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I've already consulted someone else if this was an emergency and they said no but I really don't want to regret this because my cat is my whole world to me, so I'd like a second opinion if that's okay. I realized about an hour ago that my cat might be blind? I've noticed her behavior was a little off this month and I took her to the vet this week to check out a cut on her haunch, I noted a lot of her weird behavior but I forgot to mention how dilated her pupils have been so they may not have been looking for any hints of blindness. Tonight I noticed her sniffing around the edge of the bed, so I moved her food bowl towards her but she kept sniffing in the wrong area and then acted surprised when she found it, which is what made me suspect her eyesight. When she sniffed around the floor and bumped into the wall trying to get out of the room, it confirmed my fears. She also stepped in her foodbowl while trying to find it while I was typing this. I looked up what might be causing the blindness and I'm 90% sure it's hypertension that caused her retinas to detach, she has hyperthyroid and kidney disease and is already on meds for her blood pressure but I don't know when they last checked it, she started taking it about a year or two ago. I read that catching it early is vital to it being reversible, and while I can learn to live with a blind kitty, it will be very difficult, especially since she can't smell water and she needs to drink a lot of it because of her kidneys. So should I try going to the emergency tonight if it's important to catch it early or wait until the morning when I can go to the vet? I've already left them a message, so I plan to go as early as possible but I'm worried about losing valuable time. Money is also an issue which is why I want to avoid emergency but I would be willing to go in debt to save her. Please don't tell me it's time to let her go because she's my entire reason for living and I'm not ready yet, she's also been doing very well for a cat with thyroid and kidney disease and she still has a big appetite and goes about her day just like a normal kitty, this is the first big blip I've seen and I'm really worried. e: i don't know if it changes anything but her blood pressure medicine is benazepril and i just gave her a half extra tablet tonight because i'm losing my mind just sitting here and waiting to be able to do something. will this help at all? yellowyams fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Oct 19, 2019 |
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Oct 19, 2019 03:33
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I don't know about the timeframe thing but in case it is permanent, blind cats can get around just fine and have great quality of life. If you keep her water in the same place she'll learn where it is to navigate to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iBaoU1A7RY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPa3l1LatDs
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Oct 19, 2019 06:36
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Maybe a fountain for her water so it makes some noise she can locate it by?
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Oct 19, 2019 15:15
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I think at the very least you should call your vet with your concerns and ask for advice, and set up an appointment ASAP. I don't know if it calls for an emergency visit, I'm not really sure what they'd be able to do - but that's something to ask your vet. Please don't change her medication dosage without consulting a vet. That is really dangerous and could kill her. And yeah, as someone said, a blind cat can still be a happy, functioning cat. But this might indicate OTHER issues, so I would get into your normal vet as soon as you can.
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Oct 19, 2019 15:33
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I realize that you posted several hours ago, so maybe you've already taken her to the vet (which would be good), but what you are describing is more like disorientation and something haywire with her sensory perception than it is blindness. The dilated pupils are certainly one indication, but cats rely on sight mostly for seeing movement. They locate their food, water, and facilities primarily through their senses of smell, with touch (think whiskers) and hearing a close second. Disregulation in the senses is basically neurological but can be caused by a number of things, so you need a vet to figure out what it is and what can be done about it So yep, get her to the vet as soon as you can. I am guessing that by the time you read this, you'll have already been.
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Oct 19, 2019 17:06
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I called the vet as soon as they opened and the vet told me to go to the emergency with her. As suspected it was hypertension and she's completely blind. She could definitely see SOME things yesterday since she managed to get to her food bowl without trouble until the evening so I thought maybe there was still hope since it hadn't been 24 hours yet but the emergency doctor made it sound like there's nothing that can bring back her eyesight. i'm sure they were trying their best but they also took a reeeeally long time to even give her anything for her blood pressure which led to several hours of hyperventilating and hysteric sobbing in the waiting room as it felt like any possible chance to reverse it was slipping away. She said it's possible for maybe some of the retinas to re-attach enough for her to see shadows but she phrased it as if she was looking for something to make me feel better, if anyone knows literally anything i can do to help that process though PLEASE let me know, I'm having a breakdown over this. If anyone owns a blind cat, how long does it take for them to get used to this? Watching her in distress and unable to find anything is absolutely soul-crushing. She was a very clingy kitty who would always freak out if she was left alone and now all I can think about is how she's going to spend the rest of her life feeling completely isolated, and forgetting what I even look like or who I was to her. I think her nose has gone bad and she can't recognize my scent, she just feels a disembodied hand trying to comfort her and is distressed about it. I don't know if I'm strong enough for this, I keep having waves of panic and can't calm down enough to be a good cat mom. This all happened so suddenly. e:her blood pressure when i left the emergency was 122 or some combination of those numbers. is that stable? e2: does anyone know a cat opthamologist in houston that would work on weekends? i'm really desperate and the 24-hour window is closing yellowyams fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Oct 19, 2019 |
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Oct 19, 2019 21:21
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I don’t have any medical advice or anything, but check out the Instagram user @tradowlita. Two of his cats are blind and it’s amazing what they can do. They seem to rely mostly on sound; the owner is constantly talking to them in the videos, and uses toys with bells to guide them when teaching new things. I catsat once for an ancient cat who’d gone blind and deaf with old age (he had cataracts!) and the main thing was keeping everything in the same place so he knew where to find it. He’d get upset if he couldn’t find us and would start to cry, but if you just called out to him or went and brought him to where you were he’d be reassured and calm down right away.
