Young cat now blind

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Minxrat2018
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Young cat now blind

Post by Minxrat2018 »

Hi!
My 14 month old beauty, Poppy, has retinal degeneration and it appears her sight has almost all gone (we think she may see light/dark contrasts). She has been to an ophthalmic vet.

She has definitely had sight and therefore knows my house/routines etc.

She has always been a good night time sleeper but for the past few weeks is disturbing me badly, usually by whining by my bed (or scratching it) and if I move, she runs downstairs. Sometimes I can send my other cat, 8 month old Milo, down and then they will play but he's still a "kitten sleeper".

She is driving me nuts, bless her. I understand that she's in this dark world and if Milo and I are asleep, she wants attention. Last night she woke me 5 times from 11.30pm. I fed them at 1am and put the bedroom telly on at 4.45am so she had noise. Sometimes she just wants me to talk to her but I'm sooooo tired. She's slept with me for the last year since I got her, and Milo will sleep anywhere but usually the end of my bed. She loves noisy toys, especially foil balls, but has to be in the mood.

Help! :cry:

(apologies for sideways picture lol)
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fjm
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Re: Young cat now blind

Post by fjm »

I wonder if melatonin might help? It would be worth discussing with your vet.
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Lilith
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Re: Young cat now blind

Post by Lilith »

Hi, I'm so sorry to hear about your girl.

With any luck, as she adjusts, the mewing should calm down; right at the moment she'll be very bewildered and having to learn to adapt to her disability; it's no wonder she needs reassurance.

I can sympathise - I have one of nearly 17 who howls the place down due to dementia/deafness. With her I can just think, ah, four or five yells and it'll be over ... I could do without being woken up of course, but ... they say you can get used to anything lol.

Poor Poppy; she's so young to be going blind, but many cats do adapt to blindness and as long as they are kept safe and their surroundings and routine aren't disrupted, lead full and happy lives - I do hope that this will be the case for Poppy once she learns to live with this.

Best of luck to you both :)
Minxrat2018
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Re: Young cat now blind

Post by Minxrat2018 »

She's adapted beautifully over the last couple of months - a visitor wouldn't guess she had lost her sight.

I've always chatted to her so that has helped her. I'm quite happy to wake, talk and go back to sleep but it's harder than that. I can't ignore her either as it gets louder, bless. As soon as I turn back the covers back to pick her up, put her on the bed and give her a treat, she runs off downstairs! She's wise to it, little moo.

Might try sleeping on the sofa one wake up, see what happens :lol:
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Red wine lady
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Re: Young cat now blind

Post by Red wine lady »

Can I just say...I LOVE HER!!

I can't help, but you are a saint x
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lilynmitz
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Re: Young cat now blind

Post by lilynmitz »

Firstly, Well done not giving up on her. My Mitz was blind when we got him, although the recue centre hadn’t realised (or conveniently forgot to tell me), but he was 8 years old by then. His condition sounds very much like your girl. He did yowl from time to time at night when we first got him, usually when he had a bad dream or woke up not remembering where he was and panicking, I would go and comfort him and he settled down again. It sounds tougher for you at the moment, as she’s having to adjust to so much. In particular, she’s losing her night vision, which is really important for cats. Mitz had a little peripheral vision in good light, but none in poor light. I wonder if you could leave a light on on the landing for the time being so she isn’t plunged into total darkness. It would need to be a fairly bright light, as low lamp light didn’t help Mitz. If the light keeps you awake, try wearing an eye mask until she’s settled into her new world.

if all else fails, can you shut her in a comfortable room at night with beds, food, water and litter. She might object to the new routine at first, but she will get used to it if you tough it out, and may actually come to feel safer there, (get a feliway diffuser going in there to help,her adjust to it). You can’t cope with sleep deprivation for ever, and this way hopefully she will settle more quickly and you will only need to reassure her less frequently. She will adjust eventually, but she will need a lot of reassurance meanwhile.

A few more basics that we learnt with Mitz, always rub your fingers before you stroke her, so the sudden contact doesn’t make her jump, never leave things on the edge of the bed or sofa so they don’t get a Duden shock when they land on them when they jump up, don’t leave stuff on the floor for her to crash into (Mitz ended up with a black eye that way) and never ever let her out unescorted unless you have made the garden completely secure. Hope this helps.
Minxrat2018
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Re: Young cat now blind

Post by Minxrat2018 »

Red wine lady wrote:Can I just say...I LOVE HER!!

