‘She treats everyone with a deep growl’: can you train an angry cat to be more sociable?

My kitten, Split, is terrified of people and not much fonder of other cats. Is there anything I could do to soothe her? I consulted the experts

My cat Lucy, a blue Burmese, is the fluffiest, most adorable little feline in the world. She’s also the cattiest of all cats, an ill-tempered spawn of the underworld who takes arbitrary swipes at my other cats for having the temerity to exist.

Lucy recently had a litter of three kittens. I don’t have kids of my own, but while helping with raising Lucy’s offspring, I have since realised the high stakes of shaping young minds – and how different siblings can be. Lucy’s kittens may have come from the same womb and suckled from the same teats in the same basket, but they have markedly different personalities: one of them is chilled and curious, another chases anything that moves and the third is skittish in the extreme.