Dealing With A Blind And Deaf Cat

[JorgeChibante]

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to read my post.

To give a little background info and making a long story short, I had two cats until two weeks ago, until I saw an ad on facebook with a picture of a cat who was in pretty bad shape.

This cat (no one knows what happened) but had to remove one eye, had its jaw broken and his hip also broken. Had some missing teeth, some of the other teeth were broken and the eye that he didnt had to remove is all black. They found him like that. So... he is blind and deaf along with the other isues that he is currently recovering.

I decided to adopt that cat to try and give him a good place to live among my two previous cats.

Now I was warned by the vet on the clinic were I picked him that he had bad temper (no wonder, blind, deaf and with a lot of broken bones I would have bad temper too)

Anyway he is in my house now and I am having a hard time trying to deal with him and trying to make him trust me. He didnt had contact with my other two cats yet. He is currently on my bathroom separated from the others.
It seems like one day I make some progresses and can pet him for a while, and in the next day he is all agressive and trying to bite.

I dont know if he can smell me or not. He does feel the smell of food but only when its too close to him. I always approach my hand to his nose before touching him but it seems like he doesnt smell anything, the only reaction he has is when I eventually touch his nose. Usually he hisses, I step back, and try again a couple of minutes later.

A couple days ago he started purring when I was petting him. Suddenly I stoped petting and as soon as I started again he hissed and tried to bite my hand.

I know he doesnt have bad temper... he is sweet I just haven't found the right way to deal with him. I want him to get along with me before trying to introduce him to my other cats.

Right now I'm at the point that I try to interact with him, and if I see any sign of agression I stop and come back later. I don't try two and three times to pet him because it usually gets worse. But i don't know if thats the correct approach.

Suggestions and advices are greatly appreciated as I am running out of ideas and honestly my hands can not take any more bites
I know probably two weeks is not a long time, and I don't want to give up on him. I know deep down there is sweet cat who probably had a rough past.

Thank you very much.

 

[stayhomeclub]

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to read my post.

To give a little background info and making a long story short, I had two cats until two weeks ago, until I saw an ad on facebook with a picture of a cat who was in pretty bad shape.

This cat (no one knows what happened) but had to remove one eye, had its jaw broken and his hip also broken. Had some missing teeth, some of the other teeth were broken and the eye that he didnt had to remove is all black. They found him like that. So... he is blind and deaf along with the other isues that he is currently recovering.

I decided to adopt that cat to try and give him a good place to live among my two previous cats.

Now I was warned by the vet on the clinic were I picked him that he had bad temper (no wonder, blind, deaf and with a lot of broken bones I would have bad temper too)

Anyway he is in my house now and I am having a hard time trying to deal with him and trying to make him trust me. He didnt had contact with my other two cats yet. He is currently on my bathroom separated from the others.
It seems like one day I make some progresses and can pet him for a while, and in the next day he is all agressive and trying to bite.

I dont know if he can smell me or not. He does feel the smell of food but only when its too close to him. I always approach my hand to his nose before touching him but it seems like he doesnt smell anything, the only reaction he has is when I eventually touch his nose. Usually he hisses, I step back, and try again a couple of minutes later.

A couple days ago he started purring when I was petting him. Suddenly I stoped petting and as soon as I started again he hissed and tried to bite my hand.

I know he doesnt have bad temper... he is sweet I just haven't found the right way to deal with him. I want him to get along with me before trying to introduce him to my other cats.

Right now I'm at the point that I try to interact with him, and if I see any sign of agression I stop and come back later. I don't try two and three times to pet him because it usually gets worse. But i don't know if thats the correct approach.

Suggestions and advices are greatly appreciated as I am running out of ideas and honestly my hands can not take any more bites
I know probably two weeks is not a long time, and I don't want to give up on him. I know deep down there is sweet cat who probably had a rough past.

Thank you very much.

