Today I took a feral cat to the vet to have her spayed, I knew that she had problems with her eyes but could not get close enough to have a look. However the vet has now informed me that one of her eyes has collapsed and she is nearly blind in the other. They also said that she should not be returned to the wild after she has been spayed as they are not sure how she will make out. I have 4 cats at home any two very young large dogs and I am not sure how she would settle in here with me. Does anyone have any advise on what I should do. Would having her put down (as the vet advised) be the kindest thing?
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Nearly blind Feral, what should I do?
- Thread starter jue55
- Start Date
How did she managed so far? Or is the eye collapse something which happened now?
If she managed decently so far...
Another option, CAN you take her in? Does she seems to be socializable?
If your dogs are friendly with cats, it should go OK. Dogs have the feeling of who belongs to the group and thus shall be protected and not intimidated. So dogs are seldom the big problem.
But true, with enough of Nay Nay a pts may be the necessary alternative.
Welcome to our Forums!
Good luck!
If she managed decently so far...
Another option, CAN you take her in? Does she seems to be socializable?
If your dogs are friendly with cats, it should go OK. Dogs have the feeling of who belongs to the group and thus shall be protected and not intimidated. So dogs are seldom the big problem.
But true, with enough of Nay Nay a pts may be the necessary alternative.
Welcome to our Forums!
Good luck!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
No I noticed that she had had an issue with her eye months ago but could not catch her. Now that I have managed to catch her and have it checked out the Vet told me about the collapsed eye and near Blindness in the other. She seems to have managed in the wild so far but she had the protection of a male cat which the vet seems to think that that will stop now as she has been spayed. Other than her sight she is a healthy cat.
On the topic of my dogs is although they are fine with 3 of my 4 cats they do go after one as he is the one that reacts to them and think it is a game and no matter how much correction they get the minute he walks in to a room and starts hissing they think "hmmm game" Admittedly he starts it every time and the dogs just follow in his game plan because he knows that they are about to get in trouble. I am just very fearful to bring a very wild and scared cat into the situation as the dogs are still very young and well they are just like teenagers and pushing every boundry if they were older and more settled I would not be concerned, the other cats deal with them as we have had the cats longer than the dogs, but this feral cat has never lived with dogs so I am unsure of it reaction.
How ever I have decided to work with her and in the process I will be looking for a nice quiet home for her to go live in. So that she can live out a nice quiet life.
On the topic of my dogs is although they are fine with 3 of my 4 cats they do go after one as he is the one that reacts to them and think it is a game and no matter how much correction they get the minute he walks in to a room and starts hissing they think "hmmm game" Admittedly he starts it every time and the dogs just follow in his game plan because he knows that they are about to get in trouble. I am just very fearful to bring a very wild and scared cat into the situation as the dogs are still very young and well they are just like teenagers and pushing every boundry if they were older and more settled I would not be concerned, the other cats deal with them as we have had the cats longer than the dogs, but this feral cat has never lived with dogs so I am unsure of it reaction.
How ever I have decided to work with her and in the process I will be looking for a nice quiet home for her to go live in. So that she can live out a nice quiet life.
That is really good of you, Jue55.
I agree that this cat should not be returned to the wild.
Blind cats can live very happy, complete lives. I would imagine their scent ability is hightened.
Let us know how things progress.
I agree that this cat should not be returned to the wild.
Blind cats can live very happy, complete lives. I would imagine their scent ability is hightened.
Let us know how things progress.
You are an angel for doing this! Hopefully you have a room/space where she can be separate from your other furbabies. Lots of vibes that you can find a good home for her.
It is not sure the protection will end. As cat pairing is not in first hand a sexual thing, but a friendship thing. Cats DO sometimes pair up - mainly as friends. I would guess, if the male also gets neutered, then their friendship should be even safer - the risk lesser he wanders away to find some other willing female.
So my guess is, he will proceed to be her friend and protector. (best not to let them meet immediately she is released from the vet - as she will have the vets scents on her).
That said, if you do have possibility to help her with fostering and to get a adoption home, so she can be a home kitty, this would surely be the best.
If you can help the male too and they can perhaps be adopted together would be an extra nice saga of it...
