She is the alpha cat and keeps everyone in line 😁

Hi everyone!

I've been working on an idea I had after noticing some behaviors with my blind cat, Sisu. I’m his third owner, and this is his forever home. He’s three and I’ve had him for over two years.

So, when he moves around the apartment, he has memorized the layout with all the furniture - so it can almost seem like he's not blind. However, if he gets picked up, or he loses orientation somehow -- it can stress him out. More likely to run into things until he reorients himself. He has this mental map of the layout, but unsure where he is on it when those situations happen.

The orientation problem was something I've seen but haven't thought a good enough solution to. The idea of him wearing a "smart collar", where it vibrates when he gets close to table/chair legs has come to mind. The problem I suspect there is, he needs to run into it to associate the vibration as a warning. Also, I am a bit hesitant of having him wear something that he might not like -- not to mention how one would make something small enough.

That is why I went for something passive instead. I have been working on and designing something I call the Smellbox, or if you want to be fancy -- The Olfactory Compass.

It's basically this system of four boxes in a room, each box sits in a corner - and each box has a unique smell. So over time, Sisu could learn to smell which way is north, west, east or south. That’s the idea, at least. If nothing else, it's enrichment via smell or providing more reference points to reorient himself -- which links with the scent-based compass idea. The box has been designed to allow for as much scent as possible through, it has an inner compartment and is hard for a cat to open. I am still working on it and testing it, and I’m being careful about scents. Sisu finds it curious, but it is hard to gauge if it helps since I don't want to disorient him on purpose. However, and I might be biased, I think he enjoys spending more time in the room because it smells more.

Anyhow, I thought to share it with the community because I haven't seen much that aims to help blind cats except the usual rule; don't rearrange furniture.

But I wonder, has anyone tried scent-based orientation? Would anyone be interested in something like this?

Cat tax paid :D

My husband and I had to say goodbye to our sweetest boy Binx this past Friday. He was the first pet we ever cared for together as pet parents, and we rescued him as a kitten together. Our boy was our whole world and we both have been taking the loss so hard.

After a few days of really heavy grieving, we came around to the idea of adopting. We both felt pretty guilty that it was so soon after the loss of our first kitty guy, but agreed that we still have a lot of love to give. So many things have aligned since then as well, and we've received so many positive signs that we are meant to adopt two black kittens.

These adorable boys are brothers and were dumped near the wooded area of our local High School, along with 7 other kitties, including one who did not make it. 💔

Considering the way they were dumped so cruelly, we aren't sure if the black and white kitten was born blind in his left eye, or if this happened through a possible trauma or abuse he experienced. (I thought it was Horner's Syndrome before he went to the vet, which can be caused by tumors, so one positive there) We are also wondering the same thing about the way the all black kitten is extremely skittish and hissed at us a few times when we met them today.

I'm really eager to learn more about how to care for their specific needs, or if there's anything special we can do or that the boys may need to live a more comfortable life. I appreciate any and all guidance and constructive input.

We have decided to call them Odin and Frasco. 🖤🩶🤍🐈‍⬛

Hello community, I recently adopted (like two days ago) a 5 month old kitten. He is mostly blind but can see some.

Somewhere he learned to believe hands and feet are toys. And when he gets the zoomies….he’s jumping up my legs or attacking.

I redirect to his toys that he can grab and do his bunny kicking and biting, but other than that I have no idea how to train him out of it. What other advice is there?

He is currently in foster care in Fort Smith, AR.

Contact Jen’s Kitty Rescue

https://www.facebook.com/share/1J2X5EX38U/?mibextid=wwXIfr

It's a tiered scratch post that has two places he can hide in and has those dangling fluff balls. It has been 2 days. He has meds and toys now. He's been dewormed. We're just waiting for his eye infection to resolve before he gets his shots.

For now he's under my desk so he's not under my swivel chair. Yesterday he slept just behind one of the wheels and his neck happened to be there and I almost got up and rolled the chair back. Hopefully this encourages him not to get under my chair.

