Elderly, blind cat

Tiffany_Aching

Does anyone have any experience of looking after an elderly, blind cat?

We know nothing about her history as she turned up in our garden 18 months ago and was so pitiful - no teeth, very thin, covered in ticks and all matted. We are semi-rural, there are only a handful of houses where we live but no one knew anything about her. We contacted all the local vets, checked if she was chipped and put notices up but no one claimed her.

She is old - very old - the vet has estimated that she is probably past 20 years old, and when we first found her he didn't think she had long left and was of the opinion that she had probably wandered off to die. Well, 18 months later she is still here and is quite content and settled.

She was probably blind in one eye when we found her, but she has, over the last few weeks, gone blind in the other. The vet says that she has lost the fat pads behind her eyes and that this is due to weight loss with age.

I know that she doesn't have an awfully long time ahead of her and I want to make life as comfortable and as easy as possible for her. I've not put her outdoors over the past few days and she is showing no interest in going out herself - the other day she was asleep in the garden and when she woke up the poor love walked straight into the fence and was so confused

So I'm asking if anyone has any ideas of little things that we can do to make life easier for her. I'm making sure that her bed
and litter tray are always in the same place and we are combing her every day as she no longer grooms herself. Any other ideas?

Spirit_2

We had a fit male cat who suddenly lost his sight sometime after a road traffic accident. It was not recoverable and he only survived for a few months after the sight loss as other neuro damage took effect. This is what we did/found:

We had a dog and another cat that he did not get on with so our logistics were a bit complicated.

When we were out he lived in our daughters bedroom and had access to food, water and a litter tray. When we could supervise him he would also come downstairs to the kitchen . We encouraged him to 'walk' rather than be carried so that he scent marked his route up and down the stairs. He learnt how to jump on and off the sofa and bed although it was a bit sad at first as he misjudged things. We had to keep windows closed as he did climb out onto a flat roof and then could not find his way back in.

We did take him out into the garden, he did not like a harness and as he was so physically fit we did worry he would run off. We have a very large area fenced with chicken wire so put him in there 'to play out' but it did not seem to benefit him so we stopped that.

He had toys with and without bells or cat nip.

It was very different from he free roaming ways when he was sighted but he was safe, enjoyed fuss, ate well and we did make sure we interacted more with him.

ljonski

http://www.wikihow.com/Take-Care-of-a-Blind-Cat

tea_lover

I don't have any practical advice (just lots of cuddles and fuss) but wanted to say what a lovely thing you're doing. It sounds like this cat will have a very happy last few months/years being so well looked after.

scaredy_cat

my last cat lived until she was 22 1/2 and she had been blind since she was about 16 yrs. She stopped asking to go out when she went blind so she was basically a house cat. She would do all the normal things for a cat of her age, which is mainly eat, sleep and poop!

She would still climb up on the sofa and the clothes mountain to sleep. I think the main thing is to not move stuff about to have things left in the middle of the room. Cats soon learn the layout, have the litter tray in an easy accessible place, they will find it by smell. i would suggest that you speak to the cat before touching it just so that he is aware that you are close and not surprised.

you can get netting to pit across your windows so you can have them open and the cat stays safe inside.

Tiffany_Aching

Thank you for the above posts, they have all been very helpful and have given us some ideas to help her.

It's a lovely, sunny day today and she has asked to go out for the first time in a week. We have been given an old rabbit run for her and she is blissfully happy just laying curled up on the grass in it - we are getting lots of purrs everytime we check on her! I'm really pleased as she can still go out when she asks and I know that she is safe.

My husband is currently building her a ramp so she can get up to her favorite indoor sleeping place in the conservatory and I've started to give her several smaller meals a day and she is eating much better being fed this way. She is very thin and suspect that she has little time left, but I know that she is going to be very comfortable for those months. She has obviously been a loved pet to someone at some time in the past, she loves human company and is in kitty heaven when curled up on a lap! I should imagine that her real humans have assumed that she has died and I feel so sad for them that they have lost her. Such a shame that she wasn't chipped as we could have got her back home

So, again, thank you. Your posts were very helpful.