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Oct 19, 2019 22:36
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I know you're scared. I know you're hurting. Please continue doing the best you can for your kitty, and take comfort in the truth that she WILL adapt and WILL be perfectly happy given time!
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Oct 19, 2019 23:42
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My next-door neighbor had a cat that went blind in its old age and he was perfectly functional and sweet. I'd look after him occasionally when they went out of town and you honestly wouldn't even know he was blind most of the time. With humans sight > all other senses, but with cats smell, hearing, and arguably even touch are more important to their overall coordination than sight is. There will obviously be an adjustment period for you cat as it learns to adapt, but it'll bounce back faster than a human would. For managing it, the easiest thing is to probably change things reliant on sight to be reliant on sound and touch. Get her a cat water fountain with an audible motor and place a paw in it so she knows that water is near the sound, so she knows where to go to drink. Go to a hobby shop and buy a $5 bag of small bells and attach them to any toys she has that don't make noise by themselves, also if she's receptive to catnip that's a smell thing so rubbing toys down with it should have the same effect as ever. Make sure there's an auditory method of her knowing you're feeding her like a clanking food bowl or a sound you always make when you're about to feed her, etc. Also as pointed out earlier make sure you don't move anything vital like where food/water/litter/cat bed/etc are. Cats have spacial memory just like we do, and even if they can't see they know generally what direction a thing they've previously seen is. Sorry this is causing so much hardship for you. Just know that your cat will adapt and that despite what you think your cat does know its you. Even if she is also having scent problems, cats recognize voice based on tone. Just talk to her the way you normally did before she was blind, in the same tone of voice you use for your cat, and she'll know it's you. She's not stressed because you're suddenly an unknown, she's stressed because she's gone blind which would stress any cognizant living being out for a good while until they learned to adapt. Just do what you can to make her as comfortable as possible and eventually things will settle down.
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Oct 20, 2019 00:20
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Thank you so much everyone for being so kind and supportive and helpful. I reached out to an old friend who helped manage a vet and she says that due to all of my cat's issues (renal disease, thyroid disease, blood pressure, etc.) it's extremely unlikely her sight will be able to come back even if i did everything i possibly could. I'm trying to reach the acceptance stage but it's difficult because I can't afford to treat my anxiety and it all happened so abruptly after her blood panel had turned out so well the previous month, so I really appreciate the nice and comforting advice yall are giving, sorry for panicking in the thread. I've had my cat since I was in elementary school and she's the closest thing I'll ever have to a child so this is really difficult but she's getting to be in her 20s and I probably need to start confronting that she won't be around forever. I want to give her the best and most comforting life she can have for whatever time is left, I just don't know how to let go and I don't feel like it's time yet.
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Oct 20, 2019 01:22
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yellowyams posted:Watching her in distress and unable to find anything is absolutely soul-crushing. She was a very clingy kitty who would always freak out if she was left alone and now all I can think about is how she's going to spend the rest of her life feeling completely isolated, and forgetting what I even look like or who I was to her. I extremely feel for you. These thoughts, however, are not productive and not based in reality. You need to snap out of this train whenever you start to ruminate. Kitties don't experience disability like humans do. Most importantly, you seem like a compassionate and loving companion to your cat, and you should trust in your ability to thoroughly accommodate her new needs.