We do love beautiful sagas with happy end. Although I suspect it will be more difficult to find an adoption home for two.
But please, neuter him at least. For the memory of her.
Good luck!
Aw, poor kitty and good for you in trying to help this cat. If extremely feral, this may be a very, very difficult undertaking. Nearly blind and feral. 
IF this cat seems willing to accept the kindness of a human, then prognosis for a good life are better. Is that eye going to be enucleated? Oh my, it must be painful. Or did the vet take the collapsed eye out. I will keep you and this feral in my prayers. Please let us know how things are going and if you think socialization is even possible. The other issue is that this cat may need to be given meds or eye meds and if feral, that will be impossible. Just something else to think about. All my best, hun. 
IF this cat seems willing to accept the kindness of a human, then prognosis for a good life are better. Is that eye going to be enucleated? Oh my, it must be painful. Or did the vet take the collapsed eye out. I will keep you and this feral in my prayers. Please let us know how things are going and if you think socialization is even possible. The other issue is that this cat may need to be given meds or eye meds and if feral, that will be impossible. Just something else to think about. All my best, hun.
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I have read about cats that have gone blind and even it does make their life hard, nearly impossible to live by themselves, in good home they tend to learn to overcome lack of vision really well.
They can kind of see with their whiskers too, they just see air moving around them, together with hearing they can form surprisingly good image what is around them, that is what I have read at least.
So if there is chance of having home for this cat, then I would certainly advise against killing the cat as cat can live quite full life without eyesight, not perfect of course, but I remember it was considered being less of issue compared to human loosing eye sight.
I don't know how things go with blind ferals, on other hand one might think that when they can't see human, they can't be afraid of human, but I guess that would happen only after cat has well adjusted to not seeing. However as cat knows there is limitation, who knows, maybe cat considers someone giving food to be a lot more positive thing than normally would and get socialized even easier. Don't really know how it goes in practice.
They can kind of see with their whiskers too, they just see air moving around them, together with hearing they can form surprisingly good image what is around them, that is what I have read at least.
So if there is chance of having home for this cat, then I would certainly advise against killing the cat as cat can live quite full life without eyesight, not perfect of course, but I remember it was considered being less of issue compared to human loosing eye sight.
I don't know how things go with blind ferals, on other hand one might think that when they can't see human, they can't be afraid of human, but I guess that would happen only after cat has well adjusted to not seeing. However as cat knows there is limitation, who knows, maybe cat considers someone giving food to be a lot more positive thing than normally would and get socialized even easier. Don't really know how it goes in practice.
bless your heart for what you are doing for her. like Feralvr said, if she is very feral it will be difficult to socialize her given the eye issues, not to mention any meds that will need to be administered.
thnak you for doing what you are, please update with how it is going
thnak you for doing what you are, please update with how it is going
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Thank you so much for helping this cat - it sounds like a really tough situation. I hope for the best outcome possible
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #11
Well unfortunately the saga continues, we had to make the decision to put her down as I took her to another Vet for a second opinion and he explained it all to me. She had Herpes which is what had caused the eye to collapse and she would have been in considerable pain, but although it could have been treated I would have had to capture her every ten days to give her medication. And then we ran the risk of infecting the rest of the population who may never show signs of the disease but maybe carriers and pass it on to their young. so his best advise was that we just let her go to sleep. There were a lot of tears shed. However there is a happy ending.
While at the Vet I saw a three week old abandoned kitten who needed a new home and lets just say she found it. And she is settling in well.
Thank you guys for your advise, now if you have any on how I should look after a three week old that would be great.
While at the Vet I saw a three week old abandoned kitten who needed a new home and lets just say she found it. And she is settling in well.
Thank you guys for your advise, now if you have any on how I should look after a three week old that would be great.
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- #12
I forgot to mention that socialization was not possible as one of the vets that I took her to refused to even looks at her as she said that she was too hostile. Needless to say I will never be going back to that Vet and well now that I have said what I had to say about her on FB I guess she will be loosing a few more clients. I don't know how she is a vet I mean yes the cat was feral and yes she was very hostile but that does not mean that she deserves to suffer.
