Deaf kitty owners, I have a question.

Does your deaf kitty stare at you? I talk to Peace like he's a hearing cat and I even catch myself trying to correct his behavior with a loud "No" (and, yes, I even caught myself wondering why he didn't hear me ) Anyhow, when I talk to him, I see him just staring at my mouth like he knows I'm saying something but he can't figure out what. There's also times he'll just sit and stare at me like he can't figure me out either. He even goes so far as to put his face against my lips when I talk to him? This is normal, right? Will it carry over into adulthood?

Thanks,
Chrissy

Ophelia always stares at me, its kinda creepy. Twitch, she doesn't care one bit, hardly ever watches me.

My dear friend who adopted a deaf white boy from me (I was his foster mom) tells me stories about her Mojo every day. So I'm telling you this second hand.

He does stare at her, and she uses this attention to make mouth signals at him. A wide "O" means that its time for dinner. Kissy face means come over and snuggle. It's taken him a while to figure it out, but she tries to add new facial signals to him all the time, because he does stare at her face. He's 3-1/2 and she encourages this behavior so yes, he continues to do it.

Make up some clear hand signals to teach your cat, if not real signing language. The cat's trying to learn, so give him the chance. Be very consistent with the signs, not too many of them, but appropriate to the situation, to time of day (cats are so time oriented), to where it happens, etc. He knows you're trying to talk, but lip reading might be hard for him vs broader strokes of hand movements.

In a way it's good to know he'll continue to stare but it's a tad creepy, too. LOL I wake up in the middle of the night with him sitting an inch from my face just staring at me. LOL

Peace has made progress with signals. We still have issues with "no" when it comes to ice cream. He has it down for everything else when I get his attention. Guess I just have a feline ice cream-aholic. LOL

There was a beautiful deaf odd eyed white kitty at animal aid called Oddball. I didn't actually know he was deaf till i was told a few days later. He just seemed to have good timing in turning around and looking when sounds were made. He definitely was deaf though!

I just have to add, i keep forgetting Cleo is blind, and she 'looks' directly at people too!

My boss had a white odd-eyed cat (that means two differetn color eyes right?) and she was also deaf.. she goes away alot, and before the cat died (RIP Snowflake) i would care for her while the boss was gone.. i always caught myself talking to her.. telling her she knows shes not allowed out in the store and that it was time to eat, time for me to leave etc... my boss's bf said to me, "you know that cat cant hear a word youre saying right?"... i couldnt help it...its habit.

My boss never used signals with her, but the cat still knew what she wasnt allowed to do, stuff like that, she was very intelligent.