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Quality of life for a blind kitty?
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Re: Quality of life for a blind kitty?
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Genv
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Nov 17 08 7:43 PM
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CindyECC, I have a puppy who has been blind all his life. When his blindness was discovered our vet encouraged us to put him down, and told us frankly that he didn't believe a blind puppy could have any kind of happy life. He didn't think he would be able to run around or play or live outside. But... we grew attached, and started making changes to our home and looking at possible treatments (he has huge cataracts in both eyes).
And, even though I respect our vet very much, in this case he was
totally wrong.
Bondi is now a year old, and is in many respects a normal and very happy puppy. He lives in the backyard, he runs around the garden like a mad thing at top speed (he's funny to watch - he runs in these huge bounding leaps, I guess so there's less chance of tripping over something) and he even plays fetch with balls that have bells inside. He follows the sound. He's got the house and garden memorised, in fact he did it within a week of coming home. You'd be astonished by how well they can navigate just off that mental map. Seriously, he gets around so well that visitors can't even tell that something is 'off' with him. He acts almost totally normal.
For sure, there are some adjustments that need to be made. Anything dangerously high needs to be fenced off, and we have little ramps on the stairs. He has trouble interacting with strange dogs (although he gets along fine with my gentle 3yo dog) because he can't read their body language, and obviously he gets nervous when around a lot of noise or a crowd of strange people. Oh, and he's a 'talker' - he likes to know where you are, and he likes to tell you where he is.
A cat would be a little more difficult than a dog, I'd guess... but it can certainly be done, and I think it's worth it
ETA: I'd think the kitten would definitely need to be at least indoor/outdoor. I've never had a cat run, but mightn't a blind animal be safe in there, if it were outdoors for some of the day?
Last Edited By:
Genv
Nov 17 08 7:45 PM. Edited 1 times.
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