Ever Have a Blind Pet? Seeking Suggestions

You know I didn't have anything to contribute to this until I read your last paragraph about teaching your son to take care of him. What an AWESOME gift of compassion you are teaching him!!! Planting that seed that sometimes we take and sometimes we need to be the givers will come back to bless him many times over. Well done!

I had a blind cat and all we really did was avoid moving the furniture and always keep his bowls in the same place. He was never a coordinated jumper so that didn't change much and he never got stuck anywhere. Of course blind cats cannot be outdoor cats.

We had a blind pug who went suddenly blind. He adapted and so did we. For us life carried on more or less as before. We marked doors with vanilla but that won't be an issue with a cat. Mostly remember not to move things, especially his food and water dishes. They can remap but it is a tad cruel. The biggest thing was to learn to watch out on our pug's behalf. We snapped our fingers so our pug would know where we were and also to keep from sneaking up on him. We found it to be no big deal really and my stepdaughter was 6-7 at the time. Good luck.

P.S. We even took him backpacking. We taught him commands to navigate (step up, easy down, stop, etc.). He learned to rely on us to be his eyes outside. In the house he did just fine. It is amazing what patience can do for all involved.

First of all, I don't know anything about cats.

Secondly, I agree with Elaine that you are using this as a wonderful learning experience for your son.

Lastly, we have a Toy Poodle (8) who had a sudden genetic cataract in 1 eye last fall at age 7 and was instantly blind in that eye. We had to make a decision on repairing that eye or not because IF the other eye did the same thing, he would be instantly blind. I could not fathom how hard that would be for such an active dog. We did go to the eye specialist for animals, we got his eye fixed (cataract removed, new artificial lens put in to the tune of a few thousand bucks. It was a long process of daily eye drops several times a day and we are now down to 1 drop a day. Now that he has a bionic eye, we know if the other eye suddenly has the same issue, he will not be blind in his new eye, ever.

Our vet explained that any pet who goes blind over time does much better than one who goes blind instantly. Your cat has probably been going blind for some time, therefore he has probably already adjusted pretty well. Wow, 18 yrs old!

Best wishes!

I had a cat with eye issues..... first, at one time, his right eye became injured. The vet was able to treat it, but couldn't tell us how much sight was there... we could always see a strange "shadow" in the lens or something.. it wasn't a cataract, though....

Then, several years later, he got in a fight and his left eye (his good one) was punctured..... by the time he came home, it really looked bad. (I think he had been gone a couple of days before he came home.)

I took him to the emergency vet and they suggested removing the eye... I wanted to wait and take him to our regular vet if it was ok to wait until morning, and I did... my vet decided to wait and see, in case it recovered... I took him in a few days later, and they did have to remove the eye.

It was amazing how he adapted....yes, he did have one eye still, but we don't know how much vision he had.... at first, he would swing his head back and forth as he walked, compensating for not being able to see on that other side.

I tried to keep him inside, but he basically refused.... eventually we started letting him outside... he did wonderfully... still hunted and caught lizards and such. I would even see him cross the road by turning his head carefully to both sides to check for traffic.

Unfortunately, it did finally catch up with him. He was hit by a car last year, when he was 11 ........ (he lost the eye when he was 3 years old).

You've gotten some great advice..... call his name when you walk near him, so you don't startle him. Talk to him as you walk around the room, so he knows where you are. Try not to move furniture too often, as others have said.

He will adapt wonderfully.... he has already been adapting. Also, animals don't mourn the loss of sight or limbs as humans do.....maybe they are the wiser ones?

