Why does my cat flinch when I raise my hand?

Only time can tell.

Give it treats while petting.

Respect its space for now.

Same thing happens with my street walkers.

We have a rescue dog that does the same thing.
If you raise your hand or pick up a stick.
He ducks down and creeps away. We've had him for 7 yrs
and never abused him ever. Don't think he will ever
get over it.
poor things

When ever I see a cat I think about how torture their life, genetics seems. Always in a perpetual state of panic.

maybe you are a sleep cat beater

next time you go to bed set up a camera to record the event

just keep feeding them and the affect will eventually attenuate

and not dressing like huggy bear will help too

Obviously, he was abused. Equates raised hand with being smacked. Had a dog once who would cower if I just raised my voice or hand. He even flinched when I would pet him on his head. He was a shelter mutt. Great dog, very intelligent, loved kids. Adult men he didn't like,

Cats are really too small - just big enough to catch mice.
Anything bigger than what they can eat in one sitting frightens them (unless it feeds them, then they attach to it like their mother).

One of my cats was adopted from the county shelter as a 5-week-old kitten. DH was down in the floor playing with him, and noticed that he got a little riled up when DH breathed on him. DH breathed on him some more, several times in a row, and it kind of made a panting sound. The kitten went haywire, going after DH's face with both front feet (claws in). He'd bat with his left paw, then bat with his right paw, as fast as he could go. DH had to cover his face. He never did THAT again! ROFL!

Although it was hilarious to watch (mostly because of DH's shocked expression!), it was sad, too. We think that perhaps a dog had tried to get ahold of him at some point before we adopted him. DH's "panting" probably reminded him of the sound the dog made.

One of my other cats flinches if we raise our hand too quickly. He was a shelter kitty too. We've never hit any of our babies (they are our children), but at some point, somebody must've raised a hand to him. He's almost grown out of it, but every once in awhile, he still flinches slightly. Poor guy. :-(

One of my kitties is like that, every movement I make causes it to freak out. It's never been abused or experienced stress to cause it....must be a personality thing?

Damn!!!

I would have been pissed!