Deaf cat, meet blind cat

I'm having some introduction worries with a new kitten. We also have a deaf cat and a hearing cat.

We just adopted a blind kitten a week ago and slowly introduced him to our hearing cat, who just adores him. The cat licks him, wrestles with him, and is all-around a great buddy to him. We've got the kitten isolated in our bedroom, blocked off by a door or several child gates, depending on whether we're home or not. When the deaf cat watches him through the gate, he seems very interested but doesn't show any aggression. Ears are forward and he lies right in front of the gate watching the kitten. They play pawsies through the gate sometimes.

Our deaf cat did jump the gate the first day (I only had one up at the time) and sniffed the kitten for a few seconds before hissing over and over again before I could chase him out. Yesterday, I tried putting our deaf cat in a carrier and letting the kitten have the run of the room. The deaf cat was completely calm until the kitten approached the bag. Then, he screamed (at least, that's what it sounded like) and lunged at the kitten--it happened twice before I removed him from the room. Is he afraid of the kitten or is he trying to attack?

I know this is pretty early in the introductory stages, but I was wondering if anyone has been in any similar situations and might have advice.

Any suggestions??!?

Wow.. you have got your hands full. I just wanted to say you must be a kind soul to adopt both a deaf cat and a blind cat

Just give it some time.. there are almost always issues the first few days. They also could just be playing, or testing each other out. You can try putting a dab of vanilla under each cats chin, base of the tail and between the shoulder blades. That way they will smell the same and lessen the chances of hissing. You can also try a Feliway plug in.

I've got the Feliway plugged in for the deaf cat. I'll try the vanilla extract and see where it gets me. On a good note, the deaf cat jumped the gate this morning while I was in changing the litter--he sniffed the kitten (who was eating and ignored him) and didn't hiss! He did turn around and run out of the room, so perhaps with more time they'll both adjust!

Actually, dealing with a blind/deaf cat just means you need to be more understanding and a bit more patient--there isn't much extra effort on our parts in dealing with them, and they give us as much love back as our "regular" cat does! All of our cats are worth every second we put into caring for them...regardless of their needs!

It may be that since the deaf cat was confined to the carrier, he may have felt trapped when approached by the kitten.