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Oct 20, 2019 01:46
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Can I have some cat toy recommendations? Wednesday seems to much prefer toys she can catch 'properly' (as opposed to the wand type) and isn't food motivated at all so the Kong type things that you put treats in won't work for her. Being an indoor cat I want to make sure she's entertained. I got a laser pointer that she enjoys for a short time but then seems to work out that she'll never actually be able to catch it and just looks at me like I'm an idiot for waving my hand around to point it for her. I often come home to find that she's been carrying the wand toy we have around the house - including up the stairs (despite how cumbersome that must be) - so I think she is very interested in being able to catch things and carry them with her, like a proper hunter. She's also a fan of the catnip banana, which she hugs on to and bunny kicks. What's good? And an aside just in case anyone's come across this before - she's exhibiting a new behaviour of scratching around her food bowl. She scratches and paws at the mat that the bowl is on, and has moved it around a fair bit before, but also scratches and paws at the various surfaces nearby i.e. a tupperware box, the cardboard food sachet box, the wooden shoe rack... She has a scratching mat and scratching posts on the cat tree and uses them. I read that some cats try to hide any leftover food, but she doesn't seem to be trying to cover anything up. She especially does this at night and it's starting to get annoying but I want to try to understand what's happening before trying to address it.
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Oct 20, 2019 10:31
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Bollock Monkey posted:Can I have some cat toy recommendations? Wednesday seems to much prefer toys she can catch 'properly' (as opposed to the wand type) and isn't food motivated at all so the Kong type things that you put treats in won't work for her. Being an indoor cat I want to make sure she's entertained. Knotted up straw, bottle caps, bouncy balls, anything else small that can be batted around. Otherwise yeah fishing rod toys are good. Bollock Monkey posted:And an aside just in case anyone's come across this before - she's exhibiting a new behaviour of scratching around her food bowl. She scratches and paws at the mat that the bowl is on, and has moved it around a fair bit before, but also scratches and paws at the various surfaces nearby i.e. a tupperware box, the cardboard food sachet box, the wooden shoe rack... She has a scratching mat and scratching posts on the cat tree and uses them. I read that some cats try to hide any leftover food, but she doesn't seem to be trying to cover anything up. She especially does this at night and it's starting to get annoying but I want to try to understand what's happening before trying to address it. Her instinct is to bury it she just kinda sucks at it.
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Oct 20, 2019 11:16
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Having indoor cats is a trip! Bottle caps seem dangerous as toys?
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Oct 20, 2019 11:41
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Why would they be dangerous?
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Oct 20, 2019 12:52
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Yeah, they're too big to swallow and skitter well on the ground. They're perfectly safe.
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Oct 20, 2019 13:33
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Bollock Monkey posted:And an aside just in case anyone's come across this before - she's exhibiting a new behaviour of scratching around her food bowl. She scratches and paws at the mat that the bowl is on, and has moved it around a fair bit before, but also scratches and paws at the various surfaces nearby i.e. a tupperware box, the cardboard food sachet box, the wooden shoe rack... She has a scratching mat and scratching posts on the cat tree and uses them. I read that some cats try to hide any leftover food, but she doesn't seem to be trying to cover anything up. She especially does this at night and it's starting to get annoying but I want to try to understand what's happening before trying to address it. She's probably trying to scuff up some dirt to cover it with or make a hole to put it in, but there's no dirt. Her instincts aren't goal-based, they're not telling her 'bury this food', just the actual actions of 'dig a bit and push dirt over the top of the food', so it's not something she can think around, she just knows that her instincts are telling her to take an action and it's not working. MikeJF fucked around with this message at 13:48 on Oct 20, 2019 |
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Oct 20, 2019 13:36
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Rotten Red Rod posted:Yeah, they're too big to swallow That really surprises me! Re trying to cover food, do I just need to either remove food before bedtime or put up with it then? It's just biscuits that we leave out because she tends not to eat in daylight hours, preferring to snack overnight after her evening pouch of wet.
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Oct 20, 2019 13:47
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Not sure about the food; removing it is one option, but there might be other ways to deal with it.Bollock Monkey posted:Can I have some cat toy recommendations? Wednesday seems to much prefer toys she can catch 'properly' (as opposed to the wand type) and isn't food motivated at all so the Kong type things that you put treats in won't work for her. Being an indoor cat I want to make sure she's entertained. Misty used to go nuts for a little piece of paper folded over, since it meant that she could catch it and shred it to bits. We'd put it half under the carpet and she'd dive for it. Or sometimes we'd put it on the end of a string or dangle from a wand, because once she got ahold and was feeling done she could rip it off and really go to town murdering it.
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Oct 20, 2019 13:55
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Bollock Monkey posted:That really surprises me! You're not thinking of metal bottle caps, are you? We're talking about, like, plastic soda caps. I don't know what they're like elsewhere, but in the USA they're pretty big.
