Living with a blind cat

[piston]

Perhaps some of you will remember that this Maine household used to include three cats (all sisters), one big wolf-dog (Husky), and humans. The sisters lost one of their siblings three years ago and they're bravely facing feline realities over twenty years of age. My favorite, "Babe," lost all vision several months ago, which I attribute to a stroke (the local Vet was absolutely useless in providing an explanation but did charge me for letting Babe walk over his clinic floor!). So, we, human members of this household, have had an ongoing discussion about what to do with Babe. Is a cat's life over when it becomes so dependent that I have to take her over to her food plate, so she can feed? Or is a cat's life still worth living if the cat enjoys that food and will even purr when I take her in my arms? I am holding to the "purr" principle: so long as Babe purrs and enjoys her food, she's not going to be "put away." But it's totally contradictory to speak of a completely dependent cat, isn't it?

[Agnes Selby]

Babe enjoys her life and loves you. Please keep that love going and
give her a hug from me.

Cat lover.
Agnes.

[piston]

Babe is still with us. A boring life for her, to be sure, but now that winter is well behind us, I can take her outside, on the lawn, and she just sits there, listening to birds and smelling. Interestingly, the dog is aware of her condition, aware that she can't see. His behavior is odd at times, such as barking at her, quite forcefully, when she drifts out of her room. Outside, he comes to her and gives her a big wet tongue kiss (which she don't especially like).

When hungry, she locates her bowl and plants her front paws right in the middle of it and meows for food. Same with her water bowl when it's dry. But, essentially, it's a life of eating, laying down on the floor, hopefully, dreaming, and a daily "walk" outside where the smells and sounds of the neighborhood keep her attention for a while.

[Agnes Selby]

I love hearing about Babe. How lovely about your dog sensing Babe's problem and
giving her a kiss. My daughter's cat, Mushi is blind in one eye. He no longer gets
into fights and spends most of his time lying in Nick's or Anna's bed. (my grandkids).
He is a black cat with one shiny eye. He is gorgeous.

[piston]

We grow and age together, with all that is implied in over twenty years of such a shared life. Babe is helping me realize my all too slow understanding of the meaning of aging. Cats and dogs are not supposed to have any memory or so I am told. It makes no sense to reprimand a dog for repeating the same misdeed time and time again, they say, because a dog doesn't remember. Perhaps. But I can assure you that Molsom is closely observing Babe, whining at times when he watches her for reasons I could not easily explain. What does he see? What is he learning from her condition? Who knows!

[lennygoran]

Lovely story-last week while visiting private gardens in westchester county we came across this delightful cat-he followed us around for a long time. Len

[Agnes Selby]

Lovely story-last week while visiting private gardens in westchester county we came across this delightful cat-he followed us around for a long time. Len

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Lenny, I have never seen a cat with such a tail. Does anyone know what breed this is?

Regards, Agnes.

[lennygoran]

Agnes just don`t know-there was no one to ask-then there was the fellow above! Len

[Agnes Selby]

Agnes just don`t know-there was no one to ask-then there was the fellow above! Len

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Well, he is having a laugh, so he must know something....

[lennygoran]

Well, he is having a laugh, so he must know something....

Agnes Regards, Len

[John F]

Lenny, I have never seen a cat with such a tail. Does anyone know what breed this is?

It might be a ragdoll, a relatively new breed. My parents had two of them, big friendly cats with a thick coat.

http://www.cfainc.org/Breeds/BreedsKthruR/Ragdoll.aspx

[lennygoran]

It might be a ragdoll, a relatively new breed. My parents had two of them, big friendly cats with a thick coat.

I wish I knew more about cats-your url seemed to indicate these cats should be kept indoors-did I get that right? The cat sure was friendly and followed us around for some time-took a real liking to Sue!
I found my notes on the garden-open days no longer publishes its book with all the private garden listings for the year --anyway there is a blog and I sent this out to who I think is the owner-maybe I'll get an answer?

"I hope I'm sending this to the right person-through open days we visited your garden a few weeks ago-we would love to know what type of cat greeted us so nicely-thanks for opening your garden-we loved it! Can't figure out how to send a photo on your blog"

Regards, Len

[John F]

That's what it says, but it doesn't say why. Another site says, "Keep him indoors to protect him from cars, diseases spread by other cats and attacks from other animals." My parents stayed in their apartment most of the time at that stage of their lives so it wasn't an issue.

[lennygoran]

We have cats entering our garden pretty frequently--they come uninvited and hI do hope they keep the chipmunks and mice in check--they do no weeding at all-at least they're better than the destructive woodchucks. Regards, Len

[Agnes Selby]

Thank you John F. I have never seen such a cat.

Regards,
Agnes.