Help With My Blind Cat

[Minxrat]

Hi. My 14 month old Poppy has sadly lost her sight. The ophthalmic vet tells me that she has retinal degeneration. She has adjusted remarkably well and although she seemed to go through a depressive stage, she has come out of it and it's almost like she is aware that I know about her sight.

She's always been a good sleeper, would settle with me around 10-10.30, and then potter around about 4am. Milo, 8 months, is a bit more random in the night but tends to disappear downstairs and play etc. She will sometimes go with him, which is great and I love that they do that.

Bear with me here. She's always been a chatterbox and now I understand why. However, what she is doing at the moment is waking up, it's obviously dark to her, it's quiet (Milo and I are asleep) and she starts to "whine" - it's like a clearing of throat over and over again, usually at the side of my bed. I know she's after attention. I will either (a) feed them, (b) give her a treat (that sometimes settles her) or (c) put the tv on so she has noise if it is 4.30am onwards. Of course, the birds are waking them both up extra early. The last resort is for her to sit 2" away from me and miaow REALLY loud

How can I help her with her dark little world and try and prevent so much waking up? Last night she woke me at 1am, 3am and 5am. I understand her problem, I just need more zzzzzzz!

 

[rubysmama]

So sorry about Poppy. I did hope the ophthalmologist would have been able to restore Poppy's sight.

I have no experience with blind cats, and haven't read too many threads about them either, so not sure what to suggest. Hopefully other members will be able to reply with advice for you.

Here are links to some articles on blind cats that may be helpful.

Our blind from birth cat Jenny, and Simon & Felix

Blind Cats

And the book about Homer:

 

[di and bob]

She is so lucky to have you! She's young and full of energy, and now scared and lonely in her dark world. This will cease as she gets older, but that is in the future and doesn't help much now. I would try playing with her, throwing a noisey ball she can chase, or touching her with a wand toy and letting her catch it, to tire her out. You might want to get a corrugated scratcher or a cat tree to give her more stimulation. I get up at 4 anyway so the cats coming in don't bother me at that time, but I noticed they just want to be fed and lay down right after. You might try leaving some kibble out at night close by so she can find it.

 

[Minxrat]

Hopefully she's over the scary bit. She's such a gorgeous baby (my profile photo) and I've always chatted to her so she seeks out the sound of my voice sometimes.

We have discovered that she LOVES foil balls you can buy at Pets at Home - she can hear them when she plays. However....when she loses one in the middle of the night she yells out for me and invariably it's about 4 inches away lol. She loves a dangly toy with a bell on it too, they go out of favour quickly so I put them away for another day. Milo is so good, he knows when it's just about her but he gets his own cuddles and play time.

They always free feed dry, and she will do that then come and moan, they get fed at 5am at the moment and 5.30pm when I get home. Sometimes at 1am I will feed again to settle them (he is still growing).

She has cat scratchers but funnily enough she never climbed the cat tree I bought (and have sold) and I think that is the reason - she couldn't see it very well and it wasn't sturdy enough for her.

I feel I am lucky to have her - she will never come to harm with me and I adore her

 

[Minxrat]

Our blind from birth cat Jenny, and Simon & Felix

Blind Cats

I read the second article, the third cat mentioned is very similar. If you visited you probably wouldn't guess she is blind - her pupils still constrict and she navigates very well. Makes me laugh that she walks with a "dancing horse" walk in the front room as it's usually littered with toys!!

 

[maggiedemi]

I missed these threads about beautiful Poppy going blind. I'm so sorry to hear this. But you and Milo are doing a great job helping her. Sending you hugs.

 

[Minxrat]

Thank you so much M maggiedemi
It's hard going this week as she is extra disturbing at night. I can't see a way through at the moment except nap when they do in the evening! Good job I love her eh

 

[Minxrat]

Oh god the little moo is just extra grrrrrr at the moment! She is waking up and simply wants to play, be fed water or is telling me she has no kibble (even though there is some downstairs). She leads me down there but I have no idea why. It's so hard to ignore the throaty moans. I send Milo down to play but it's annoying him and I don't want him to feel rejected by me.

