MaryL is sure to respond. It sounds kind of like what they think caused her
beautiful Duffy's blindness. If you haven't seen her posts, you should
google MaryL and Duffy to see him. Blindness does not hold him back one bit.
Bless you for being such a good meowmie.

Karen

Amber, Karen is right. I had to jump in as soon as I noticed that one of
your kittens is blind because I want to reassure you that a blind cat can
have a full and happy life. I adopted Duffy a year ago. The entire surface
of Duffy's eyes is an opaque blue. The effect is a type of glazed color so
that it is not possible to see a pupil or iris. Duffy has a condition known
as "anterior cleavage syndrome." There should be space between the iris and
the cornea. In Duffy's case, the two components are pressed together, and
there is no space between them. This probably happened before birth and
possibly was caused by infection in the mother. Fortunately, Duffy does not
have any infection in his own eyes. Therefore, it was not necessary to
remove his eyes even though he is completely blind and his eyes are smaller
than those of most cats. If I were you, I would seek a second opinion before
having your kitten's eyes removed. Blindness alone (without infection) may
not be a reason to surgically remove the eyes.

Duffy is content and happy. He has brought incredible joy to my life, and he
is a wonderful, playful, happy little guy. You might be interested to know
some of the things I have learned about a blind cat. First, blind cats can
do almost everything that sighted cats can do. Duffy cannot run at full
speed through the house because he might run into something, but that seems
to be his only limitation. He has compensated for that - and gets lots of
exercise - because he is an accomplished climber. He loves to climb, and can
get up and down vertical surfaces with amazing speed. In fact, he does
frequently run through the house if Holly is in front of him. I call her his
"seeing eye cat" because he will follow her at high rates of speed. The two
are hilarious to watch at times. One would think that Holly might pounce on
Duffy in play, but it is usually the reverse. Duffy will stalk and tackle
Holly, the two will roll around together; this will be repeated a couple of
times, and then they will both stretch out for a well-earned rest.

I recommend that you buy a tall and very sturdy cat tree. This provides
"vertical space" for a blind cat and accomplishes the dual functions of
providing play space and exercise. Be sure to get a tree with carpeted poles
(not bare wood) because a blind cat needs to be able to climb up and down
the poles; it will not be able to leap from platform to platform as a
sighted cat can. I also was careful to get one with beds that have a raised
lip all around and not one with open edges. Duffy loves to climb to the very
top and will often sleep there. He will also roll around and play while up
near the ceiling - so I think it is important not to have an open edge where
he could slip off if he wakes up and forgets the height. You can see some
pictures of Duffy on his cat tree if you scroll through some of the pictures
in the second link under my signature. Incidentally, it is very important to
keep a blind cat *indoors* and *not* to declaw it. I oppose declawing in any
cat, but this is particularly important for a blind cat because declawing
would impose a *double* handicap by taking away much of its climbing
ability.

Duffy frequently plays with catnip toys and a little squeak-n-play mouse.
However, his two favorite toys are toys that he can always find because they
are always in one place. You might want to consider the same. First, he
loves his "turbo scratcher." It is a round toy with a corrugated scratcher
in the center. It has a track around the outer edge with a ball permanently
mounted. Duffy will jump back and forth over the toy, tackle the ball, hit
the ball back and forth (using both paws so that he will often change
directions). I bought mine at WalMart, but you can see a picture here
(thanks to Cheryl for posting this site - they have some great prices):
http://store.yahoo.com/worldpets/blitturscrat.html. His other favorite toy
is even cheaper ...it's free. I'm sure we all have noticed how cats like to
play with paper bags and boxes. Duffy created his own toy from a cardboard
box that held some items my sister gave me for Christmas. I noticed that he
would frequently get in the box to play (not just to sleep). There was
another very small empty box inside (a little larger than the size for
lipstick), and he frequently gets in the larger box and bats the smaller one
around. As a result, I now have an empty cardboard box as part of the
permanent decor in my kitchen! As with the turbo scratcher, this gives him a
toy that is always in place and where he can knock the little box around
without losing it. You can see a picture of "Duffy in a box" if you scroll
down to the bottom of the second link under my signature.

Thank you so much for taking care of this little kitten. Please feel free to
e-mail me if I can answer any questions for you. The e-mail attached to this
message is valid except that you need to "take out the litter" to reply.

MaryL
(take out the litter to reply)

Photos of Duffy and Holly:      >'o'<
http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (Introducing Duffy to Holly)
http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in")