She Heard Me!!

This is the greatest day ever! I have been walking around sniffling all day. I've got a cold. Well, I took the kitties upstairs with me a minute ago. I put them down at the top of the stairs, stood up & sniffled. Twitch jumped about 6 feet in the air. She landed again with all of her hair sticking out(her tail bushed, too) wide-eyed & staring at me. She must have heard me sniffle!! This is great. (she's deaf if you are confused as to why that is great) She has heard shrill noises twice before, but this was just a normal sniffle. I don't think there was anything else that she could have been reacting to.

What do you know about deafness in cats?

I know it is common in white cats with blue eyes. She has been deaf her entire life. Can she be developing some hearing as she gets older?

could she have been startled by you getting up instead of your sniffle?

I thought about that, but I was already statnding when I sniffled. She had looked at me standing up & then turned away. That's when I sniffled.

Hmmm, sounds pretty amazing to me! I'd like to know what you find out about it... my mom is hard of hearing and her sister is mostly deaf - her sister has a white, blue-eyed deaf kitty (princess maple)... she got her as a kitten and she's several years old now and still entirely deaf... she will come to vibrations on the floor though and still purrs, although I don't know if she mews... anyhow, I'd be very interested if you find out anything scientific abotu this... you should ask your vet as well. Just curious, are they white, blue-eyed kittens? Good luck with your info search and I hope she does in fact have some hearing - that'd be great!

PS: if you're interested, you can easily teach your kitties simple sign language commands, ie: for "cookie" and "dinner" etc... Oliver knows the one for "cookie" and princess maple knows several... you should be able to find these commands online, if not, PM me and I can ask my aunt about any that I don't already know!

The vet has previously tested her to see what she hears. Twitch is white with blue eyes & the kitten(Lily) is tabby striped. I have read about the genetics of white cats(not necessarily blue eyed ones). From what the vet knows, some cat can develop hearing in some higher frequencies. Even if her hearing does imrove, her eyesight is going(she's only 3). We never taught Twitch any hand signals, but rather use knocks on the floor. I can "call" her for a bath, supper, a brushing, medicine(she doesn't come as fast for the medicine knock, though ), etc. Twitch hardly ever purrs(maybe a dozen times that anyone in my family has ever heard). She has a very distincitive meow, or rather, yowl. She bellers like a wounded cow, for lack of a better description. You would have to be deaf not to hear her yowl! I have always suspected that she had minor hearing since she was a kitten, but never could prove anything.

I will be sure to let you know if I find anything out. I wish she had done this before the vet. appt. this morning, though.

Twitch sounds adorable.
You are giving her lots of love...that's wonderful.

Aww, I hope she heard you. That would be wonderful for all of you.