Advice for adopting a blind cat & introducing her to our oth

Blind and deaf pets can live happy, healthy, quality lives. In fact, sometimes it's hard to tell them from sighted pets. They do, though, have their own special needs.
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Purplemonster
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Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 4:43 am

Advice for adopting a blind cat & introducing her to our oth

Post by Purplemonster »

Hi

I'm adopting a blind cat next week, and thought I'd ask for a bit of advice on the practicalities of having a blind cat. She's a tiny cat (only weighs just over 2 pounds), and was blind from birth. She's made it to the age of 5 quite happily, but her owner is now emigrating, hence us adopting her.

I know that as a blind from birth cat she is pretty well adapted, and she should be fine finding food, litter etc, but in terms of enrichment, what can I do to make her life interesting? She loves playing, but obviously the toys have to make noise - would a remote control mouse that I attach a bell to be a good idea for her to run and chase? Any other ideas, especially for her Christmas stocking would be appreciated. We've also bought some stickback padding, which we are going to attach round chair legs, because although she seems ok (in the limited time we've spent with her) going round big bits of furniture, for things like dining chairs that get moved a lot, she was banging her head.

She will be living with our other cat Socks, who is a lovable but painfully skittish little thing. She was living rough till a few months ago when we took her in, and whilst she is getting there, if you sneeze too loud, she still jumps out of her skin and runs out of the room.

When we met Scribs, the blind cat, Socks was unfortunately in the lounge, so they met at that stage. I'd have rather them meet gradually, but Scribs owner arrived early, and they ended up meeting. Socks seemed bewildered at the lack of appropriate body language from Scribs (who even walked into her a few times), but it was much more defensive behaviour from Socks, rather than outright aggression. Socks mostly hid or just stood back, and swatted at Scribs when she walked into her (which I don't blame really!). After an hour or two, when Scribs got too close, Socks would hiss, and then Scribs would stop getting closer. By the time Scribs left, they were generally ignoring each other, though Socks was wondering over to have a sneaky look at the new cat from time to time.

I'm minded to go back to basics when introducing them properly, though but could do with any advice you've got on how to introduce a blind cat to another cat - especially a very nervous one. Neither cat is ever going to be a boisterous alpha cat, but I'd like to live in a happy household where the two cats get on well. Scribs although blind is far more confident, Socks is basically a bit emotionally damaged after a terrible upbringing.
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critters
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Re: Advice for adopting a blind cat & introducing her to our

Post by critters »

:slant: Spunk, my blind punk, doesn't run much and jumps less. She climbs most of the time, especially in a new situation. She's VERY mouthy and likes to chew, especially on wires. Sigh. Noisy toys that don't go too far are perfect, such as a track ball toy with a ball that jingles when it rolls. Foam pipe insulation can be great padding, especially for round stuff. If she can see at all, like Spunk can, she might like a laser.
The introduction seems to me to have gone pretty well, despite all. I think Socks will get used to the weird stuff; mine do. Give her lots of attention and love, or even special yummies for the 2 of them when they're together. A toy that you can play with them together is really nice, too, like a Cat Dancer.
Purplemonster
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 4:43 am

Re: Advice for adopting a blind cat & introducing her to our

Post by Purplemonster »

Thank for your advice.
Sorry I haven't responded for yonks - things have been generally quite busy here. Socks and Scribbles are getting on much better now. They still have squabbles sometimes, and there's a fair amount of playfighting, but thats all it seems to be now.

The two will happily swap eachothers food bowls, use the same litter tray, and whilst they won't curl up together, they will curl up and doze next to eachother, which is pretty good considering.

I'm having a few issues, which is why I'm back, but nothing to do with how they are getting on I don't think.
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critters
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Re: Advice for adopting a blind cat & introducing her to our

Post by critters »

Sounds like pretty typical sibling behavior to me!! :wub:
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