a mild cognitive impairment, so that may be affecting things. Help!
