Deaf and blind cat, Help!!

My 16 year old female had an op last Tuesday to have her bad teeth removed as she was unable to eat. After the op she was left paralysed, deaf and blind. Her movement is returning but not her hearing or eyesight and I am getting no sleep. Purdy has never been a cuddly cat, she only comes to you on her terms and has a vicious temper. I am at my wits end as the vet says that it could take weeks before she returns to normal. I am thinking of installing her in my large bathroom as she is extremely vocal when she encounters any objects and is constantly getting caught up under chair legs and even the settee and the bathroom has nowhere she can get stuck in or under. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I would be grateful for any help.

Originally Posted by tighe540

My 16 year old female had an op last Tuesday to have her bad teeth removed as she was unable to eat. After the op she was left paralysed, deaf and blind. Her movement is returning but not her hearing or eyesight and I am getting no sleep. Purdy has never been a cuddly cat, she only comes to you on her terms and has a vicious temper. I am at my wits end as the vet says that it could take weeks before she returns to normal. I am thinking of installing her in my large bathroom as she is extremely vocal when she encounters any objects and is constantly getting caught up under chair legs and even the settee and the bathroom has nowhere she can get stuck in or under. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I would be grateful for any help.

Click to expand...

Your idea sounds very reasonable to me . I was only going to suggest a large dog crate that can hold: food, water, a towel and a litter box.

Sorry I can not be more helpful. I hope she gets better soon !

I had a feeling I was being cruel, but I think it is a case of being cruel to be kind as she is not a happy little cat.

Originally Posted by tighe540

I had a feeling I was being cruel, but I think it is a case of being cruel to be kind as she is not a happy little cat.

Click to expand...

I most definitely agree with the above minus the you being cruel part, in this case . I hope she is back to her old self soon. For BOTH your sakes.

If you do decided to set her up in a dog crate, make sure you do it in a room you will not be sleeping in. The reason is all the noise involved in a crying upset cat.

To a faster recovery to your old tough girl.

Thank you Cat Person, you make me feel like I am not alone. I have no access to a dog cage so that is why I thought of the bathroom. At present she is roaming around the lounge, bumping into things and yowling like a banshee.

Originally Posted by tighe540

Thank you Cat Person, you make me feel like I am not alone. I have no access to a dog cage so that is why I thought of the bathroom. At present she is roaming around the lounge, bumping into things and yowling like a banshee.

Click to expand...

I am glad I could help you . I know it is not fun to feel like you are alone.

Just set up the bathroom as if it was a dog crate. I would say if you have access to a card board box add that with a towel in it. So she has a place she can lay in if she chooses. Or if she has a cat bed she likes you could put that in the bathroom as well. But not something she can get stuck in or is too hard if bumped into repeatedly. The reason is to avoid her possibly injuring herself.

Once she finds her food, water, and litter box and bed, she will likely stop yowling like a banshee. Just some yowling in general perhaps.

But once she gets used to her new area she should calm down. But again try not to sleep in the room that the bathroom is attached to. In case she still yowls like banshee in that bathroom.

Again I hope she has a fast recovery for both of your sakes !

Thank you again. I have a box for her and the large bathroom is not near my bedroom, thankfully, although I will be able to hear her if she is in distress. Have everything all set up and will try her tonight. Tried her in the small yard but the wind is quite strong today and she definitely wasn't comfortable out there. Thought it might make her tired.

All I can hope for is a speedy recovery and the bathroom to work.

Originally Posted by tighe540

My 16 year old female had an op last Tuesday to have her bad teeth removed as she was unable to eat. After the op she was left paralysed, deaf and blind.

Click to expand...

I don't mean to sound ignorant here, but how does removing teeth leave a cat deaf, blind and paralyzed? I don't know much about the procedure, but given the responses, it's normal?

and yes, everyone has great advice to offer here

Originally Posted by Draco

I don't mean to sound ignorant here, but how does removing teeth leave a cat deaf, blind and paralyzed? I don't know much about the procedure, but given the responses, it's normal?

and yes, everyone has great advice to offer here

Click to expand...

I'm not 100% sure, but it was likely some reaction to the anesthetic, is my guess. Hope poor kitty gets well soon!

Given there are a number of toothless kitties on TCS, it's got to be a reaction to the anesthesia.

I think confining her to one room is definitely a good idea, at least initially. If she sometimes sleeps with you in bed (despite not being cuddly ), then maybe the bedroom would be better than the bathroom. But there's nothing wrong with the bathroom certainly.

The trick to working with blind kitties is simply not moving anything. Pick out where the food, water and litter box(es) will go. Make sure she knows where they are, and she'll get used to navigating! It just happened to her all at once, and she is an older girl.

Many vibes this will be temporary!

The vet doesn't know. he thinks she has either had a blood clot or some prior neurological problems. All the bloodwork and everything else was fine with no problems and the vet says there is no explanation. Purdy is not a cat you can pick up and cuddle and nevers slept with me as all my other animals throughout their lives did. She has always been healthy and extremely feisty.

Thought I would give an update to all you who have been caring enough to share your views. I am extremely grateful.

I put Purdy in the bathroom last night about 10pm. I then spent the next few hours listening outside the door to make sure she was not in any distress. Not a sound. Wow, so went to bed and actually slept for 6 hours. I have been checking on her every hour and she seems fine. Problem is she does not seem able to find her food and water and litter tray. Well, she has found the litter tray because at last two checks she is actually sleeping in it. I have fed her as I have been doing by holding her partially up and sticking her nose in the food till she realises it is there and then she eats. The only funny thing about this situation is that as she is hissing and spitting and then realises there is food, as she starts to eat it sounds like she is going 'yum yum,yum'. I know this is her usual grumpy self but it does sound funny.