wow, H., what an awesome cat mama you are to keep your old guy alive and tottering around at that age! i've always had cats, i adore them, but despite all my TLC and devotion i've never managed to keep one around that long!
my jasmine mare is completely blind in one eye, and almost in the other. the most important thing for her is to make sure not to move things around (no muck buckets in the aisle when she's coming into the barn, don't leave the tractor sitting out in the paddock etc.) it's really amazing how well she's memorized her living space. the biggest hazard is if she gets spooked (fortunately rare, she's a sensible girl) because she'll swing her head around and has cracked it into a support beam or wall from time to time.
i make sure that i tell everyone who comes into the horse area to keep a constant light flow of talk going around her. she is naturally very hearing-oriented the more her sight goes, and relaxes when she can keep track of people through sound. she's also very tuned into my voice, and has become eerily proficient at understanding nuances- not just 'come on, jazzie!' but 'careful, girlie' and 'hey! watch that bucket!' and 'take a step back, now.'
i've heard that blind animals with animal friends will rely on them to help out. sadly for my jaz, nik is a little psycho, and simply not the right temperment. it's kind of funny what horrible faces and BS menacing gesture nik makes at jaz when she's not in jasmine's very limited vision field.
i found that it was much scarier for jazzy when the sight started to go, and things got shadowy and objects loomed suddenly. now that she doesn't see much at all, the world seems less alarming.
gus sounds like a wonderful guy, and has certainly lucked into the right family.
:) khairete
S.

I'm in human medical sales now but still keep my CA vet tech license and my boyfriend is a veterinarian. Seriously the first thing that came to mind was "don't move the furniture". The kitties I have worked with have done very well with blindness or even losing limbs (no egos). TF Plano/Allen is right about adapting easier because it came on as Gus got really old. I took in a stray dog and had to have his eye removed the day my daughter found him because of a dog attack so he ran into a lot of walls and struggled with the stairs. Gus is an old kitty and you may begin to see more issues due to that, not necessarily the cataracts.

My friend had a very old dog. That was, blind and deaf. Due to old age.
They kept the dog, in their upstairs floor, which was where the dog was used to. And where their rooms, are. They had a child gate, cordoning off the stairs.
They had, lots of pee pads, lining the floors. The dog was smart, KNEW where everything was, though. It would bark if/when she peed etc.
And the dog, was safe and knew, that floor. So it was okay for the pet. It knew where everything, was. Including her food etc.

You need to think about the safety of the pet, when in this condition.
And leaving things, as is, where it is, so that the pet, can RELY on placement of furniture etc., and get around. They are blind.
And doing whatever else, for the safety of the pet.

When I was a kid, we had a dog that was old and pretty blind too.
But she still got around. But our yard was fenced. And she was safe indoors or out. Our other dog, was actually her... seeing-eye guide dog. Just out of instinct.

For your son, who is nearly 7... he can understand if you explain to him.
Explain fully, that there is safety to keep in mind, for the pet. FOR the pet. He can help, when/if the cat is not safe or about to be in an unsafe predicament. My son is 7. We have a pet bird that is very ill and fragile and weak now, don't even know if he will live. My son, watches out for him even if he is a caged bird. He handles him, VERY tenderly. VERY carefully. And if the bird is stuck, in a corner of the cage etc., he will help the bird and tell me. He knows the bird can be in danger at any time, due to his fragile condition.
And he is very gentle and aware with the bird. I can trust him, with doing it.

Tell your son, explain to your son, that the cat is blind. And needs looking out for. He is old enough.
He can do it.
Show him how. And to handle the pet very gingerly. Because, also, when a pet is blind and their senses are limited, they can get more defensive. Just out of self-protection and instinct. They are very, vulnerable in that state.

Also, since the cat is blind and not able to gauge heights as well etc. it is a danger for him to get down or up, to things of height.
So keep that in mind. Even if he is a cat, and that cats a supposed to be able to land well on all fours.
So yes, get any step ladders/stools etc., to help him get up and down things. As necessary.

I would ALSO, if you do not already have it, put a cat BELL on him. SO that, you all will know where he is. And locate him.

Get something like bonito flakes to put in his food dish to up the smell so he can find it easier. They are dried, flaked tuna. You can buy them at a pet store. My cats love them. If you have a covered litter box you may want to remove the lid so he can get around it better. Of course try not to rearrange anything since he knows where things are now.

I don't know if you can google this but there was a my cat from hell where it turned out the cat was blind. There were a lot of good ideas that I cannot remember at the moment