Deaf kitten

[smkie]

my house guest for one more week seems to not hear a thing. ANy advice for his new parents on care of a deaf kitten? HE is a very nice little boy, tis sad, i know they will have to be extra careful that he doesn't get out. They lost him once and not even Victor could find him in their house. NOw i know why he didn't come when called. At first i thought it odd he didn't react to the vacuum or any other loud sounds. I tried clapping, or snapping my fingers right behind his head, with no reaction. I was for sure when i got out a training whistle, cupped my hands around it so he wouldn't feel the air and not a whisker moved, nor a twitch of an ear. I don't think he can hear a thing.
My grandaughter found him walking down the road, all of 7 weeks old. WE went door to door in the vacinity without luck. No signs have been put up. A family we knew were very happy to provide a home and have already taken him to the vet. They are on vacation and i agreed to watch for 3 weeks. HE is noisy, i give him that. The broom is his favorite thing to attack, besides me. HE feels like a moth batting against you, he is so careful with his nails. WHite, is always a worry.

 

[milos_mommy]

Definately, definately, do not allow him to be an outdoor cat. Be very careful about him getting outside.

 

[smkie]

Here he has to be crated except for when i lock up the dogs and let him out for excercise. I was thinking too a collar with a bell on it would help his new owners keep track of where he is.

 

[bubbatd]

A bell would be a good idea ....does he react to vibrations ??

 

[Lilavati]

Definately bell him. Since cats tend to slip collars, I'd suggest once he gets out of the kitten stage, getting a small dog collar instead of a cat collar . . . never found a cat collar that would stay on a cat.

Has to be an indoor cat . . .


Other than that, I've known a number of deaf cats, and they seemed perfectly fine. Like deaf people, they learn to compensate. In fact, I can think of at least two deaf cats I've known that you would never have known they were deaf if their owners hadn't told you.

 

[smkie]

Thanks for the input. I Figure i will gather as much info as i can for the new owners.

 

[Pam111]

I had a deaf cat growing up. We had him for many years. He was taught hand signals, so if he could see us, he'd come to us. We never let him outside when we lived in the city, but when I was 9 we moved out somewhere 8 miles away from the town and lived on 4 acres. He was let outside when he wanted to then (I know that's bad, but it wasn't my choice since I lived with my parents). He NEVER left the yard. He ended up dying when I was 17. We got him when I was 7 and he was already an adult cat then.

 

[JennSLK]

My parents cat is deff. And mentaly retarded from malnutritian. Big litter of farm cats she couldnt hear when mom came back. They are loud. They cant hear themselves so they go as loud as they can. She responds well to vibrations

 

[Punkygirl0101]

I currently have a deaf cat, his name is Binx (Black cat). He is indoor only (Actually, he hangs out in my room 24/7). He had many "accidents" when he was kitten. He had accidentally got outside once and wandered off..That was horrible since he couldn't hear me calling him. He will walk around and make this very loud, high pitched meow..he does this ALL day even if someone is in the room with him.

I agree with the above about him being indoors 24/7.


My next door neighbor had a deaf cat. He was outside ALL the time!! I brought him in once thinking they wouldn't care, I had planned on keeping him..I bonded strongly with him. They came over and got mad at me and how dare I bring their cat inside. In May he was hit by a car, and I witnessed the whole thing. The car was coming, night time..he was in the road (I was inside and ran outside as fast I could)...he couldn't hear the car coming and he was hit. The neighbors were not even sad about it. "He should have stayed out of the street"..Stupid people.

 

[smkie]

Mary is quite smitten with the kitten. He is attacking her as i type and she doens't mind a bit. I wish him all the luck for he is a lovely little boy. Maybe i can get pics before he goes home if i can find my rechargable batteries. I am so lame right now in keeping track of things.

 

[cvcraven]

We had a deaf cat growing up named Jazz. He was a great cat! Jazz was completely calm, I guess because he couldn't hear all the noise my little brothers were making.. LOL

 

[smkie]

ANy extra worries in the house they should know?

 

[Sunnierhawk0]

How great is it for the family to welcome him into thier home.. its always a little bit of a extra challenge having a deaf pet.

Def. agree with the bell and collar idea, and I do have to second the cat collars not being worth a darn. Both my cats are gone now, but I had gotten them cat collars and they wouldn't stay on to save my life.

Would be interesting to see a deaf cat trained in hand signals... even non deaf cats are stubborn lol. Good luck smkie

 

[smkie]

THey don't know the kitten is deaf yet, so i am hoping to be able to give them good advise when they return. THank you all for sharing your experiences this helps a great deal. THey have never owned a cat before so this will concern them, at least now i can direct them towards this thread and they will see that Alley can have a full and happy life, thank you. I will in the meantime be checking out links on training and safe guarding. IF you can think of anything else they might need to know please add it to this thread.

 

[Pam111]

Sometimes being deaf is a good thing For example, Cuddles loved to be vacuumed (with the hose), since the noise didn't bother him. Cuts down on shedding Ha

 

[CharlieDog]

How great is it for the family to welcome him into thier home.. its always a little bit of a extra challenge having a deaf pet.

Def. agree with the bell and collar idea, and I do have to second the cat collars not being worth a darn. Both my cats are gone now, but I had gotten them cat collars and they wouldn't stay on to save my life.

Would be interesting to see a deaf cat trained in hand signals... even non deaf cats are stubborn lol. Good luck smkie

I used to keep a small dog (think TINY dog) harness on our cat, with a bell on it. She had gotten deaf as she got older (she died at 19) and stomping on the floor brought her running, because she learned that meant dinner time.

 

[smkie]

I Couldn't find one collar small enough. Sighs. THere was a rally rescue cat collar and a braclet for the human, made the same way as the collar. THe bracelet is small enough but i am afraid to put any collar on a cat or kitten that isn't breakaway. I thought maybe tomorrow Hy and i would start a little training thing where i take the kitten put it down, she stomps her feet and holds out a treat. Worth a try.