adopted a blind kitten yesterday

My husband and I adopted a blind kitten yesterday to add to our family of kitties. We just adopted a kitten about 8 weeks ago, and thought we were done with cats for awhille...but when I saw that someone had a blind 11 week old kitten that was going to a shelter if no one could take him, we had to have him. We brought him home, and he is just the sweetest cat. He got a little scared and on edge when my husband was holding him and I was holding our other kitten...he kept hissing and growling, trying to look around....I think he was scared bc he knew it was some type of animal but was not sure where/what the "threat" was...so we took him to our living room and set up a safe room for him with his litter, food and water. He has a couple hiding places in the room that he likes, and we got him a collar with a bell and his name & "im blind" engraved on a tag with our address in case he gets out.
He is the sweetest little thing, and we are going to be spending the week getting him used to our first floor of the house...maybe next weekend introduce steps if he seems to be able to get around okay.
We have not taken him upstairs, although we wish we could...we feel horrible leaving him alone all night...but it is best for him as our bedroom is up stairs, and other cats sleep on the bed, so we don't want him to be scared. He seems to be adjusting well, and this morning when we walked into "his room" he got down from the couch and walked towards us to get some love.
If anyone has had experience with blind kitties, i would LOVE some tips, stories, etc....we are especially worried about him getting used to our other kitties, and I have read a lot about how sometimes another cat will realize he i sblind and take him under their wing...so I am hoping once he is not as scared of them, that might happen.
Oh and we are taking him to the vet this week for a checkup and to see if he is otherwise healthy..

Have you read "Homer's Odyssey," by Gwen Cooper? It's about her experiences with her blind cat. Really inspiring!

Welcome to TCS. We'd like to see photos of all your kitties!

There is also a blind cat sanctuary in North Carolina. You can google it and perhaps they would have some advice on care, introductions, adjustments to make in your home, etc.

Originally Posted by mrblanche

Have you read "Homer's Odyssey," by Gwen Cooper? It's about her experiences with her blind cat. Really inspiring!

Welcome to TCS. We'd like to see photos of all your kitties!

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I agree, amazing book and with your blind baby, you will really identify! Congrats hun, he is GORGEOUS!

He's one gorgeous kitten. Well done to you for giving him a loving home.

Blind cats get on remarkably well because their other senses are so good.

I cyber foster a blind Siamese through Save a Cat and if you go on there you will find links to the Star Kittens. Especially look for Moon Star (who has now been adopted) and my cyber foster, Shooting Star (if you find Shooting Star you'll find the videos of them and see Moon Star playing). They have no eyes, having terrible eye infections that left them completely blind. They had to have their eyes removed.

Watching Moon Star is inspirational, especially when she turns round to her foster mum and miaows at her as if to say "Yes, of COURSE I caught it!!!"

You honestly wouldn't know she was blind to see her play like that.

Truly marvellous and inspirational.

I was owned by a blind cat for several years. One important thing is to never move furniture - it gets them very confused. Watch him near doors, as some blind cats want to go outside to explore (if they're brave). I actually had one of my other cats be "seeing eye cat" to my blind kitty - they did fantastic together.

Bless you for adopting such a sweetie! We have a deaf cat, but she sees well enough out of her one eye - no experience with blind kitties. I'm sure you'll find good resources, and I expect there's a yahoo group.

What a little doll he is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

for his transition to your home and the introduction to the other kitties!

I hope all your cats take him under their wing. He's a super cutey but I'm biased toward tabbies. Wishing you the best

Bless you for taking this angel in......do you have any pictures to share?

Years ago I had a cat named Midnight who went blind in both eyes in her old age due to glaucoma. After she adjusted to her condition, Midnight was functioning and moving around so well in our home, that my parents kept asking if we were sure she had gone blind whenever they came to visit. I did notice she used her whiskers as feelers to avoid running into walls and funiture. You have gotten very good advice here, but I'm not sure if a blind cat can manage stairs, so you might want to put up some type of gate to prevent accidental falls.

BTW, this August will be the 9 year anniversary of Midnight's going on to the Rainbow Bridge.

Originally Posted by kittylover4ever

Bless you for taking this angel in......do you have any pictures to share?

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I had 2 pictures attached to my original posting when I posted it in the original forum I posted it in....I am not sure if they crossed over? If not I will re post them....they were the pictures I got from the woman who had him...I have taken many more in the day we have had him

We are reading up on so much about blind kitties, and he is just an amazing kitty. He has not had an accident, and knows where his litter and food/water are. He loves to climb the couch, and climb onto us. He feels arond with his whiskers and his little paws. We are taking him to the vet tomorrow to see how his general health is, and to see if they can detect a degree of blindness. He really loves to sit on the back of the couch right infront of the window, so we think he might recognize light/shadow. But he doesn't follow movement and runs into things...so if he has any sight, it is very limited. He is a wonderful kitty and we were blessed to find him and be able to provide him a home.

Originally Posted by Lorie D.