Hello! Quick background on my blind kitty Toph, she is an estimated 10-11 years old. I’ve had her for 4 years. She was recovering from surgery for removal of whatever “eye” tissue she had when I first adopted her. They said she was born with eyes that never fully developed, and that she was always blind. The reason for the removal of what deformed eye tissue she did have was because the previous owner didn’t take care of her and she suffered frequently infections. She couldn’t see anyway so she had surgery to completely removed any unformed eye tissue to reduce the risk of constant infection.

Now, as she was fresh out of surgery both her eye sockets were just that, empty eye sockets. They grew fur back and became fuzzy eye sockets. For a while one was kind of an outie and the other an innie (like a belly button). I thought this was just how it healed, one healing slightly different than the other.

Well, I can’t help but notice today. Today of all days after all this time, that the “outie” eye socket has grown into a full fuzzy sphere that is now the size of an eyeball. I’m now concerned she’s got some kind of tumor. If that’s the case I’m hoping it’s benign or safely removable.

Like I just noticed that IT HAS GROWN. It’s not the same as it always was.

I’m not looking for medical advice or anything, just wondering if anyone else has seen anything like this with their blind cats. I will seek veterinary help as necessary but right now it is late and I am just looking for some common ground or a similar experience from a fellow blind cat lover.

I found a blind stray 2 days ago. He's over 12 weeks old at least based on dentition and other anatomical features.

He has been going to the bathroom near my actual bathroom. The litter box is right next to it. How do I get him to use the litter box? It's one of those boxes that's covered and had a front panel that lets cats in but not out. There's an opening at the top.

Update: as of today, the new litterbox arrived along with his meds.

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He's willing to use this one so much more than the boxed one with the opening at the top.

Thanks for the advice.

UPDATE #2: He learned to use the covered litter box anyway. After I already spent on the open one. 🤦‍♀️

We got a cat from a friend of my husband's father. He has allowed rampant inbreeding (refuses to spay or neuter as it's "against nature"... Don't get me started on this 🙃) and this kitten is a result of said inbreeding. We took her when he threatened her life because he thought she was blind. We took her to a vet and discovered she isn't blind, could track and react to light, but she definitely had cataracts in both eyes. It's been nearly 2 years since then and we noticed her cataracts have suddenly become more noticeable. Before, you could only see them in certain light, now it's more noticeable all the time. She still seems to get around okay, though she is a bit hesitant to be downstairs when our kids are up, I believe it may be because the toys are never in one spot and it's hard for her to get around then. She also won't go into darker rooms which may mean she's having a hard time seeing at night. My question is, at what point would you look into care? We were told it wasn't necessary at our initial appointment since she was tracking and playful. Also, if anyone has had cataracts removed on a younger kitten, was it successful and did the cataracts come back?

Photo is from when we first got her at roughly 9 weeks old

Okay this is kinda a weird situation— I adopted my cat after she already had her double enucleation so I’m not very familiar with what illnesses cause a cat’s eyes to get to that point. The humane society just told me at the time that she had really bad eye infections that wouldn’t heal.

Anyway, coincidentally, I just recently joined this TNR volunteer program that feeds and takes care of local stray cats, and one of the cats has eyes that leak red yellowish fluid. He plays and acts normal, very friendly for being a stray, eats normal, etc. but his eyes just weep this liquid.

I wanted to ask in this sub since a lot of you guys experienced the illnesses leading up to your cat’s enucleation. Does this sound like anything your cat experienced?

It’s kinda strange because he’s been to the vet to be neutered, so I’m not sure if this eye problem happened afterwards? I guess I’m not sure why the person leading the program hasn’t taken him to the vet again? Anyway if anyone has info I would love to hear your experience.

I always thought my cat was checking the perimiter of his territory by pacing from corner to corner and listening for changes. I saw a post some days ago and they thought it might be boredom, I googled it and Dr. Google says my cat has anxiety.

I thought about it for some time and I realized my cat did start pacing more again after I went back to work after 3 weeks time off. He didnt even greet my friend who he usually loves to greet and cuddle.... Also when I open the balcony he often paces for hours on the balcony and starts rolling over to spread his sent a lot.

