I am a foster for a cat rescue, and I took in another foster cat last night. She is about 5-6 months old, and our rescue pulled her from the animal shelter. She is a cool cat, very vocal and affectionate. Medium-length hair, tortoiseshell pattern, green eyes.
This morning I started to notice that as I was talking to her, she never turned her head or even her ears toward me. The more I watched, the more I realized that her ears hardly move at all! No matter what you do (shake a "jingly" ball, talk loudly, "Here kitty kitty", etc), her ear expression doesn't change. When she is sleeping, she does not wake up when I walk into the room or talk to her - she only reacts if I touch her. While she was drinking, I shook a paper loudly behind her head, and then I ripped it in half. Her ears did not even flicker.
She will turn to look at us if we walk close to her, but I think she feels the vibration of our feet. My husband thinks her balance is slightly impaired as well, though I haven't noticed anything yet.
I think that this girl is deaf, and I have never cared for a deaf cat before. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Are there any special things I should be doing for her? Anything I should avoid? Can you recommend any books or articles that I could read?
She seems to be getting along just fine in the world, but if there is anything I can do to make her path easier, I would like to do it.
This morning I started to notice that as I was talking to her, she never turned her head or even her ears toward me. The more I watched, the more I realized that her ears hardly move at all! No matter what you do (shake a "jingly" ball, talk loudly, "Here kitty kitty", etc), her ear expression doesn't change. When she is sleeping, she does not wake up when I walk into the room or talk to her - she only reacts if I touch her. While she was drinking, I shook a paper loudly behind her head, and then I ripped it in half. Her ears did not even flicker.
She will turn to look at us if we walk close to her, but I think she feels the vibration of our feet. My husband thinks her balance is slightly impaired as well, though I haven't noticed anything yet.
I think that this girl is deaf, and I have never cared for a deaf cat before. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Are there any special things I should be doing for her? Anything I should avoid? Can you recommend any books or articles that I could read?
She seems to be getting along just fine in the world, but if there is anything I can do to make her path easier, I would like to do it.