Can a cat be short sighted?

Our little Smudge has various congenital eye defects, and I previously thought she had poor depth perception, because she won't jump up on anything higher than about mid-thigh high (the couch arm is about her limit), and she won't jump down from the top, or the middle level of the scratching post. She jumps from the top level, to the middle, to the window sill, then onto the ground.

She VERY occasionally jumps straight to the ground (if we're getting her dinner and she's hungry and REALLY doesn't want to make 3 jumps to get down...), and doesn't land at all gracefully - she kind of splats onto the ground, shakes her head, then runs to the kitchen whereas the other 2 cats will leap down easily and be in the kitchen in a flash.

I was playing with the laser pointer with her yesterday and noticed if the dot was pretty much in front of her face she could see it fine, but once it got more than an arms length away, she lost it, or could only just barely get flashes of the dot moving.

She also jumped down from the top of the toilet cistern onto the ground yesterday, and it was very ungainly, and it was like she just leaped and put her legs out and assumed she'd reach the ground eventually.


So I was wondering if she was just short sighted? I know a cats daytime vision isn't the best, but hers in general is definitely pretty bad. Can this be checked at all?

I guess there's nothing that can be done, except for making sure she doesn't get stuck anywhere too high for her?

Have you asked your vet about this or is this just recent observation and you haven't checked with him yet?

Of course with Smudge, I wouldn't want to get further away from her than a hair width anyway - she is just so adorable. I'd wear her around my neck because she's so sweet looking.

Sounds like Damita. Only, I know her sight is far worse than Smudge's. Damita jumps from the back of the couch, to the arm, to the ottoman(there just for her), to the floor. It could be that Smudge just is not comfortable jumping that far, or it could very well be that her sight is not 100%.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

Have you asked your vet about this or is this just recent observation and you haven't checked with him yet?

Of course with Smudge, I wouldn't want to get further away from her than a hair width anyway - she is just so adorable.

I'd wear her around my neck because she's so sweet looking.

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When she had her follow up with the eye doctor, she said Smudge probably doesn't have the best vision, but since it's been like that since birth, she wouldn't know any better.

It's only a recent observation that she has trouble chasing the laser pointer, and I'm not sure if it's getting worse or if I've just never noticed because Stumpy usually takes over the laser pointer game when we play

And you wouldn't be able to get more than a hair width away from her if you were her - I'm sitting on the bed and she's leapt onto my shoulder where she's watching me type

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Sounds like Damita. Only, I know her sight is far worse than Smudge's. Damita jumps from the back of the couch, to the arm, to the ottoman(there just for her), to the floor. It could be that Smudge just is not comfortable jumping that far, or it could very well be that her sight is not 100%.

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I've never seen such a fraidy cat - even when she was a kitten, she was nowhere near as fearless as foster kittens I've had. I'm thinking it's her eyesight.

I might take her back to the eye doctor for a check up...