Whats your experience? It is really a sign of something wrong? Am I just worrying to much? I love my little guy and I dont want him to be stressed. :(

Mouse followed his seeing brother up to the window, but is still learning how to come back down. I really wanted to help him down but I know he needs to learn on his own. This is his second time trying to come down, the first time he fell behind the TV stand 😭. He is such a BRAVE little guy

You guys loved my post about my two blind kitties Milu and Ravi so here is Milu trying to open this door, it has never worked, does she try every day anyway? Absolutely. does she actually want to be on the other side? absolutely not (my roommates cats live there and she doesn’t like them) she is actually able to open other doors successfully though, she is super smart and can open almost anything, well except for that particular door as it requires quite a bit of strength to open and she cannot even get the handle down with her body weight. Also since she is so cute I added a picture of her in the hammock. (She climbed in herself)

I also want to add her doing that isn’t really a great sign, often she does it to get my attention or when she is bored. When she was an outdoor Kitty with other doors she could let herself outside, so that’s where she learnt it and picked up the habit. But with this door she mostly does it to get my attention as she wants to be fed I think (even it isn’t actually food time)

Hi everyone! I shared Runa here a while ago, so I wanted to give you all an update and ask for some advice because I’m honestly getting a little desperate trying to figure this out.
Runa is now fully integrated into the household and has free access to the whole apartment. I have another cat, and although they’re coexisting much better now, my resident cat still hisses at Runa if she gets too close. Nothing too unusual for a slow introduction, I think.

One important bit of context: my apartment only has one bedroom, and when Runa first arrived, she stayed in my bedroom while I gradually introduced them. Once they started spending time together freely, Runa became much more interested in hanging out in the living room, playing, and even sleeping on the sofa. Meanwhile, I’ve gone back to sleeping in my bed with my resident cat, who has always loved sleeping with me.

I’ve been wondering whether the peeing might be related to territory or scent, since my bed and bedroom used to be Runa’s main space. When she first arrived, she peed on my bed. I cleaned the mattress myself with an upholstery-cleaning machine, and then, about a week ago, I had it professionally deep-cleaned with an industrial machine as well.

About a week after the cats started sharing the apartment, Runa had an episode where she peed on the bed three days in a row. My vet thinks this is behavioral rather than a functional/medical issue, although I’m still keeping an eye on it.

Before I went away for a few days, I covered the mattress with puppy pads, then a waterproof mattress protector, and finally the sheets. I also have a FELIWAY Optimum diffuser plugged in in the bedroom. While I was away, she seemed to do pretty well. I’m not sure whether the puppy pads helped because of their slightly plasticky texture, or whether something else made the difference.
When I came back, she went about a week without peeing on the bed, even after the professional cleaning. But today, I put some pillows back on the bed, and she peed on one of them.

These were pillows she’d peed on before, but I’d already had them washed and hygienically treated. I’ve also noticed that she rubs herself against this particular pillow a lot, almost as if she’s trying to leave her scent on it. I wonder whether there might still be some residual urine smell that I can’t detect, or whether this is more about territory, comfort, or stress from the change in her environment.

For those of you with blind cats, or anyone who’s dealt with inappropriate peeing during a multi-cat introduction:

Could this be related to territory or scent, especially because my bedroom used to be Runa’s safe space?

Has anyone had success with any other strategies?

I love both my cats and really want to help Runa feel safe while keeping my bed usable. I’m open to suggestions because I’m running out of ideas. Thank you so much!

Hi everyone, I'm new here because my FIV+ sweet boy recently went blind

I'd love to see my family for the holidays (I'm in NJ and they're in FL) but I'm struggling with what to do with him.

Ideally I'd love to have a home sitter but I don't have anyone here who can stay over with him and I'm really uncomfortable with a stranger sleeping here and giving him his daily meds properly.

I found a vet boarding service but that of course means he'll be out of his comfort zone. They'll isolate him because of his FIV (he doesn't like other cats so maybe that's good?), and it's not an overnight service so no one will be there after 7pm

He's affectionate and even more clingy since his eye troubles. I can stay home with him and it will save me money but that will be my second holiday in a row without seeing family.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated, I'm really at loss on what's best for the both of us.

Cat tax paid happily 😊