Hello,
Firstly huge respect to you for adopting that poor little cat. He is very lucky to have a nice home with such a caring owner.
Without sight and hearing I guess you have to really focus on the other senses. I haven't dealt with a cat who is both blind and deaf so I don't really know what that's like. It must be difficult.
Maybe you could try giving him scratch posts, cardboard scratchers, fuzzy and soft blankets... things he can feel. Or nice things he could rub against?
Do you have one of those silicone massaging brushes? You could try giving him a brush now and then to see how he reacts. You could also try spoiling him with some really yummy treats.
Is he still in pain?
Maybe he gets a bit scared because he can't see or hear when a purr is about to happen. He can probably feel vibrations though. Maybe you could lightly tap the space around him so he knows you're there and that some pats are coming?
All the best to you and your new boy.

 

[JorgeChibante]

Hello,
Firstly huge respect to you for adopting that poor little cat. He is very lucky to have a nice home with such a caring owner.
Without sight and hearing I guess you have to really focus on the other senses. I haven't dealt with a cat who is both blind and deaf so I don't really know what that's like. It must be difficult.
Maybe you could try giving him scratch posts, cardboard scratchers, fuzzy and soft blankets... things he can feel. Or nice things he could rub against?
Do you have one of those silicone massaging brushes? You could try giving him a brush now and then to see how he reacts. You could also try spoiling him with some really yummy treats.
Is he still in pain?
Maybe he gets a bit scared because he can't see or hear when a purr is about to happen. He can probably feel vibrations though. Maybe you could lightly tap the space around him so he knows you're there and that some pats are coming?
All the best to you and your new boy.

He doesnt have any scratch post, I could try it, but I dont know how that helps my interaction with him. He does have a spot of his own with a cozy blanket, and a couple of toys with different textures. He has his own litterbox and I even try to wet his food, so it gets soft because of his teeth.

I guess it's going to be a really long process and maybe I am not used to it. I believe on top on that all he was a stray cat, so maybe he is not really used to have physical contact with people.

I think it is going to be on his own time. And honestly the more I push it, i think its going to be worse.

Thank you for your reply

 

[JorgeChibante]

Hello,
Firstly huge respect to you for adopting that poor little cat. He is very lucky to have a nice home with such a caring owner.
Without sight and hearing I guess you have to really focus on the other senses. I haven't dealt with a cat who is both blind and deaf so I don't really know what that's like. It must be difficult.
Maybe you could try giving him scratch posts, cardboard scratchers, fuzzy and soft blankets... things he can feel. Or nice things he could rub against?
Do you have one of those silicone massaging brushes? You could try giving him a brush now and then to see how he reacts. You could also try spoiling him with some really yummy treats.
Is he still in pain?
Maybe he gets a bit scared because he can't see or hear when a purr is about to happen. He can probably feel vibrations though. Maybe you could lightly tap the space around him so he knows you're there and that some pats are coming?
All the best to you and your new boy.

Oh and I have tried to tap the floor around him and he gets kinda in a alert mode, he lifts his head and kinda looks in the direction of the tap, but as soon as i touch him he gets aggressive.

 

[Kflowers]

You're a good person. Pretty soon, you'll have a close little friend. Patience is the key. You've made a nice safe place for him, which will really help.

Don't touch him. It's much too soon unless you're putting him in a carrier to take him to the vet. He knows he's vulnerable, everything around him is a threat. He needs time to learn to trust you.

Think of things from his POV and it will make it easier for you.

Is there a reason you're feeding him dry food instead of wet? Long ago a cat took up on our porch. He wasn't pettable yet, because we had our own group who watched him. We put out dry food for him. He didn't eat it, but he stayed. Then one day he lay down and didn't much move. We took the opportunity to put him in a carrier. It turned out his teeth/gums were too bad to eat dry food. He did okay on wet food.

