Suggestions for helping a blind kitten adapt to a new household?
November 14, 2015 8:59 PM Subscribe
So tomorrow we will be bringing home our new kitten Matthew Meowdock. This will be my first ever kitten, and I'm trying to make sure he integrates into our household (including our existing dog and cat) reasonably easily. Difficulty: Matthew is completely blind. If you have or have had a blind cat, what do you wish you'd known at first?
We have a little corner in the bedroom blocked off for him with a little litter box that he'll be able to use and his water and food dishes, where he can relax for his first week or two with us. I have a handful of toys for him, most of which rattle or jingle or crunch, plus a couple of things that have interesting textures for him to grab onto like a little fur mouse. He's also got a soft bed with a little warmable stuffed animal full of rice in it to snuggle up to if he wants. We're hoping to be able to help him figure out what goes where by dabbing essential oils in different hallways of the house eventually.
Currently both of our main two litter boxes are top-entry boxes of the "hole cut out of the lid of a Sterilite bin" style, and we're pretty sure those will be hard for him as-is, so the game plan is to cut a side-access entrance for him when he's ready to venture out of his corner. We're in a 750 square foot apartment and it'll just be him and Peter in terms of cats, so we're hoping to not have to try and find a place for a third litter box any time soon.
Anything I'm missing that will help him transition into our new home? This is my first baby animal since approximately 1999, so I'm alternately really excited and a little bit terrified.
We have a little corner in the bedroom blocked off for him with a little litter box that he'll be able to use and his water and food dishes, where he can relax for his first week or two with us. I have a handful of toys for him, most of which rattle or jingle or crunch, plus a couple of things that have interesting textures for him to grab onto like a little fur mouse. He's also got a soft bed with a little warmable stuffed animal full of rice in it to snuggle up to if he wants. We're hoping to be able to help him figure out what goes where by dabbing essential oils in different hallways of the house eventually.
Currently both of our main two litter boxes are top-entry boxes of the "hole cut out of the lid of a Sterilite bin" style, and we're pretty sure those will be hard for him as-is, so the game plan is to cut a side-access entrance for him when he's ready to venture out of his corner. We're in a 750 square foot apartment and it'll just be him and Peter in terms of cats, so we're hoping to not have to try and find a place for a third litter box any time soon.
Anything I'm missing that will help him transition into our new home? This is my first baby animal since approximately 1999, so I'm alternately really excited and a little bit terrified.
Best answer: Look at that kitten, oh my goodness!
A friend of mine is a kitten foster parent who does some of the more long term difficult cases and has had a few blind and partially sighted young cats to care for over the years. I agree with Jubey that you will probably be surprised at how much of a non-issue it will be, but there are a few things that my friend does that especially help their blind kittens.
Sometimes kittens will get their whiskers chewed off (by other kittens in the litter, overzealous mom, accidents, whatever) and this isn't a big deal because they grow back but a blind kitten will be using whiskers to determine collision distance and things so keep an eye on the whiskers, and expect lots of bumped heads if they are looking stubbly. Nothing you can do about it other than being extra vigilant as the whiskers grow back, of course.
The other thing is something my friend did for all the cats that come under their care. They got carpet tiles, the kind with vinyl backing that you can cut with a utility knife, and have placed them on surfaces around their home, particularly in the kitten room, in spots where cats jump up and climb. They also have some stuck to vertical surfaces as a sort of pathway and climb-assist. So it'll be like, strip of carpet tile on floor in front of cabinet, strip of carpet on cabinet door, landing pad of carpet on top of cabinet, another square of it on the shelf beside the cabinet, etc. This does a few things. The porous surface of the carpet soaks up scent so cats can more easily "claim" the space, and being a relatively quick and inexpensive diy project the carpet tiles can be thrown out and replaced if needed, unlike big irreplaceable cat furniture. And the backing of the tiles is grippy while the carpet is claw-friendly, so cats can be more confident when jumping up to, down onto, and away from pieces of it. This helps kittens learning to climb and jump, arthritic cats prone to slipping who still want to be up high, and blind cats who can use the different textures as identifiers for spots where it is safe to chill and locations that never change.
