Ailurophobia

Ailurophobia is the persistent and excessive fear of cats and felines generally, its name drawn from the Greek words for cat and for fear; the condition is also known by alternate names including felinophobia, elurophobia, and gatophobia, and a person who has it is called an ailurophobe. People with ailurophobia can experience panic and anxiety simply from thinking about cats, imagining an encounter with one, making physical contact with a cat, or seeing images or depictions of cats in media, and some react strongly to cat sounds such as meowing or hissing or even to clothing and fabrics with a fur-like texture. The fear can be severe enough to prevent someone from visiting the homes of friends or family who own cats or from taking part in otherwise ordinary social activities. Its exact cause remains unclear, though people who have it often trace the fear back to a childhood experience, exposure to another person's fear of cats, or negative information they received about cats at a young age. The condition is relatively uncommon compared with fears of animals such as snakes or spiders, and it is generally treated with graded exposure therapy, gradually introducing more challenging cat related situations, sometimes alongside medication intended to enhance the effectiveness of that therapy.