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Oct 20, 2019 14:06
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MikeJF posted:Not sure about the food; removing it is one option, but there might be other ways to deal with it. Oh yeah on a similar note a bit of shiny ribbon made all curly with scissors, as long as the cat can be trusted not to eat it. Some cats cannot be trusted.
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Oct 20, 2019 14:14
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MikeJF posted:She's probably trying to scuff up some dirt to cover it with or make a hole to put it in, but there's no dirt. I always find really interesting that for some cats the instinct is "do this action idk" and for some the instinct is "cover this even if you have to go steal some clothes or a tea towel and bring it over to cover it with"
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Oct 20, 2019 14:16
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Organza Quiz posted:Oh yeah on a similar note a bit of shiny ribbon made all curly with scissors, as long as the cat can be trusted not to eat it. Some cats cannot be trusted. Yeah, one reason we used paper is that it doesn't matter if she ended up eating a bit.
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Oct 20, 2019 14:23
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What's really fun is when you find their toys or random objects deposited in their food or water bowls.
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Oct 20, 2019 14:24
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Rotten Red Rod posted:You're not thinking of metal bottle caps, are you? We're talking about, like, plastic soda caps. I don't know what they're like elsewhere, but in the USA they're pretty big. I wouldn't call UK ones big. I wouldn't want one around a baby, and that makes me not want one around a cat. MikeJF posted:Misty used to go nuts for a little piece of paper folded over, since it meant that she could catch it and shred it to bits. We'd put it half under the carpet and she'd dive for it. Or sometimes we'd put it on the end of a string or dangle from a wand, because once she got ahold and was feeling done she could rip it off and really go to town murdering it. That's a good shout actually, paper will float/can be picked up easily and yeah, doesn't cause harm when eaten. Thanks!
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Oct 20, 2019 14:46
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Babies are way less bright than cats when it comes to eating things they shouldn't. I've never heard of a cat eating a bottle cap, it's just too big and hard.
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Oct 20, 2019 15:19
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Their shape makes them perfect toys - they skitter well when batted around, and they're really easy to bite to pick up and carry around. My cats love them.
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Oct 20, 2019 15:24
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At the emergency vet with our ginger tabby princess. She seems to be in pain or not feeling well and we're not sure why. Lots of unusual yowling and growling and aggression toward the other cats, slinking around instead of strutting her princess stuff, sitting with her eyes slanted and mouth a little open for heavier breathing...here's hoping things are okay!
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Oct 20, 2019 16:18
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The cat is going to see the kidney specialist we've been going to for the last 2 years on Monday. The blood pressure medicine I need to give her is hard on her kidneys and she's been at stage 3 of kidney disease for over a year now, I think expecting her to have another year after this is probably unrealistic so I'm trying to brace myself for whatever happens next but I'm really not handling this well. Is there a good resource for grieving over your pet? I've had 3 cats in my life but this one is special. No matter how bad things got, she was the reason I kept trying to go on, all of my decisions in life revolved around how I could spend as much time with her as possible, there is no single person on earth that I love more than her, she's my entire world, I have no idea what the hell I'm going to do without her and getting another cat is both out of the question and would probably just make me feel worse even if I did. I don't really have advice but I hope she's okay.
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Oct 20, 2019 17:30
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Thanks! Yeah everything looks good. They're going to give her pain meds and fluids and send her home for observation. Nothing unusual in blood, urine, or in her x-rays. It's universally agreed that she has an ouch but also agreed that there isn't enough data to really determine why.
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Oct 20, 2019 18:28
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Weird unexpected life saver to come out of all this that is apparently semi-common knowledge but I'd never heard of it: if you're having panic attacks over your kitty's health try some saltines. I've had a knot in the pit of my stomach that's made it impossible to eat for the last 2 days and after a few saltines it's suddenly gone and I'm also not hyperventilating anymore. This poo poo is like witchcraft. I think it's finally dawning on me what probably caused the hypertension though I'm obviously not a vet. Her blood panel last month was great except for her thyroid which was high. So we started giving her more medicine for it to bring it back down, but I think her thyroid had been helping pump blood to her kidneys so when we brought it down her kidneys got worse and consequently her blood pressure. They gave me extra time before we had to recheck her because they knew I was short on money but looking back on it I really shouldn't have done that. Her weird behavior started shortly after we made that change too but I just shrugged it off because she was mostly just staring at me a lot and it didn't seem serious. yellowyams fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Oct 20, 2019 |
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Oct 20, 2019 20:38
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A certain rear end in a top hat has claimed the RingCon as his new bed. 
