Scent help for blind cat

[lady jayne grey]

I have a completely or almost completely blind cat who has been blind for several months. I know about not moving furniture and I try not to, but sometimes she bumps into walls (she's lived in this house about 13 years). I've heard of using scent for different rooms,but I'm not sure.

Would I use a different scent for each room?
What kind of stuff would I use? (perfume, air spray, common household smells, what else?)
Would I put it on baseboards, walls, upholstered furniture?
Where would I get this stuff or what other references could I consult?

It hurts me to see her like this; she gets so frustrated.

 

[phillygal]

I was once the guardian of a partially blind dog (she was missing her left eye). I would suspect that the guidelines for both would be pretty much the same. I did not use scent marking for her, as I was assured by her foster mom that she got around quite well once she had "mapped" the surroundings. I did notice that she needed a bit of help on stairs as her depth perception was diminished, so I did assist her with that; normally she stayed on one floor most of the time anyway.

Attached is the link to a site I used quite a bit. There is also a link to a blind cat sanctuary that has some tips. I also bought a book about blind dogs. I have not seen a lot of similar information about cats, but I am sure you could tweak much of the information to meet your needs.

http://blindcatrescue.com/Aboutus.html
http://www.blinddogs.com/
http://www.petcarebooks.com/ -

 

[go6car]

Hi - I'm going through the same thing.

I haven't heard about using scent - interesting idea. The only thing I'd be worried about is making sure they can't lick it off of anything.

My kitty is adjusting well, but we do get the occasional wall/door bump. I wonder if putting some (cat safe) scent on just those places (and also table/chair legs, etc.) would be a good start? I think I'll look into that some more.

They have such an acute sense of smell, maybe even just rubbing your hand on these areas would leave enough of a "mark", too......

Hang in there! Cats are amazing how they learn to compensate in their world. My kitty just the other day jumped up from a chair onto her window perch (HIGH jump), then turned around and gave me the look over her shoulder, like, "what's the big deal?"

When we have the occasional wall/door bump, I just reassure her with my voice and a few scratches behind the ears (which she loves).

I'm not sure how much help this all is, but you're definitely not alone here! Hang in there!