My daughter is adopting a blind, declawed kitty. Any tips?

[margd]

My daughter is bringing home an adorable medium-haired black female tomorrow who is blind and who has been declawed. 

   Mama Bear will be the first cat she and her boyfriend have ever had so I've been sending her articles and advice that might help them make everything go as smoothly as possible.  I do have a few questions though specific to blind and declawed cats.

1. Do blind cats need cat trees?  It seems they would still enjoy the exercise and being up high, but do they have problems climbing and jumping up on it?

2.  Does anyone have any special tips for making life easier for blind cats?  I know that they manage fairly well on their own, but if there are ways to help, we would love to know about them.  For example - litter boxes.  Should they have lower sides than usual?   Do rooms need to be rearranged to help her get around more easily  or will she be able to sense obstacles in her path?  Anything else we should know about?

3.  As of now, being declawed is not causing Mama Bear any problems.  She's not biting or displaying any behavior problems.  Thinking ahead, though, does anyone know of an especially soft litter?

4.  Toys - what kind of toys are best for blind and declawed cats?   Or do they enjoy the same toys that cat who can see and have claws do? 

Thanks for any advice you can give us. 

 

 

[orange&white]

2.  Does anyone have any special tips for making life easier for blind cats?

Thanks for any advice you can give us. 

 

I'm not going to be much help here, but I'll offer the only little bit of advice I can.

Your daughter should be prepared to place her furniture where she wants it and plan not to rearrange the furniture.  Any rearrangement of objects will disorient and stress the cat for awhile.  If she a cluttered person, she needs to organize and pick up as much off the floor as possible.

Use crinkly toys or squeaky toys as long as the noise doesn't frighten the cat.  The cat will also hear the "thud" of a toy on a string and may like it.  She can try smudging all toys with organic catnip.

My only experience is that I had a cat who went blind some time during her 13th year, and lived until 16.5 years (about 3-3.5 years totally blind).  Other than having a blind cat, my situation was different from your daughters in that my cat had sight on the same property for 8 years before losing her sight so she knew the floor plan, and she knew where everything was, and had scent marked the house.  She had progressive retinal atrophy, which means that she slowly lost her vision and had a few years to adjust to going blind.

Bless your daughter's heart for taking in this special needs kitty.

 

[margd]

 
I'm not going to be much help here, but I'll offer the only little bit of advice I can.

Your daughter should be prepared to place her furniture where she wants it and plan not to rearrange the furniture.  Any rearrangement of objects will disorient and stress the cat for awhile.  If she a cluttered person, she needs to organize and pick up as much off the floor as possible.

Use crinkly toys or squeaky toys as long as the noise doesn't frighten the cat.  The cat will also hear the "thud" of a toy on a string and may like it.  She can try smudging all toys with organic catnip.

My only experience is that I had a cat who went blind some time during her 13th year, and lived until 16.5 years (about 3-3.5 years totally blind).  Other than having a blind cat, my situation was different from your daughters in that my cat had sight on the same property for 8 years before losing her sight so she knew the floor plan, and she knew where everything was, and had scent marked the house.  She had progressive retinal atrophy, which means that she slowly lost her vision and had a few years to adjust to going blind.

Bless your daughter's heart for taking in this special needs kitty.

Thank you - you did help.

  I was debating whether or not I should get her a wand toy and hadn't considered that they do make noises that a blind cat may find intriguing.

As for the clutter....let's just say that this will not be the first time that a cat has improved their human's housekeeping habits. 

 

[orange&white]

As for the clutter....let's just say that this will not be the first time that a cat has improved their human's housekeeping habits. 

True, that!

One other thing that I remembered about my blind Tess is that if she and I had been in different rooms for awhile and I needed to do something in the room where she was, I tried to remember to announce my presence.  I wasn't 100% consistent, but when I walked into a room where she was resting, I'd say softly, "Hi Tess, I'm here," and walk over and pet her head.  A few times I shocked her and caused her to arch up and hiss by walking through the bedroom to the bathroom and turning on the water, or opening the closet door in the bedroom.  She thought she was alone and safe, I guess, and unexpected noises disoriented and really frightened her.

There is no way to prevent all normal household noises, of course, but I did try   as much as possible to be particularly sensitive to Tess's extra needs for a low-stress environment with minimal surprises.

