No, Duffy doesn't have any sight at all.  He gets along so well that I took
him to an ophthalmologist at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine when I
first adopted him.  I thought he might have some limited vision and wanted
to see if there was anything I could do to preserve his sight.  There, I
learned that he has been blind since birth -- in fact, the problem probably
occurred in utero and may have been caused by an infection in the mother.
His condition was described as "anterior cleavage syndrome."

You're right, he really is an inspiration.  And, I have had some of the same
concerns as you expressed.  He loves to climb and will dangle over the edges
of high places with no fear at all.  As a result, I have done everything I
can to make the "heights" safer for him.  For example, I bought cat trees
with raised edges ("lips") on all the beds so he would have something to
grab and  would not simply tumble over the edge.  If you look at the
pictures of him in the computer room, you can see that I had a carpeted pole
built so he climb up.  Previous to that, he would climb up the shelves, and
I was terrified that he would slip and hit his head on the edge of the
computer.  I had another carpeted pole added to the front edge of the *top*
of the computer hutch.  Again, that was to give him something to hold
because he would lean out over the edge (just as you see in some pictures)
even when there was no carpeted ledge, but the polished wood would not have
given him anything to hold for balance if he started to fall.  He truly is a
little gymnast, though -- he is fearless and gets enormous pleasure out of
what I call his "vertical space."  That compensates for the fact that he
can't simply go dashing through the house like Holly can (although, even
there, he will run if Holly is in front of him -- so she becomes his "seeing
eye cat").

Thanks for taking the time to look at the photos and comment.  How are you
feeling now?  You have had a great many well-wishers on this group.

MaryL

Thanks!  Yes, you're right, I do need more captions.  I'm not very creative
with them, so it takes me awhile to get to that part.

MaryL