Aurora, a baby kitten my Fiance and I found at 2 days old, has had a hard beginning in life- first off she only took a breath every 4-5 seconds when I found her, she was malnutured- just skin and bones- and ended up having a kidney infection. Well, after dealing with everything we came across, our young kitten that was pure white when we found her, but is now starting to have a very gorgeous pointed coloring, seems to be blind in one eye. I think it is because of all or just one of a few reasons:
1.) Either, she scratched that eye (She VERY often scartched at her own face,catching her tiny razor like claws on her eyelids, etc and pulling them down, or actually coming in contact with the eye itself very often. We have since filed the nails VERY gently of course and not to too much of a degree that it could be painful, but just enough that they dont seep into skin like talons. They are still very sharp though, as our attempts failed. I guess Kitten claws are just meant to be very sharp! lol)
2.) She had goopy eye at about 1.5 weeks old. We cleaned it with warm water and a cotton ball often, but she would still have it suction closed on her after a nap. So we got BNP, an eye ointment. I then read up that this BNP stuff causes allergic reactions n MANY cats and they have died due to this! Well, after reading this, I inspected her, and her lymph nodes were HUGE! So, I stopped using it (The gunk never came back, even after only using the ointment for 1.5 days) Got a vet appointment. The Lymph nods were not caused by the BNP, but by her Kidney infectin (She also had a discharge when she peed, so these sigs showed obvous to the infection) She is now on a broad spectrum antibiotic to help, and within 3 ays, the lymp nodes had disappeared, and the discharge has never been seen again. She is actually getting bigger( Get this- she was only 150 grams at 2.5 weeks old due to this kidney infection!!!!!)
3.) Maybe it was just meant to be. The third eyelid is very obvious in the eye, but it is also obvious in the other eye which she can see through. the one we suspect to be blind is a foggy blue over the pupil, and is also the side she scratches at 75% more often than the other.
My questions for you are: With such a young cat, how do you deal with this blindness? I do not mind if she is blind, it isn't causing her pain, and it was obviously meant to be. But I am wondering- How do they find the litter box? The litter box has to be in the basement, or else the dog (A Whippet) will get to it. We do have an older cat, about 10months -a year old, who is taking a little whie getting used to our new family member. Will Mojo, the older cat, take advantage of this blindness? Mojo is a very aggressive player- she fights hard but thinks it is playing (She was also hand reared from a young abandoned kitten) and became used to rough housing with our Siberian Husky who took all that Mojo could dish out.
I think that being so young, Aurora will be used to this half blindness very quick (She is only 3 weeks and 2 days old today) but what I am afrad of is her going blind in the other eye. How do you teach a cat to find its way around your house? Will she run in to things if she runs away scared from something? (She cant hide under couches, they sit flat on the ground) Maybe a cat tree would help to make her feel more secure and give her a one-eyed look around her territory when she gets older. Sorry this was so long, I am just very very VERY concerned, as I have never dealt with blindness in any animal!
1.) Either, she scratched that eye (She VERY often scartched at her own face,catching her tiny razor like claws on her eyelids, etc and pulling them down, or actually coming in contact with the eye itself very often. We have since filed the nails VERY gently of course and not to too much of a degree that it could be painful, but just enough that they dont seep into skin like talons. They are still very sharp though, as our attempts failed. I guess Kitten claws are just meant to be very sharp! lol)
2.) She had goopy eye at about 1.5 weeks old. We cleaned it with warm water and a cotton ball often, but she would still have it suction closed on her after a nap. So we got BNP, an eye ointment. I then read up that this BNP stuff causes allergic reactions n MANY cats and they have died due to this! Well, after reading this, I inspected her, and her lymph nodes were HUGE! So, I stopped using it (The gunk never came back, even after only using the ointment for 1.5 days) Got a vet appointment. The Lymph nods were not caused by the BNP, but by her Kidney infectin (She also had a discharge when she peed, so these sigs showed obvous to the infection) She is now on a broad spectrum antibiotic to help, and within 3 ays, the lymp nodes had disappeared, and the discharge has never been seen again. She is actually getting bigger( Get this- she was only 150 grams at 2.5 weeks old due to this kidney infection!!!!!)
3.) Maybe it was just meant to be. The third eyelid is very obvious in the eye, but it is also obvious in the other eye which she can see through. the one we suspect to be blind is a foggy blue over the pupil, and is also the side she scratches at 75% more often than the other.
My questions for you are: With such a young cat, how do you deal with this blindness? I do not mind if she is blind, it isn't causing her pain, and it was obviously meant to be. But I am wondering- How do they find the litter box? The litter box has to be in the basement, or else the dog (A Whippet) will get to it. We do have an older cat, about 10months -a year old, who is taking a little whie getting used to our new family member. Will Mojo, the older cat, take advantage of this blindness? Mojo is a very aggressive player- she fights hard but thinks it is playing (She was also hand reared from a young abandoned kitten) and became used to rough housing with our Siberian Husky who took all that Mojo could dish out.
I think that being so young, Aurora will be used to this half blindness very quick (She is only 3 weeks and 2 days old today) but what I am afrad of is her going blind in the other eye. How do you teach a cat to find its way around your house? Will she run in to things if she runs away scared from something? (She cant hide under couches, they sit flat on the ground) Maybe a cat tree would help to make her feel more secure and give her a one-eyed look around her territory when she gets older. Sorry this was so long, I am just very very VERY concerned, as I have never dealt with blindness in any animal!