 

[margd]

 
True, that!

One other thing that I remembered about my blind Tess is that if she and I had been in different rooms for awhile and I needed to do something in the room where she was, I tried to remember to announce my presence.  I wasn't 100% consistent, but when I walked into a room where she was resting, I'd say softly, "Hi Tess, I'm here," and walk over and pet her head.  A few times I shocked her and caused her to arch up and hiss by walking through the bedroom to the bathroom and turning on the water, or opening the closet door in the bedroom.  She thought she was alone and safe, I guess, and unexpected noises disoriented and really frightened her.

There is no way to prevent all normal household noises, of course, but I did try   as much as possible to be particularly sensitive to Tess's extra needs for a low-stress environment with minimal surprises.

Ah, that's the kind of advice my daughter can use.  It's been a long time since she moved out on her own so she hasn't been around cats for awhile.  She wouldn't necessarily have thought about announcing herself vocally and by touch.  Thank you!  

 

[orange&white]

Yes, well, like I said I wasn't always consistent with that.  If I scared her though, I spent more time going over to comfort her apologizing, "Oh, I'm sorry Miss Tess.  You know I didn't mean to scare you."    Tess and I both preferred when I remembered to talk to her on the "front end".  lol

 

[1eyedcats]

Sometimes I wish that my cats were blind and declawed, or at least declawed. As it is; one is missing his left eye, and the other is missing his right eye, and the both get along fine. Right now I have a detached retina, and I am adjusting to seeing out of one eye. As long as she doesn't let her cat outside then it should do fine. Cats have a much better sense of smell and hearing than human's have. And like humans their other senses improve to compensate for their lack of sight. And unlike humans, a blind cat that is declawed is less likely to trip and fall off of a high place.  I read a story about a cat that was hit by a car, and it survived, but it lost it's eyesight. This lady kind of adopted this cat, and it spent a fair amount of time outdoors. Eventually other cats left it alone, instead of wanting to fight with it. It seemed to live a long and happy life, as it was well loved and cared for. I don't think that this woman had any other cats though.

 

[margd]

 
Sometimes I wish that my cats were blind and declawed, or at least declawed. As it is; one is missing his left eye, and the other is missing his right eye, and the both get along fine. Right now I have a detached retina, and I am adjusting to seeing out of one eye. As long as she doesn't let her cat outside then it should do fine. Cats have a much better sense of smell and hearing than human's have. And like humans their other senses improve to compensate for their lack of sight. And unlike humans, a blind cat that is declawed is less likely to trip and fall off of a high place.  I read a story about a cat that was hit by a car, and it survived, but it lost it's eyesight. This lady kind of adopted this cat, and it spent a fair amount of time outdoors. Eventually other cats left it alone, instead of wanting to fight with it. It seemed to live a long and happy life, as it was well loved and cared for. I don't think that this woman had any other cats though.

I'm curious about your statement that blind declawed cats are less likely to trip and fall off of high places.   That implies that they climbed up there, something I'm wondering about since I'm trying to decide about getting them a cat tree.   It seems to me that the lack of claws would be a problem, more so than the lack of vision.

Don't worry -  they won't let this kitty go outside. 

 

[IndyJones]

I've seen declawed cats climb. My Hector who I was forced to have front declawed could climb trees kill mice and even killed a big Crow once.

 

[NewYork1303]

Perhaps choose a wand toy with a bell. I know my cat Carrot has poor vision (not blind, but had bad herpes as a stray kitten and part of both eyes had to be removed) and he loves playing with the toys that have bells as he can track them better than ones without. 

 

[margd]

I've seen declawed cats climb. My Hector who I was forced to have front declawed could climb trees kill mice and even killed a big Crow once.

 Oh, good.  That means a cat tree should work.  Thanks for letting me know that.

 
Perhaps choose a wand toy with a bell. I know my cat Carrot has poor vision (not blind, but had bad herpes as a stray kitten and part of both eyes had to be removed) and he loves playing with the toys that have bells as he can track them better than ones without. 

Great idea.  That will be present #2.   I had not even considered a bell!  Thank you!

 

[IndyJones]

Only thing is Hector wasn't blind either. I'm not sure how a blind cat would react to a tree. My mother forced me to have Hector declawed or she was going to let her live outside I was 11 at the time so had little choice.