Deaf and blind cat, Help!!

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 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.

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 !

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

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

I'm glad you got some food in her. One syringe, I hate to say it, isn't nearly enough. But it's a good start! Though I guess you did say it was "another" one.

I forgot to include info about the syringes I use. They were recommended by TCS member Carolina, and they are GREAT. Four Paws Easy Feeder Syringe. Easy to use, easy to clean. They come in sets of two, one is for liquid. I just use a knife and cut off that thin tip off, and then I've got two 15ml syringes. Lazlo kind of chomps on the ends as I feed him, so I find they have to be replaced every 5 - 6 days or so, depending upon how much I have to feed him (he's eating on his own now).