The last thing is just being consistent with doors. Cats use most of their other senses more than sight to get around, but a rambunctious kitten is going to run headlong through doorways that are normally open. A fully sighted cat will gallop into a closed door sometimes, too, but a blind kitten will do it more, and then be more upset about it. So my friend has a few doors that you ALWAYS close (bathrooms, kitten room, bedroom, front door) and a few that you ALWAYS keep open. It is all part of the kitten foster parent consistency thing, but evidently started after their first blind kitten who was also an escape artist.
posted by Mizu at 10:08 PM on November 14, 2015 [9 favorites]
A friend of mine is a kitten foster parent who does some of the more long term difficult cases and has had a few blind and partially sighted young cats to care for over the years. I agree with Jubey that you will probably be surprised at how much of a non-issue it will be, but there are a few things that my friend does that especially help their blind kittens.
Sometimes kittens will get their whiskers chewed off (by other kittens in the litter, overzealous mom, accidents, whatever) and this isn't a big deal because they grow back but a blind kitten will be using whiskers to determine collision distance and things so keep an eye on the whiskers, and expect lots of bumped heads if they are looking stubbly. Nothing you can do about it other than being extra vigilant as the whiskers grow back, of course.
The other thing is something my friend did for all the cats that come under their care. They got carpet tiles, the kind with vinyl backing that you can cut with a utility knife, and have placed them on surfaces around their home, particularly in the kitten room, in spots where cats jump up and climb. They also have some stuck to vertical surfaces as a sort of pathway and climb-assist. So it'll be like, strip of carpet tile on floor in front of cabinet, strip of carpet on cabinet door, landing pad of carpet on top of cabinet, another square of it on the shelf beside the cabinet, etc. This does a few things. The porous surface of the carpet soaks up scent so cats can more easily "claim" the space, and being a relatively quick and inexpensive diy project the carpet tiles can be thrown out and replaced if needed, unlike big irreplaceable cat furniture. And the backing of the tiles is grippy while the carpet is claw-friendly, so cats can be more confident when jumping up to, down onto, and away from pieces of it. This helps kittens learning to climb and jump, arthritic cats prone to slipping who still want to be up high, and blind cats who can use the different textures as identifiers for spots where it is safe to chill and locations that never change.
The last thing is just being consistent with doors. Cats use most of their other senses more than sight to get around, but a rambunctious kitten is going to run headlong through doorways that are normally open. A fully sighted cat will gallop into a closed door sometimes, too, but a blind kitten will do it more, and then be more upset about it. So my friend has a few doors that you ALWAYS close (bathrooms, kitten room, bedroom, front door) and a few that you ALWAYS keep open. It is all part of the kitten foster parent consistency thing, but evidently started after their first blind kitten who was also an escape artist.
posted by Mizu at 10:08 PM on November 14, 2015 [9 favorites]
Aw, little kitten.
This isn't blind-kitty advice per se, but: our (sighted) foster kittens spent their first two weeks in quarantine, first in the bathtub and then in the bathroom and then in the bathroom+hallway, before being allowed out into the entire apartment. They did find each of those steps a little "wow this is big and new" overwhelming at first: a lot of hesitant sniffy exploration before they felt confident in the space. Probably the same for your guy: expand his world gradually and with a familiar space to retreat to if he needs.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:44 PM on November 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
This isn't blind-kitty advice per se, but: our (sighted) foster kittens spent their first two weeks in quarantine, first in the bathtub and then in the bathroom and then in the bathroom+hallway, before being allowed out into the entire apartment. They did find each of those steps a little "wow this is big and new" overwhelming at first: a lot of hesitant sniffy exploration before they felt confident in the space. Probably the same for your guy: expand his world gradually and with a familiar space to retreat to if he needs.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:44 PM on November 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
Not sure how relevant this is, because our cat was sighted until the last five years of his long life, so he knew the layout of the house and yard before blindness set in.
That said, he seemed untroubled. About the only visible change was that he developed a tap-tap-step walk to get advance warning of stairs and obstacles. But he still wanted to go outside, and did just fine, except he stayed in the yard instead of prowling the neighborhood, mostly sunning himself on the deck. (He even once managed to kill a chipmunk; we imagine it ran across his open jaw and he just bit down.)