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Oct 21, 2019 00:52
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Organza Quiz posted:I always find really interesting that for some cats the instinct is "do this action idk" and for some the instinct is "cover this even if you have to go steal some clothes or a tea towel and bring it over to cover it with" I started giving my cat her own dish towel for this reason. She kept dragging the kitchen floor mat over to her food bowl, which was cute but annoying. When I put a towel next to her bowl she started using it to cover her food with and left the mat alone. For cat toys, I can't recommend plastic springs enough. They skitter around and can even be used for chase/fetch if your cat is into that.
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Oct 21, 2019 00:56
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Robo Kitty posted:I started giving my cat her own dish towel for this reason. She kept dragging the kitchen floor mat over to her food bowl, which was cute but annoying. When I put a towel next to her bowl she started using it to cover her food with and left the mat alone. Seconding those springs. I had to order my from overseas and was worried that it would be a waste of shipping, but both my cats lose their minds over them. They especially like the large size ones.
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Oct 21, 2019 01:03
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SPRINGS! THE SPRINGS!!! Our lil guy loves them, will play for days with them, tosses them, plays fetch, hides them in shoes, is obsessed with the springs. Can’t be beat for $ .25-.5
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Oct 21, 2019 01:24
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FelicityGS posted:Seconding those springs. I had to order my from overseas and was worried that it would be a waste of shipping, but both my cats lose their minds over them. They especially like the large size ones. Post video of Lucky and Toaster playing with the springs!!!
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Oct 21, 2019 01:34
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Robo Kitty posted:Post video of Lucky and Toaster playing with the springs!!! This is old (first day I had Toaster), but Toaster's going to town on the spring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V8IMsNP-xE
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Oct 21, 2019 04:54
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Who knew toaster's little rat tail would turn into such ridiculous floof.
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Oct 21, 2019 05:03
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Hey guys, I just wanted to share a little bit about my recent trip to the opposite end of the country from where I am - Los Angeles. It was only notable in this context because it was the first time in the last 9 years (including the 8+ years since I adopted Jackie) that I had so much as gone anywhere out-of-state for longer than 24 hours, and the only place I ever went was to Boston now and then for a concert or film I couldn't see in Maine, or to pick up/drop off a friend or family member at the airport... I think I probably more or less said it in an earlier post, but the gist is that I'd never left Jackie for more than a day at most up until 2 weeks ago, which is a little bit crazy when I stop to think about it. It's not because of my cat that I hadn't been traveling - there were other reasons. But I was sincerely worried that I'd somehow inadvertently made Jackie entirely too dependent on me, and that when I just vanished, poof, and went away for 10 days she might... freak out, for all I knew. There was a time when she refused to eat unless I stayed there with her, and even when I'd leave for a bit longer than usual like 12 hours she'd be freaking out a bit over me being gone. So I really didn't know what to think. I'm happy to say that Jackie managed to come through with (mostly) flying colors while I was gone! I had FOUR roommates and my mother checking in to take care of her, so I felt like she had enough people, and despite Jackie getting a bit needy or grumpy at times - apparently she'd walk into rooms meowing her head off demanding attention and meowing annoyedly at them when they'd stop petting her for so much as 2 straight seconds!  She can be such a princess when she knows she can get away with it! It's honestly downright impressive. They seemed to have fed her WAY too much while I was gone, especially dry food, but I know that she has quite a few tricks to get people to feel sympathetic and sorry for her and give her tons more dry food than she needs. Even works on me sometimes when I desperately just want her to chill the hell out at 1AM and let me sleep. She actually preys on those vulnerable moments when you desperately need sleep or peace to get homework/work-work done, to act like she's starving or can't eat the wet food you've given her for some mysterious reason. It's devious!Anyway, I was honestly really impressed at how well we both did, in the end. I was worried about myself, too - though I was way more concerned about Jackie, obviously. But obviously, it goes both ways and I'd gone just as long without being far from my cat, obviously. And I really was fine, I didn't even get all annoying and "cat-dad"-like, I think I only showed pics of her and talked about her to the good friend I was staying with once, and it never really came up again or with anyone else. I didn't even miss her at night going to sleep when I thought I would; truthfully, I was always so exhausted and tired in part because I was actually out and about every day/night being active and doing things, which was wonderful. I mean, I definitely missed the hell out of my wonderful Jackie-cat. I just didn't... feel especially distraught or anxious about it, and frankly didn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about her - there was a lot going on and a lot to do and a lot to see, and I was really engaged and immersed with being there. Which, again, was wonderfu .
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Oct 21, 2019 12:12
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Here is Toaster today with a spring https://imgur.com/JbQQViT.mp4 Lucky refused to play with it any time I had the camera going, but he's still into them too
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Oct 21, 2019 12:26
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