Tapping the floor is good, he can feel the vibrations and it will be useful soon to call him. For now, always extend your finger slowly toward his nose so he will come to know your scent as good-safe. Do not touch him, let him come the last few inches to you. This may take awhile. you might offer food at the same time.

Again working on scent recognition, sit in the room with him. He will know you are there. Don't touch him, don't hover, patience is the key. Cats are all about scent anyway.

 

[Kflowers]

He does sound like a stray, lost his home, may have had some bad experiences with people, but he knows somewhere in his mind that people can be good. Ferals don't tend to trust people at all. Ferals can be tamed and strays can remember. Of the two strays are easier to work with.

Once you get him to the vet and his injuries and bad teeth are taken care of he'll be more friendly.

 

[Kflowers]

This isn't to discourage you, you're doing well, but don't touch yet. I edited #5 so you may have missed the second paragraph.

He can smell your cats. He needs time to figure out where they are, where you are. Give him time to feel safe. Keep your fingers away from him. Do this all by scent. Let him recognize your scent in the room with the food. (Your cats' scents are also in the room and he's waiting to see if they attack. There is nothing you can do about that, don't start cleaning the room, that will freak him out as you'll be changing the scents.)

Cat time isn't the same as human time. A month in cat time is the same as a minute in ours. Sometimes the hardest part of saving a cat is patience and waiting to be trusted when you want to physically hold and comfort.

Amazon has Kevlar arm sleeves. They are for roses but help with cats. They won't protect your fingers, but every little bit. (Oh, and I don't sell the things, they just worked for us.) The problem with the ones that cover you fingers is that they are too bulky to hold the cat.

 

[JorgeChibante]

This isn't to discourage you, you're doing well, but don't touch yet. I edited #5 so you may have missed the second paragraph.

He can smell your cats. He needs time to figure out where they are, where you are. Give him time to feel safe. Keep your fingers away from him. Do this all by scent. Let him recognize your scent in the room with the food. (Your cats' scents are also in the room and he's waiting to see if they attack. There is nothing you can do about that, don't start cleaning the room, that will freak him out as you'll be changing the scents.)

Cat time isn't the same as human time. A month in cat time is the same as a minute in ours. Sometimes the hardest part of saving a cat is patience and waiting to be trusted when you want to physically hold and comfort.

Amazon has Kevlar arm sleeves. They are for roses but help with cats. They won't protect your fingers, but every little bit. (Oh, and I don't sell the things, they just worked for us.) The problem with the ones that cover you fingers is that they are too bulky to hold the cat.

Thank you for your reply, and I do agree with you. It will take time, I dont want to push it because it only seems worse so far. Some days he is ok with it, others he is not. Honestly today I just sat in the room and tapped the floor and didnt event touch him.
I agree, it has to be him that comes to me. Otherwise it may go wrong.
My initial reaction was to try and touch him with care of course, and probably I shouldnt have. He is only here for close to two weeks, to me it's a lot of time maybe to him it isn't.

About the food it's the same I am feeding my two other cats, and I mix a bit of wet food on the dry. Honestly it was recommended by my vet for the other two. He can eat it, doesnt seem to be struggling as long as its a bit soft with water or something.

I think he already felt the scent of my other two cats, although they never were in the same room, but im pretty sure he has felt it through the door.

Thank you for your words

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
You're amazing, and time is on your side now.
He is with you, safe, warm, fed and protected. He'll figure it out, just be consistent, as mentioned don't clean much yet, and don't move things around if possible

 

[Hellenww]

It's wonderful and brave to take in a kitty with such great needs. Since he can sense the floor taps create a tapping language with him. Distinct taps prior to different activities/actions. Special tap rhythm for food being put down, prior to placing a finger near his nose and for touching him when he lets you.

I'm with S stayhomeclub on getting him a scratcher. If there is room get him a few made different material.

My scaredy cat gets confused when he enjoys human contact and becomes more skittish for a while. And he can see and hear.