Years ago I had a cat named Midnight who went blind in both eyes in her old age due to glaucoma. After she adjusted to her condition, Midnight was functioning and moving around so well in our home, that my parents kept asking if we were sure she had gone blind whenever they came to visit. I did notice she used her whiskers as feelers to avoid running into walls and funiture. You have gotten very good advice here, but I'm not sure if a blind cat can manage stairs, so you might want to put up some type of gate to prevent accidental falls.

BTW, this August will be the 9 year anniversary of Midnight's going on to the Rainbow Bridge.

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A couple of years ago I read about a blind cat who'd lost his eyes because of cat flu. He was adopted and the lady was worried that he would fall down the stairs too, so she would carry him from her bedroom. One day, she'd left the door slightly ajar and the cat got out of the bedroom. She watched aghast as the cat came down the stairs. Her horror turned to amazement when the cat used his paws just like a blind man would use a cane. The cat made it safely to the bottom of the stairs and by the end of the day was running up and down the stairs just like a sighted cat would.

The next thing he did was jump up on the worktop in the kitchen. The first time he missed, the second time he didn't.

Although he's an indoor cat only, he gets around as well as any other cat.

Cats are remarkably resilient and us humans could learn a lot from them.

Truly amazing animals.

Billy has learned to get out of his collar this morning...i think its time to tighten it! he is so small for his age but has a lot of fur so the collar is hard to tell if it fits!
My proud moment of the morning...Billy and Joey playing! Joey has been the little baby in the house since we adopted him 8 weeks ago....so its been hard on him. This morning he was playing with toys, and Billy started playing too....then Joey jumped on Billy and Billy, instead of hissing, just played back. They have been gingerly chasing each other around the room for awhile and I love it!!
I do get worried as Billy gets close to the table, but I am trying to remind myself that he is learning and needs to learn on his own, I cant do it for him. But it is so amazing that he and Joey are warming up to each other already. I love it.

And, of course, we want lots of pics

And now for some science.

Everyone knows cats see in the dark but not everyone knows how they do it. The way their eyes are made, they are able to use even the tiniest light to their advantage.

However, some scientists, wondering how a cat would get on in complete darkness decided to find out so they got a cat and put him in a completely dark room filled with obstacles. Not even a pinprick of light in this room.

The cat went close to but didn't bump into any objects.

The scientists came to the conclusion that cats can sense electro-magnetic fields (also known as auras), especially with their whiskers so I don't think your little blind kitten will have any problems.

Great that he is playing with your other cat. Really looking forward to hearing of his antics.

I have never had an experience with a blind kitty but I wanted to say God Bless You for taking in this special needs kitty, you probably saved his life.

You are an angel, and how lucky your new baby is - ditto on Gwen Cooper and Homer - Gwen has a facebook page and I believe she also has a twitter account, but perhaps check out her blog as well (http://www.gwencooper.com/blog.php) - she's got an FAQ re living with a blind kitty - but do try to get a copy of the book from the library. Homer is really inspiring. All of Gwen's cats are adoptees.

Originally Posted by frankthetank

My proud moment of the morning...Billy and Joey playing! Joey has been the little baby in the house since we adopted him 8 weeks ago....so its been hard on him. This morning he was playing with toys, and Billy started playing too....then Joey jumped on Billy and Billy, instead of hissing, just played back. They have been gingerly chasing each other around the room for awhile and I love it!!

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Videos! We need videos!

I think your wonderful! Fantastic stories, keep them coming!

My husband took a couple videos of Billy playing alone, and showed them to people at his work...they thought for sure that the video was not of the blind cat because he played so well! As I write this, Billy is running around playing with a noisy ball.
We did get a couple pictures of Billy (11wks) and Joey(13wks) sleeping together yesterday! They did so well playing together yesterday morning, that we brought Joey into Billy's room for awhile...and they LOVED it. They chased each other, played together, rolled around together for hours. Joey would be on the couch looking down at Billy, Joey would swat down at him, and jump to the floor....so Billy would swat back, and jump onto the couch right where Joey was...and swat at the floor at Joey...and they would do it all over again. It is so funny, cute and wonderful to see. They both just love having someone to play with. I worry that Joey might play too rough..he is still a kitten, and we aren't sure if he can tell Billy is blind. Joey is only 2 weeks older than Billy but is a good amount bigger. Billy can hold his own, and Joey has backed off if Billy seems to hide...we watch them together and they both seem to like playing together! Billy isn't hissing anymore when Joey comes around like he did the first day.
We are not introducing other cats yet...just Joey because he is about the same age, and we figure he would be better about a new cat than our older cats.
When we adopted Joey 8 weeks ago we swore it was our last cat...but when I saw that Billy was going to be taken to a shelter, where he would have surely died, my husband and I could NOT let that happen so we took him in. And we are so happy we did.
His vet appt went well, he is healthy and the blindness just looks to be something that happened to him, not any type of sickness or anything.
As soon as I figure out how to post videos, I will add a couple!
I added a picture of Billy and Joey sleeping together, so I am hoping I uploaded it right...its VERY cute!