The newest move is to paw the pillows next to me She loves chasing the foil balls around but brings them upstairs to do so, and whinges when she can't find them!

She's adjusted really, really well to being blind and I think that is why she is now just living as she wants to. I love her to bits but I'm seriously contemplating shutting them out after 3am and I REALLY don't want to do this as it spells rejection to them and I love that they like to sleep with me. Well, I say "sleep".........

 

[rubysmama]

I know it seems mean to lock them out of the bedroom, but you do need your sleep. When I first adopted my Ruby she would wake me like around 5 every morning. I quickly became sleep deprived and ended up putting her out of the room when she woke me. In time she learned waking me didn't get the result she wanted, and the habit stopped.

So, I do recommend putting the cats out of the room if sleep deprivation is an issue. And at least Poppy will have Milo, so she won't be alone.l

I'm so happy, though, to hear she's adjusting well to being blind.

 

[Minxrat]

It's almost like she "knew" when I became aware of her blindness, it was amazing. She's eating better, playing better and actually threw Milo off the bed the other morning lol.

I feel for him as he's done nothing "wrong", although he's an irritating little monster when he wants cuddles at 4am but just fidgets lol. I'm worried Poppy will run into the door because she doesn't realise it's shut, that's my biggest concern. I know she will soon learn but it's a painful lesson. I'm going to have to try to stop responding, but her moans become more urgent - cats are so manipulative!

 

[rubysmama]

Oh, yeah. Never thought of her running into the closed door. Makes me re-think my "tough love" suggestion.

BTW, just searched for TCS threads on blind cats, and found a lot. You may not have seen them all, and there might be some tips in some of them to help you with Poppy.

Search Results for Query: blind cat | TheCatSite

 

[Minxrat]

I know, right. Oh yeah, I forgot - she likes to swipe everything off my bedside table to get attention, moobag

Yes I'll have a proper search. I guess each cat is different and mine is being extra needy at the moment - for no good reason! Very good job she's cute eh.

 

[rubysmama]

The link in my above post, will take you to a page that shows all the threads on blind cats. There's a total of 96 so that should cover a lot of the questions/issues that may come up with Poppy.

I know I could search for one of your other threads, but maybe post a pic of the precious Poppy here too.

 

[maggiedemi]

Poppy is in her avatar I think. Yeah, don't feel bad about closing your bedroom door at night. In fact, I'm going to close mine tonight because Demi has decided that 3am is a nice time to wake me up in the morning by standing on top of me and crying in my face like a foghorn.

 

[Minxrat]

Yes she's my avatar, she's gorgeous.

I've read a couple of threads, one was very similar but the OP didn't respond to me.

Sounds silly but I like the standing/sitting on top and crying lol. I absolutely LOVE when Poppy taps me and I have to lie on my back and I'm allowed to stroke every single part of her whilst she purrs. Usually Milo is in the crook of my spare arm and it's my idea of heaven And then she gets off and start whinging lmao

 

[Minxrat]

I know I could search for one of your other threads, but maybe post a pic of the precious Poppy here too.

Here's my baby girl.

 

[maggiedemi]

She is gorgeous. Yeah, I wouldn't mind it either if it wasn't at 3am. I need my sleep!

 

[rubysmama]

Awww... she really is beautiful.

 

[danteshuman]

This might be over the top but can you leave the lights on & use a sleep mask? Would that help her?

If it was my cat I would wake up, pick them up, and hold them next to me as I fell back asleep on my side. Yes I would cuddle and talk softly to them while slightly annoying them. I'm not sure if it would stop the behavior though. I wake up 2-4 times a night anyways so this wouldn't be a huge inconvenience since my sleep is already disturbed My fingers are crossed for you.