I can't help, but you are a saint x
Thank you but she makes it so easy. I've had her a year today and wouldn't be without her x
Minxrat2018
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Re: Young cat now blind

Post by Minxrat2018 »

lilynmitz wrote:Firstly, Well done not giving up on her. My Mitz was blind when we got him, although the recue centre hadn’t realised (or conveniently forgot to tell me), but he was 8 years old by then. His condition sounds very much like your girl. He did yowl from time to time at night when we first got him, usually when he had a bad dream or woke up not remembering where he was and panicking, I would go and comfort him and he settled down again. It sounds tougher for you at the moment, as she’s having to adjust to so much. In particular, she’s losing her night vision, which is really important for cats. Mitz had a little peripheral vision in good light, but none in poor light. I wonder if you could leave a light on on the landing for the time being so she isn’t plunged into total darkness. It would need to be a fairly bright light, as low lamp light didn’t help Mitz. If the light keeps you awake, try wearing an eye mask until she’s settled into her new world.

if all else fails, can you shut her in a comfortable room at night with beds, food, water and litter. She might object to the new routine at first, but she will get used to it if you tough it out, and may actually come to feel safer there, (get a feliway diffuser going in there to help,her adjust to it). You can’t cope with sleep deprivation for ever, and this way hopefully she will settle more quickly and you will only need to reassure her less frequently. She will adjust eventually, but she will need a lot of reassurance meanwhile.

A few more basics that we learnt with Mitz, always rub your fingers before you stroke her, so the sudden contact doesn’t make her jump, never leave things on the edge of the bed or sofa so they don’t get a Duden shock when they land on them when they jump up, don’t leave stuff on the floor for her to crash into (Mitz ended up with a black eye that way) and never ever let her out unescorted unless you have made the garden completely secure. Hope this helps.
I think it's happened gradually so she's adjusted well. She plays more at night now, which is bizarre. I think she wants attention. this morning at 12.30am I threw the covers back, expecting her to run downstairs, but she sat at the water bowl waiting for me to finger feed her water.....which I did because she purrs so loud whilst I do it.

Sadly I don't have a separate room and to be honest I'd be bereft without her sleeping on the bed next to me. Some nights are worse but I know I can catch up at weekends. I'm quite hard sometimes so just ignore her but then Milo joins in so it's double fun! He's great with her, watches me play and not interfere but then jumps out on her from nowhere, naughty boy.

I always speak to her when I go to touch her, and do it gently. I think I've known in the back of my mind about her eyes as when I give her a treat I tap under her chin so she knows where it is, and that's happened for a good few months. She jumps up on the bed and lumbers over me, little angel! She doesn't go out, it reinforces my decision that neither were going to.
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Walesgang
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Re: Young cat now blind

Post by Walesgang »

I have had my girl Tips since she was 6 weeks old (we adopted her and her mummy and litter mates en masse!)

She could certainly see when she first came to us.

A few months later, she went through a brief period of being spooked. We assumed it was because we had friends staying. After that she settled down, but had some mishaps such as walking into doors. Following vet examination, he concluded that she was probably totally blind.

We have taken many precautions to keep her safe, such as securely enclosing our garden, talking to her when we enter a room and tap things to ‘show’ her.

She is now 12, and very happy, inquisitive, and leads a good life. Sight loss, for all it sounds scary to us, is not a major issue for cats
Minxrat2018
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Re: Young cat now blind

Post by Minxrat2018 »

Walesgang wrote:I have had my girl Tips since she was 6 weeks old (we adopted her and her mummy and litter mates en masse!)

She could certainly see when she first came to us.

A few months later, she went through a brief period of being spooked. We assumed it was because we had friends staying. After that she settled down, but had some mishaps such as walking into doors. Following vet examination, he concluded that she was probably totally blind.

We have taken many precautions to keep her safe, such as securely enclosing our garden, talking to her when we enter a room and tap things to ‘show’ her.

She is now 12, and very happy, inquisitive, and leads a good life. Sight loss, for all it sounds scary to us, is not a major issue for cats
She definitely handles it better than I did to start with but now I'm so turned to her. She's still a bit clumsy but more or less knows her limits. I do the tap thing to, and thinking about it, I've tapped the underside of her chin when i have a treat in my hand for months now. I think she went blind around Christmas time as she could definitely see in November when Milo joined us. She can "see" the sunlight as she squints when looking at the window.
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