I don't know how long it will take her brain to get to a point where this usually very clean little cat will know that she is sleeping in her litter tray and where her food and water is.

Once again, thank you for your caring and I hope Purdy wil pick up soon.

I'm pretty sure that sleeping in the litter box is a source of comfort to a cat. So even though it seems dirty to us, she's just using it to comfort herself. Is there a chance you could put a well-worn (like, sweaty) by you t-shirt in with her that should could lie on? That might be a nice thing for her.

Thank you I will try that. I agree with you that it is probably a source of comfort to her. it is just heartbreaking that this little fur ball who was so independent and clean is now in this pitiful state. I just pray that she will recover.

Originally Posted by tighe540

Thought I would give an update to all you who have been caring enough to share your views. I am extremely grateful.

I put Purdy in the bathroom last night about 10pm. I then spent the next few hours listening outside the door to make sure she was not in any distress. Not a sound. Wow, so went to bed and actually slept for 6 hours. I have been checking on her every hour and she seems fine. Problem is she does not seem able to find her food and water and litter tray. Well, she has found the litter tray because at last two checks she is actually sleeping in it. I have fed her as I have been doing by holding her partially up and sticking her nose in the food till she realises it is there and then she eats. The only funny thing about this situation is that as she is hissing and spitting and then realises there is food, as she starts to eat it sounds like she is going 'yum yum,yum'. I know this is her usual grumpy self but it does sound funny.

I don't know how long it will take her brain to get to a point where this usually very clean little cat will know that she is sleeping in her litter tray and where her food and water is.

Once again, thank you for your caring and I hope Purdy wil pick up soon.

Click to expand...

Just my two cents again , but since she is not a very friendly cat I would recommend you put a towel/blanket that smells of her. Not so much you. But her sleeping in the litter box is nothing to worry about. As others have said it is a self comforting behavior.

Glad she and you have "worked out" a compromise !.

Aw

I'm pretty sure she'll figure out where her food and water is. She's used to eating one place, and now she's blind and deaf and just needs a little time to figure out her food's going to always be there.

Continued she recovers completely and quickly!

Just thought I would give an update. I was not happy with Purdy being in the bathroom as the floor is tiled and she was looking like Bambi on ice as she tried to move. I have made the dining room Purdy proof and she seems much happier there. As the floor is carpeted she has more purchase and has come on very well. She can now stand for quite a while and is moving much better. She appears to have worked out what to do when she encounters a wall and will move as opposed to hissing at it. Her episode of sleeping in the litter trat was because she could not get out of it. She can now negotiate her way through the litter tray, but still seems unable to realise what it is for. The dining room carpet will need a thorough shampoo, but who cares as long as Purdy is happy. She is now purring more and this is great. I took her to the vet on Monday for a check up. As she is not eating the way she should the vet gave her a steroid shot. She felt that I can tell you. So far it has not helped as she is still not eating. I am blending her food so that it is like a thick soup and still adding water. She is just lapping the moisture but not eating. I don't know what the answer to this problem is. Since this happened I have been blending her food and then progressed to just mashing it and she was doing well and then stopped eating. Any advice would be welcome. Thank you for your input it has helped a great deal.

You might consider force feeding Purdy. I know it sounds bad, but it is actually very helpful to the cat. After one of my cats had dental surgery, he didn't want to eat and I couldn't get the vet to realize that two pieces of cat food wasn't enough. I started the force feeding on a Sunday. My vet wasn't open so I bought the supplies at another clinic that was open. My neighbour helped me. She wrapped him up like a burrito and I did the feeding. Finally Wednesday night the vet agreed to see him again. The vet hydrated him and gave him pain medication. After that Beacon started eating on his own!

There are many videos on the internet that will show you how to force feed a cat.

Hope Purdy gets better soon.

I had fed her with a syringe when she first came home and tried again today. It was a fight and she was getting so distressed I gave up and went and had a good cry. I will try again later as it will not be good for Purdy if I am stressed when trying to feed her. I will also have a look for force feeding. Thank you.

There are a number of things you can do. One of the quickest, to see if you can get her eating on her own, is sprinkling her food with Fortiflora. It's a probiotic, probably available at the vet. Strong smell and most cats love it. IF she's going to eat on her own, something like that would do the trick. Or if she likes tuna, try drizzling some tuna juice on her food.

If these don't work, then you really must syringe feed her until she starts eating on her own. There is the potential that her sense of smell is out of whack along with the other problems. But to prevent damage to her liver from not eating, you need to keep food moving through her (and it'll help keep her hydrated too).

You can either blend whatever wet cat food and use it in the syringe. Or you can buy a/d from the vet. Expensive for what it is, but it's designed to be used in the syringe and for critical care.

You don't need to start off feeding her the number of calories she requires, but if she isn't eating on her own, you need to work up to it. When figuring out how much she needs to eat, keep in mind that 30ml is one ounce. I buy 15ml syringes, and for a while there when Lazlo wasn't eating, I fed him three 15ml syringes, four times a day (he used to weigh 12 pounds, but was down to 11). He appreciated being syringe fed, and didn't fight.

But I got prepared in case. Another member recommended the Klaw Kontrol bag. It's available on amazon. You velcro the "collar" around her neck, then zip her up in the bag. It prevents her from struggling, and reduces everyone's stress through the process.



Oh - you might also want to talk to the vet about an appetite stimulant. Why he gave her a shot of steroids instead, I wouldn't know. For many cats, the steroids boost the appetite. But I've definitely seen where the steroids suppress the appetite. And the shot, if it was depomedrol, remains in her system for two weeks.