I rescued my first blind kitty in the summer of 2016, when I was a manager at the country’s first and largest neonatal kitten nursery. She was about 7 weeks old, emaciated, had a severe URI that caused both of her eyes to ulcerate, and was riddled with worms -- her prognosis was grim. But with lots of TLC, she soon recovered. Her name was Boozy and she was and is ridiculously cute and sassy. I couldn’t resist her charms and ended up adopting her. Little did I know that rescuing Boozy would set me down a path I never could’ve imagined...
A few months after my glorious blind chonk Boozy became mine officially, I sent out an email to all the animal shelters in Texas asking them to contact me immediately if they got any blind kitties in as I knew most shelters would euthanize blind cats on the spot. I was a woman obsessed.
Not even two months later, I got an email from an animal shelter in Houston saying that they had gotten this ridiculous orange blind guy in and he needed a home ASAP... I saw this picture and the next day, we jumped in the car and made the drive to go pick him up. We met his rescuer in the parking lot of a restaurant and this boy let me hold him right away, not scared of the constant traffic whizzing by. He was so calm and brave. We brought Boozy along to keep him company on the drive home, and he immediately settled down to lay beside her, and Boozy took to him automatically and started grooming him.
Over the course of the next few years, my partner and I became involved with various animal rescue organizations. I eventually became known as the “blind cat lady”, so I was contacted all the time about blind kitties who needed rescuing. That resulted in us adding three more blindies (that’s what we call them!) to our family.
Bacchus was our third guy who I brought home to foster from Austin Pets Alive’s neonatal nursery, where I worked as a manager at the time. He came to us when he was about a week old -- we bottle fed him and his two brothers, so they bonded with us like crazy. Bacchus was born with bilateral eyelid agensis, and his correction surgery didn’t take, so he had to have a bilateral enucleation about a year later. He’s a goofy, mischievous boy who loves to pick on our girl cats, despite his blindness. He’s also an expert bug killer! His favorite pastime is chasing balled-up receipts around the house.
A few months after Bacchus came to join us, I got a call from the same shelter Hawking came from about a blind tortie who had been surrendered by her owner. She was surrendered along with another “normal”cat, who was adopted out, and now this girl was slated for euthanasia. This story broke my heart, so we got in the car and made the drive to Houston. We picked this super friendly girl up and she meowed and cuddled with us the whole drive back. We decided to name her Tupac because I love Tupac and we listened to him the whole drive home, much to my partner’s dismay! Turns out, Tupac is not a fan of other cats, so she stays in our bedroom. She’s the sassiest, sweetest, most bi-polar cat I’ve ever met. She loves to give face licks and cuddle constantly.
And last but not least, the baby of our family, Blind Guy McSqueezy! I found out about Squeezy through a local cat cafe and got in touch with his rescuer. I offered to foster him and his three brothers, who were about 5 weeks old at the time, and all very, very sick. They had come from a hoarding situation and two of his littermates had already died. :( Squeezy was the sickest of the group, they all had horrible URIs and liquid diarrhea. I took him to the vet, who ran some tests and found that Squeeze was FIV+ and had panleukopenia, which is often a death sentence for a kitten this age. The vet advised that I euthanize him, but I refused. I had a ton of experience caring for kittens with panleukopenia and felt confident I could save him. Turns out, not only Squeezy had panleuk, but the 9 other kittens we were fostering had it as well. I managed to save them all, but it wasn’t easy.
Our blind kitties are the most precious things in the world to us and we want to help spread the word about what amazing companions they are. I can’t explain how, but having a blind cat is different than having a regular cat -- they bond so close with their humans. They’re more tactile and love nuzzling your face and cuddling up right next to you. They also don’t need any special care whatsoever -- they get around almost as well as “normal” cats. If you’re thinking of adding a blind cat to your family, or have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us. We are obsessed with our blind wonks!
Update as of 1 December 2019: Unfortunately, our perfect boy Hawking passed away on 28 November 2019 at 10:45 pm CST from an arterial thromboembolism. It was sudden and unexpected. No one really knows what causes these types of events, but he passed in the arms of both of his moms, and he knew love until his very last breath.
In Hawking’s honor, we will keep this page alive in an effort to bring awareness to how amazing special needs cats are.
I’m also a veterinary medicine nerd, so from time to time, I will post papers I’ve written or research I’ve done on how to treat illnesses in felines, especially in neonates. I welcome anyone and everyone to share my findings and critique them!