 

[Jem]

Before my cat passed, he went deaf and blind. Now I understand that in my situation my cat already knew my scent and trusted me, but I just wanted to share what help my kitty feel secure and not be scared. Even though he trusted us, his sense of smell was compromised, and he was startled very easily.

We would tap the floor any time we entered, so he know that "someone" was coming. We were sure to use the same "3 stomps" every time, so he associated that sequence to us.
If he was sleeping, but we had to wake him for any reason, and the stomp didn't wake him (he became a very heavy sleeper), we would gently blow in his direction, just enough so his fur would "rustle", it would wake him gently, instead of us just touching and startling him awake. It was very telling as well, as he would really sniff the air like he was smelling the air current we provided, so I know this was a good way for him to smell who was coming.

When it comes to getting your kitty to trust you, it will take time, as you already know. But maybe try these few things.

Place an item in his room with your scent on it, like a worn T-shirt. And especially if he is food motivated, you could place treats, or whatever treat food he likes on or near your scent. It could be a way for him to associate your smell with good things, without you having to get too near to him.
After a while with this, you could then try giving him the treats by hand. When you do this though, be sure your hands are clean (but don't smell like soap or anything), and also that your hands are warm. Eventually, he may allow you to lightly scratch his head or between his shoulders (without hissing first), while you give him his "treat food".

What your doing so far seems great from my perspective, and I admire you for doing such a wonderful thing for this cat. I see a great little kitty under all that fear! Please keep us updated on his progress.

 

[Kflowers]

Every day, every hour, every minute he is in his safe room and nothing bad happens, he gets more secure.

 

[JorgeChibante]

Thank you everyone for your words and comments. I am going to try some of the suggestions here.

I am making sure I dont touch him and trying to get the "tap system" working. So far I dont think he associates the taps with anything but he does feel them.

The only thing I am trying to do is sit on the room as much time as I can so that hopefully he can feel my scent. Extend my hand close to his nose. Sometimes he comes forward touches it and goes back other times he snifs and doesn't even touch my hand.

My main priority right now is making sure he understands that nothing bad will happen to him here and making him feel secure.

This is him btw:

Again, thank you very much to everyone

 

[Kflowers]

That sounds like a plan and a good one. My Sweet Gum, not blind nor deaf, is all about the you come into a room you hold out your finger for me to sniff. I come into the room you hold out your finger for me to sniff. After sniffing she runs her cheek along the finger, scent marking and mimicking cat greeting another cat.

See how much more secure he is than he was when you got him? You have to remember what he was like that first day. If you're comfortable writing, write about that day, as many details as you can remember now, so you'll have it to compare with future progress.

It's going to take awhile for him to match the taps up to anything. He has no reason to think they are anything but random. At least, he's not afraid of them, which is huge.

He's a charmer.

never forget that a few steps back don't mean he can't go forward again.

 

[JorgeChibante]

Well I dont really rememeber anything specific about the first day. I had to drive maybe two and a half hours in each direction to get him because the shelter whre he was was really far away. But that's not a problem.

I remember the drive back he got really impacient because he wanted to use the litterbox until eventually he had to do it on the carrier. I tried to stop and clean it but he was really scared and each time I tried to get the dirty blanket out he hissed and tried to bite. I was unable to clean it and did the rest of the journey that way because I wanted to get home as fast as I could.

I set up his room (my bathroom) with everything he needed, food, toilet, a clean blanket and water. I left him for a couple of hours to settle and checked on him regularly.

I dont remember if I tried to pet him on the first day or the second but I do realize now that was the wrong approach. Over the course of the first week and a half I tried to gently touch him and pet him, and lots of times he hissed and tried to bite, but stupid me would always go back and try again a couple minutes later. I got a few bites and a few scratches. I was able to pet him a lot of times, head, chin, on his back. The thing is sometimes I could be petting him and he was ok with it, and all of a sudden he tried to bite and scratch. And I would insist again because a couple of minutes ago he was ok with it, but thats wrong.