He totally held his own with the dogs when they teased him. Zero trouble with eating and the litter box. He also had no trouble finding one of us when he wanted some lap time.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:37 AM on November 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
That said, he seemed untroubled. About the only visible change was that he developed a tap-tap-step walk to get advance warning of stairs and obstacles. But he still wanted to go outside, and did just fine, except he stayed in the yard instead of prowling the neighborhood, mostly sunning himself on the deck. (He even once managed to kill a chipmunk; we imagine it ran across his open jaw and he just bit down.)
He totally held his own with the dogs when they teased him. Zero trouble with eating and the litter box. He also had no trouble finding one of us when he wanted some lap time.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:37 AM on November 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
We're hoping to be able to help him figure out what goes where by dabbing essential oils in different hallways of the house eventually.
Aren't essential oils poisonous if ingested? I wouldn't risk putting them where it could be licked. And, I can't imagine it being necessary - your house is no doubt already full of scent markings by the other cat (the ones they release by rubbing their face on things, I mean, not pee-marking), the kitten is going to smell those and add his own, and he'll be able to find the food and litter boxes by smell.
I agree with everyone else that he'll probably be fine with the blindness as long as there's consistency with doors & furniture/clutter. And I think he'll be ready to explore the apartment within the first day, and if he's coming from being raised with other kittens he's not going to want to be alone. I would focus on making sure the introductions between the kitten and your existing animals goes well, since he's going to be at a disadvantage in defending himself/hiding at first. Feed them on opposite sides of a door, so one of you can watch each cat to see how they react to the other's presence. Put a towel in the kitten's bed and one wherever your existing cat likes to nest, then switch the towels the next day. And use Feliway diffusers.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:01 AM on November 15, 2015 [3 favorites]
Aren't essential oils poisonous if ingested? I wouldn't risk putting them where it could be licked. And, I can't imagine it being necessary - your house is no doubt already full of scent markings by the other cat (the ones they release by rubbing their face on things, I mean, not pee-marking), the kitten is going to smell those and add his own, and he'll be able to find the food and litter boxes by smell.
I agree with everyone else that he'll probably be fine with the blindness as long as there's consistency with doors & furniture/clutter. And I think he'll be ready to explore the apartment within the first day, and if he's coming from being raised with other kittens he's not going to want to be alone. I would focus on making sure the introductions between the kitten and your existing animals goes well, since he's going to be at a disadvantage in defending himself/hiding at first. Feed them on opposite sides of a door, so one of you can watch each cat to see how they react to the other's presence. Put a towel in the kitten's bed and one wherever your existing cat likes to nest, then switch the towels the next day. And use Feliway diffusers.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:01 AM on November 15, 2015 [3 favorites]
oh man! what a kind thing to do. thank you! Just keep it safe and away from trouble. Essential oils ain't all that pretty as they are very concentrated.
posted by stepup at 4:58 PM on November 15, 2015
posted by stepup at 4:58 PM on November 15, 2015
Just quickly agreeing with stepup about the essential oils: This article, for example, says, "essential oils can be toxic to cats, whether taken internally, applied to the skin, or simply inhaled. The liver is most often the organ which is affected by essential oils. Cats' livers are simply not the same as humans' livers, and they lack the ability to properly metabolize the various compounds in essential oils."
Congratulations on your new little fuzzbutt!
posted by taz at 4:23 AM on November 16, 2015
Congratulations on your new little fuzzbutt!
posted by taz at 4:23 AM on November 16, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
It's worth mentioning that this cat was a feral street kitty we picked up in Singapore and brought back to Australia so he was made of tough stuff but according to the vet, most cats adapt very well to being blind, it is nowhere near the disability we imagine it to be. Sadly, when I split with my boyfriend, he kept the cat but as far as I know, he's still going strong thirteen years later and the only issues he's had have been cataracts.
It's good that you're thinking about how best to manage this, but honestly, your cat will most likely be just fine and you'll probably forget that he can't see, it'll be such a non issue. Obviously, get him used to new environments slowly and be aware that while he may have confidence in a place he knows, he'll be totally lost in a place he doesn't. My cat seemed to use scent trails to find his way back to familiar territory when lost and I imagine yours will too. Best of luck and it's a great thing you're doing. My cat totally changed the way I viewed disability, it was a real learning experience - he was more capable and competent than most sighted cats.
posted by Jubey at 9:36 PM on November 14, 2015 [5 favorites]