meritaten

my experience is more of an FIV cat, who when I got him the vet said he was 'near death'. days not weeks. I had him for three and half years. and on every monthly visit the vet said 'it wont be long now, you should think about PTS'.
I just made sure he was comfortable, knew where his litter tray was (I had to explain to him what it was for and how to use it, but after that he was great) and never moved it. ditto his food. and he had wet food as his teeth were mostly gone. at first I just mashed it with a fork but as he got worse I had to buy a stick blender and he had 'baby mush'.
we didn't move the furniture about as we weren't sure how good his eyesight was - the vet thought there may be problems there. but, he knew where HIS place on the settee was! he used to come out in the garden with me - but unless the temperature was in the high seventies he felt cold, so used to snuggle under my cardi. but he did enjoy some 'outdoor time'.
He was a lovely sweet natured cat - and he brought love into my life. he was never active, always loved being stroked but didn't DO lapsitting, preferring to sit next to people.
your cat may be old and half blind, but as long as he isn't in pain or suffering then he can live a very happy life with a loving owner.
you are doing a wonderful thing - not many people would take that cat on and I think you are going to be rewarded with a relationship with a very very loving cat.

madget_2

You are obviously a wonderfully kind person. Thank you so much for caring about this elderly blind cat. I help with an animal rescue and see and hear about truly awful things done to animals, so your kindness has really warmed my heart.

We have a blind cat who, whilst not very elderly, is fairly old. She was with us before she went blind, so at least was already familiar with her surroundings.

It sounds as though you are looking after her really well and there have been some good suggestions.

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is to try wherever possible to make sure that there are no sudden loud and unfamilar noises as this can really spook them. When we have tradesmen in the house with drills and hammers, I sit with her and talk to her. After a while, she gets used to the noise and realises that it is not going to affect or hurt her. In fact, I've seen her curled up sound asleep, seeming perfectly happy, during the most awful drilling noises! But only after I've taken the time to reassure her.

If she still plays, then we have found that she can hear rolled up crinkly sweet wrappers (such as Lindt Lindor or, even better, Ferrero Rocher) if you roll them towards her, and she loves to pounce on and pat at them. An old shoe lace or bit of string can be heard as it drags across the floor, and she especially likes it if you run it across her paws. It's amazing just how much they can still enjoy a playtime. Although your blind girl might not feel too much like it if she's very elderly.

We do the lots of smaller meals per day thing too. Our cat has a sensitive digestion and this seems to work perfectly for her. Ideal for elderly cats, blind or not, I'd say.

Seriously, I'm practically in tears because I'm so glad that she came to you. Heaven knows what would have happened to her otherwise.
What a lucky little cat!

CGG

I have only just found this thread, but quite literally, one of my cats came inside this morning with something clearly wrong with one of his eyes. It was glassy, no iris and very dark/cloudy in appearance. I took him to the Vets and apparently his lens has popped out from it's normal place, and he is now blind in this eye.
The Vet said she only dealt with one of these cases once in every five years, whereby she has dealt with on average two dogs per year.
I have no idea how my cat has done this, and yes, I came home and had a few tears for him. I can only hope his other eye doesn't go the same way. For now the Vet is leaving the blind eye in, but will remove it if my cat shows signs of distress or won't allow me to touch that side of his head.

ElusiveLucy

CGG wrote: »

... For now the Vet is leaving the blind eye in, but will remove it if my cat shows signs of distress or won't allow me to touch that side of his head.

Don't be afraid the have the eye removed if it causes any sort of problem/discomfort for your cat. My cat had an infection that got into her brain and left her partially paralysed down one side of her face. This meant she couldn't blink one eye and she got horrible infections in it. The vet removed the eye and now she is happy as Larry. She goes out in the garden and can get up a tree and onto a wall and a garage roof, but that is as far as she goes now. She meows when she wants me to get her back down off the wall, but we are thinking of building her a ramp into the garden. After she had the op the change in her was incredible, she was obviously in a lot of discomfort beforehand and I am glad I made the right decision.

Bearing in mind that in January the specialist told us there was no more could be done for her and we should bring her home and keep her comfortable until it was time to be PTS, we now have a cat that is back to how she used to be, bar the loss of one eye, it has been quite a miracle and I am glad all the months of heartache I went through were worth it.

CGG

Thank you. His blind eye seems to be very wide open, I'm unsure if he is blinking it. It certainly looks very unsightly, so the option of having it removed is looking the way to go. It has been such a shock.