Until probably about three days ago where it got to the point that I tried to touch him and he always tried to bite back. At that point I though "no way, I must be doing something wrong, this behavior doesnt make any sense to me. I have to change my approach". And at that point I came online searching for solutions. However it's not really common finding information on how to deal with a blind and deaf cat.

One thing I forgot to mention is that he came with a runny nose, always sneezing and I thought that eventually it would go away, but it didnt. So at the end of week one I had to make a trip to the vet and it didnt go really well. The vet was really pacient with him but he had to take a shot and we had a hard time doing it because he was really afraid. I know it sucks to do that but it was a health issue, I couldnt really not do it.

All the days until three days ago were pretty standard, I would try to spend time with him trying to pet him, and sometimes he tried to bite and I would go again and again and again.

I know my approach was wrong and I hate it. I should have searched first on how to deal with him. But it is done, I can't undo it. I just it didn't make things worse from now on.

 

[Kflowers]

But you learned, that is sometimes everything, especially when you get to start over.

He has the broken bones to consider as well. They are beginning to set now, but I'll tell you from my own experience they hurt until they are set. He knows how vulnerable he is barely able to move. The bones healing will make him feel less fearful. When they are healed and he can run again. He may try moving before he's ready. When he's strong enough to get rid of the bad teeth that too will help.

You might look around at dog crates for when he's feeling better but still isn't supposed to move much. Once you get one, you'll need to make a barrier around the bars with either cardboard or that padding they use for cribs, to keep his arms and legs from getting caught between the bars. Ask your vet what size dog crate they come in Yorkie to Great Dane. Obviously, you'll need something in between to hold his bed, litter box, and his food bowls.

I didn't want you to remember the first few days because you did everything wrong, which by the way, a lot of what you did was right. I wanted you to have a record of where kit was, how he felt, his wall of fear, so you could look back and say, "this far we've come, good cat, good man, we are succeeding."

Did I say that you're doing good --- really really good? Well, you are and you had been from the moment you called for him and put the key in your car and started out to get him.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! I agree with K Kflowers , you're doing better than you think.
Your cat, any cat, lives in the moment to a large degree.
All you need to do now is be consistent. For example, decide how many taps you want to utilize when you're bringing him food and water. Stick with that, every time.
You're fine, this kitty is healing, and is working things out. Time is on your side.

 

[JorgeChibante]

Just to give a little update on the interaction with the cat.

Things are going, slow but going. I think he starts to associate the taps with food, because each time I tap twice he starts sniffing around and I think he is looking for food.

He is doing well, eats a lot everyday and also sleeps a lot. Most of the time he is sleeping to be honest. My cats sleep a lot but this one sleeps even more, probably because he is still recovering.

Ocasionally he sniffs my hand and bumps his nose but goes back. However he doesnt hiss or gets angry or anything.

I got him a scratcher but I think he doesnt pay any attention to it so far.

Most days before and after dinner if he is awake I just go to the bathroom and sit on the floor close to him, browsing my phone or something. I hope he feels my scent and associates it with being safe.

So... things are evolving, a little bit slow but they are going. He has been through a lot so I have to be patient with him.

 

[Kflowers]

Sleep is how the body heals itself. It sounds and he looks as though he was riding the ragged edge of survival before he was hit by the car. He's got a lot of healing to do. It's best he sleep while his bones are healing. It makes it easier to keep him from walking when he shouldn't.

yes, it sounds like two taps mean food to him. He's a smart boy. It's going to be exciting when he's healed and rested up.

This story is such a happy one. I'm glad you are posting it and keeping us updated.

 

[JorgeChibante]

I don't know if he was hit by a car, but he was in pretty bad shape. They just found him like that. I rather think he was hit by a car because somehow I refuse to believe someone would do that to an animal and leave him.