Deaf/blind kitten?

Hello everyone, I'm new here and was wondering if anybody had any advice on how to tell if a kitten is blind and/or deaf. We took in a gorgeous medium/long haired white kitten yesterday (we have been calling him Eli) from a girl who didn't seem to be taking the best care of him. The girl that had Eli said that he was blind in one of his eyes but didn't mention anything about him having a hearing problem (she may not have noticed... again, she didn't seem to be taking the best care of him). After doing a little research on the internet, I have found that deafness seems to be a more common trait in pure white cats than blindness, although it seems that blindness has also been associated with blue-eyed cats (both of Eli's eyes are bright, gorgeous blue).

What I was wondering is if any body had any tips on how I might be able to figure out if little Eli is blind and/or deaf. I have tried to do a couple of tests with him (waving my hands in front of his face) to see if he was able to see but my tests have been inconclusive. To me, it seems like he has at least some of his hearing, as he has jumped a few times when a loud noise has been made, but I don't know if its a coincidence or not.

Eli has his first vet appt this Saturday so I am sure the vet will be able to give me more information then, I was just curious about this and figured somebody else might have some experience with this here!

If anyone could offer me any advice, I would greatly appreciate it! I am a relatively new cat owner, we adopted our first cat back in June of last year and since then we have rescued nine other cats as well (including Eli!)

Aww..... :heart3:

The deafness.... with our Flowerbelle, it was easy. She wasn't scared of the vacuum cleaner. She wondered why all the other cats were running.

Blindness, I don't know, but I looked up. Most of this article is about failing eyesight, but at the end, it has a "how to test my cat's eyesight" section: http://www.eyevet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vision_cat.pdf

Keep us posted! :rub:

Thank you for the link! I will have to try some of these things in just a little bit when I get home from work!

I just figured out how to upload a photo here, so here is one of the first pics we have taken of Eli. It is a little blurry, will have to try to get a better one later!
Also, the girl that gave us Eli said he was 9 weeks old... to me, he looks older, but he is a bit fluffy. Any ideas about his approximate age??

Oh he is DARLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :love:

There's no real perspective to the photo there... but yeah, he looks older to me. At 9 weeks, our cats had everything out of proportion - huge ears, big feet.... and he looks like his head fits his ears (in my very unscientific approach :lol3: ).

I'm not good with age at all though. We work with ferals, so most of my kitties were older when rescued. I don't have a lot of young kitten experience. Maybe others better at it will chime in.

I'm no expert (it's probably been 30 years since we've had young kittens around), but it's say Eli is much older than 9 weeks.  At least based on that adorable picture

I think he's older than 9 weeks as well! When we first got him on Sunday it wasn't as noticeable (he is fluffy, I just thought perhaps he was all fluff!) but now that we've had him a couple days and he's been eating quite well he definitely doesn't look to me like he's only 9 weeks old. My best guess now is maybe 4-7 months old or so?

I will let everyone know what the vet says on Saturday morning when he has his first check-up and vaccinations!

Well, the vet will have a good idea. :lol3: I wonder if he's got his adult teeth in?

Did you try the vacuum cleaner? Or any of the suggestions in the PDF on vision?

Awww....he's adorable!!! I :heart2: white cats!!!

A good test for deafness is to bang some pans together in another room (or on another side of the room he's in) & gauge his reaction. You have to be careful to not be close enough that he can feel the air movement from whatever you do to make the noise.

As far as blindness, you could try tossing a soft/pom pom in front of him & see if he can follow it? :dk:

Otherwise just discuss both things with your vet on Sat. I have two white cats w/ blue eyes that live w/ my parents, and both are deaf but have good vision. I had a blind cat previously, but she was a gorgeous DSH tortie w/ green eyes.

Thanks for the tip! I will try the banging pots together idea when I get home later today! I have done a few other tests but still not 100% sure about his hearing or his eyesight one way or the other yet. At least the vet appointment is only a couple days away now!

It’s looking like Eli doesn’t have very good hearing (if at all) right now but sometimes he does things that make me wonder. I tried turning on the vacuum cleaner but he was in the same room as I was and he did go to hide under the dining room table but it could be because he somehow sensed that I had turned on the vacuum. He hasn’t been too responsive to any other loud noises. He does jump a little bit if my dogs start barking at something outside, but that could also be because he can tell they are barking at something maybe?

As far as his eyesight goes, I am thinking that he has at least some eyesight. I flashed a flashlight at him a few times, the first time he squinted a bit and the second time he didn’t really do much of anything. His eyes do dilate when you shine the flash light at him, and he chased the beam of the flash light on the floor when I wiggled it around at the ground. I think he may have some sort of a vision problem with one of his eyes, because he doesn’t blink when you move your finger towards his eye but I could be completely wrong. I wouldn’t be surprised!

I will try the pots thing later on today. Either way it doesn’t matter to me, it’s not like I’ll love him any less if he is deaf and/or blind. I just want to know so I can make sure to do whatever I can to make him feel more comfortable! He is the most loving cat I’ve ever seen, he loves to crawl up your chest and sleep with his head resting on your shoulder – he will do that for hours! Most of my other cats are quite a bit more independent, and only will cuddle on their terms, but he is always in the mood for a good snuggle!

Oh our Flowerbelle is positively psychic. And she wasn't born deaf, she lost her hearing because of a severe herpes infection when rescued, so she can hear some frequencies. Could be your kitty felt the vacuum cleaner, and if he was with other cats that ran or hid, he associates the sensation with hiding. :dk: OR he can hear some frequencies, if not congenitally deaf. :dk:

But their whiskers are also SUPER sensitive, so it can make figuring these things out at home difficult!

...and then there's the psychic factor. :lol3: Flowerbelle would be upstairs, on top of the cat tree in the bedroom, alone. We'd be downstairs in the kitchen, on the other side of the house. One cat would be in the kitchen, and we'd go to sneak whoever a treat. And EVERY SINGLE TIME, Flowerbelle would be downstairs, in the kitchen, in a flash. To my knowledge, there is NO physical explanation for this, as other cats, next to the kitchen in the living room, were not alerted to the treats happening in the kitchen!

Hmm, maybe Flowerbelle's other senses overcompensate for the loss of hearing, and she has super smelling powers or super whiskers? Or maybe she IS psychic! Cute story Laurie.

Hey everyone, Eli had his vet appt this past Saturday so I just wanted to let everyone know how it went. Eli is completely healthy, he is able to see and he can hear at least a little bit. The vet said he didn't have a definitive test for his hearing but he clapped his hands behind Eli's back and Eli jumped. The vet said he may not have all of his hearing, but he can hear at least some. He is adapting very well to being in our home and he is the most loving cat we have.

I haven't been on in a little bit because I was dealing with some other animal things I had going on.. I had to say goodbye to my first baby, my dog Casey, on Monday, 2/25/2013. Casey was between 16 and 17 years old so she had a good long life, but I have had her for almost 15 years so it's going to take me a long time to adjust to life without her. I just keep telling myself that at least she's not hurting anymore...

I just wanted to give everyone the update on Eli. Hope everyone and their kitties and other loved ones are doing well.

I am so very sorry for your loss of Casey. Hugs. Glad to hear the good news about Eli though. Thanks for the update.

Oh no! I'm so sorry about Casey. :heart2:

Flowerbelle can also hear some frequencies. She responds to a noise we make - a kind of clicking we make by clicking with our tongue in our cheek? So she thinks her name is "chk chk chk." :lol3: Glad for the news on your Eli though!