Advice for adopting a blind cat & introducing her to our oth
Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 5:35 am
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.
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.