My cat does not jump or climb

[Diamondgirl777b]

In August my cat was in a fight he ended up having to lose his right eye. It has been 2 weeks since his operation. He does not jump or climb any more. I don’t mind it because he can’t get out of the backyard tall fences. So it is very safe. But is that normal for one eyed cats not to be able to climb or jump.

 

[Caspers Human]

He lost his binocular vision and, now has no depth perception. Without depth perception he can't calculate trajectories for jumping or climbing.

Have you ever seen a cat move its head back and forth before pouncing on something? That's because the cat is trying to get a view from all angles and figure out where to jump. Without two eyes, your cat can't do that anymore.

Maybe, with time, your cat MIGHT learn to jump and climb but IF that happens, it's probably going to take quite a while... Months to years. Even then, assuming that the cat does learn, his abilities won't be the same as before.

Basically, this is a life-altering event.

Telling you to keep your cat inside so he won't get hurt like this is like telling you to close the barn door after the horse has already gotten out but I think it would be wise to keep him inside from now on. If he got in a fight, once, it could happen again. With only one eye, he won't be able to defend himself. Next time, he might not be so lucky...

If you can call being blind "lucky."

 

[Pjg8r]

Yes he will. He has lost his depth perception. Try closing one of your eyes and going down steps, even if you are familiar with them. It is unnerving. He is still adjusting if it’s only been two weeks. I agree he should be kept inside as he cannot see any danger approaching from that side and you want to protect his remaining eye at all costs.

 

[moxiewild]

We take in special needs cats a lot, and the cats who are completely blind are generally able to move around better than cats who are only blind in one eye/have lost an eye.

It may sound counterintuitive, but as stated above, depth perception is drastically altered and confuses the cat even more than being completely blind does (blind cats struggle more at first but seem to do better long term once they’ve adapted - one eyed kitties have it easier early on, but always remain a bit more “confused” relatively speaking).

Is your kitty neutered?

Gotta echo what everyone else said here too - strictly indoors is best for a cat like this, especially when you already know with certainty there is an “aggressive” cat (or otherwise) nearby.

Your cat may not scale that fence, but other cats still can. Your kitty is very vulnerable to attack, and next time he may not be as “lucky” as last time (and he had full vision then).

 

[fionasmom]

Definitely inside only. I had a cat years ago who lost his ear....the whole thing along with part of his scalp to very deep skin cancer in the ear canal. I noticed that while he had his vision, he seemed confused about not being able to direct sound....so one eye is certainly worse than one ear.