Kitten with some problems :(

zuma-xo

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So I have been sitting here all day pondering this and I decided to ask you guys.
How do you tell if a young kitten is blind?

The little black kitten is giving me trouble and I think he may be visually impaired. The tabby cat will wobble over to you if you walk away, the black one will only sit there and cry until you make a noise, then he will sit for a second, and then hobble on over too. He seems to look at you, but he doesn't seem to see and it makes me worried.
Their eyes are both still blue (4 weeks old by now).

I am going to go looking for a vet soon (tomorrow) so I will bring him in and ask. However, what should I be expecting the vet to do when checking vision? The vets here (Philippines) are not up to par with what we like back home so I fear they will not even tell me or even look for it.

As well, again with the little black one.

His tail is broken. The very tip of the tail is hanging on by half a tail. It's not a tumour as you can clearly see it is the tip part of his tail. It doesn't seem to hurt him, you can touch it and it doesn't bother him.
I plan on asking the vet to remove it when he gets spayed/neutered *depending on his gender, which I still don't know yet*. Should I wait this long or should I schedule a seperate surgery for this? It doesn't bother him but I do want it removed because I fear it will get stuck on something later on and tear off, hurting him.


Tabby cat doesn't have any physical problems, he has emotional problems it seems. Seperation Anxiety, he is a stubborn mule, and will actually beat up the black one if he gets attention and he isn't. But I am working on it with him and even over the course of the day, he seems to be getting better.
 

GoldyCat

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Poor baby.
It sounds like he has his share of problems.

I don't know if vets routinely check eyesight, but you could ask to have it done. I'm not sure there's any way to test it for yourself. You can try waving a toy in front of his face, but not all kittens respond to that even when they can see.
 

katkisses

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Try putting your finger really close to his eye, each eye seperatly. Make sure you are not touching his whiskers too. He *should* close his eye. But not all cats do. But if he does then I doubt he is blind.

Poor guy sounds like he has had a time of it. His tail isn't bleeding or anything is it? It's just kinked, right?

I hope you get good news with the vet!
 
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zuma-xo

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Originally Posted by GoldyCat

Poor baby.
It sounds like he has his share of problems.

I don't know if vets routinely check eyesight, but you could ask to have it done. I'm not sure there's any way to test it for yourself. You can try waving a toy in front of his face, but not all kittens respond to that even when they can see.
Yeah, that's why I am so worried about him. I have no idea what to do with him. But he's not as adventurous as the tabby cat. I have decided to give them temporary names of Baby (black cat) and Tiger (tabby cat). I don't want to name them real names but I feel bad not giving them something to respond to. I am trying to convince my parents to let me keep them (and just pay the extra deposit to the landlord for pets). They wanted to get a dog anyways so I am hoping they will go with getting kittens instead
. Especially if he is visually impaired because I doubt he would find a home that way.
 
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zuma-xo

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Originally Posted by KatKisses

Try putting your finger really close to his eye, each eye seperatly. Make sure you are not touching his whiskers too. He *should* close his eye. But not all cats do. But if he does then I doubt he is blind.

Poor guy sounds like he has had a time of it. His tail isn't bleeding or anything is it? It's just kinked, right?

I hope you get good news with the vet!
No, his tail isn't bleeding, it seems healed and everything. It's just kinked kinda. I will try to get a good picture of it tonight and post it up.

And thank you for the suggestion, I will try that after I feed them next
 

katkisses

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Glad his tail isn't bleeding! One of mine has a small kink in his tail, it doesn't sound as bad as Baby's though... The bones are still connected, just crooked, and you can only notice if you are feeling for it.

They are both very cute! I saw their pics in the other thread.
 
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zuma-xo

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So I went to feed them and Tiger responded to the 'eye pokes' (I guess that is what I am going to call it) a couple times but not all of them. Baby responded to one out of everyone I did and I think I was touching his eye whiskers.

I am going to get my mom to try again tonight and see if maybe it was just me being a failure haha. Either way, a vision test is in order for my little baby.
 

katkisses

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My very unscientific test doesnt work with all cats.... one of my cats would just let me poke his eye before he would close it, LOL. And he can see perfectly fine.

that he can see!
 
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zuma-xo

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Originally Posted by KatKisses

My very unscientific test doesnt work with all cats.... one of my cats would just let me poke his eye before he would close it, LOL. And he can see perfectly fine.

that he can see!
Yes, I do understand that. I am going to do the flashlight test I was told about in a week or so once he's a bit older to see any reaction. Maybe he is just behind in his development? Maybe he has something different? I have no idea
I am just so worried about them.
 
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zuma-xo

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Well, Baby's eyesight is not developed as it should. Vet said to watch and that it might just be behind in development, but as of now, he does not seem to see much at all
 
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zuma-xo

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Originally Posted by KatKisses

Awww,
well I hope he gets better.
Thank you. He is working very well at responding to sounds and if you tap on the floor, it's like he feels it and knows where to go. He just runs into a lot of stuff still.
 

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I don't have any experience with that type of thing but I just wanted to say I hope the vet is able to figure out what is wrong. GL and I'll be thinking of you and the kitten.
 

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Aww, bless you for helping this baby - I bet, if you can avoid moving furniture, etc, around, he'll soon be learning where everything is and will manage better than expected.

What did the vet say about the tail?
 
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zuma-xo

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Good news

I have no idea why, but today I was outside on my deck and my kittens were inside behind the glass door. Well I walked past the glassdoor and out of no where, the little black one jumped right at the glass, looked at me, and then when I opened the door, came walking out like he totally knew I was there.

So either he is starting to see things, or he was totally just not paying attention to us before (which could have been the case, because he is a stubborn bum, both of them are)

I was really surprised! I am hoping he was just playing us before and can totally see. Even the vet said he looked behind in development in all stages (he is half the size of the tabby and he just seems a little slow if you know what I mean), so maybe he's hit the point of starting to see better now? I hope so, he will be at the vet again soon in a couple weeks so I should know by then.



As for the tail,
  • I can remove it now if I'd like to take him in to have that done.
  • I can wait and do it later on when he is getting neutered.
  • or I can just leave it.
At this point, it is not hurting him, it is not attatched to anything besides the skin, so in reality, it doesn't even seem like part of him. But I am scared to remove it now incase he gets an infection. But I am also afraid to leave it incase it gets stuck on something. So I am going for the option of waiting until he is neutered. Vet agreed to the procedure and said it was totally up to me what to do because there are pros and cons to every procedure.
 
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