# Care tips for a deaf rescue cat?



## PARIS&TROY (Jan 28, 2009)

Any one got any help and advice on looking after a deaf cat?


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## turkeylad (Mar 1, 2009)

This is Polar he is a street cat Turkish Van cat he is copletely deaf and partially sighted. He lives with 4 dogs and 5 other cats and as far as he is concerned does not like to treated any differently than any other members of the pack. &#304;n fact he is probably the biggest bully with the dogs.


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## Biawhiska (Mar 28, 2008)

ahhhh he is so cute!


tips, keep him indoors. deaf cats get good at using their other senses.


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## PARIS&TROY (Jan 28, 2009)

Thanks guys.

I'm keeping him in the house, luckly we have a 3 storey house so he will have 3 bedrooms and a living room and depending on how he gets on with the dogs there will be the ground floor as well. 

I was asking more about getting his attention and playing? Feeding time and showing the litter tray? Is it all picking him up and putting him there, just while he's settling in?


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## turkeylad (Mar 1, 2009)

My boy survives both inside and outside but mealtimes are so routined that he has his place to eat and is sat there waiting. onething we have to be very careful about is approaching him when sleeping until he learnt that his bed was a safe space had to make sure approach him face to face rather than behind because he would startle easily. we would always touch his face gently and i know hes deaf but i still talk to him. With my boy routine is the big issue.


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## PARIS&TROY (Jan 28, 2009)

Wow he goes out? Deaf and has sign problems? 
Is that because you live somewhere supersafe? 
So a lot routine and repetition? 
Do you feed the dogs and the cats all at the same time? 
I have a routine with the dogs do I try to include the cats the same, try to train them as well? 

THANKS FOR HELPING! :thumbup1:


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## shell195 (Feb 10, 2009)

Ive got a deaf white boy called Boo. He belonged to an elderly lady(bought as a companion by her carer) but he kept tripping her up. Our Sanctuary took him in but found it hard to find an indoor home for such an active cat. He now lives with me and my other cats as I have a catproof garden.
I find once you can get his attention he will come to sign language. Bang the floor to get his attention as they feel the vibrations. I still talk to my boy too
Heres a photo of my BOO


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## ChinaBlue (Feb 3, 2008)

My friend has a deaf cat - her name is Sky but she is known as Wendy (go figure!). She is a sweetheart and they have taught her to come to sign language and by banging on the floor. They are amazing.

Your Boo is lovely.


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## PARIS&TROY (Jan 28, 2009)

I have started to do kind of sign language and tapping! He's dying to go outside! 

So thinking about a harness and lead so he can walk round the back garden? Anyone walk a cat on a lead?

Also had anyone any tips on keeping a cat in a garden?
Seen a neighbors fences with little plastic spikes along the top to keep the cats out? Seen it in one of them free catalogues you get out of magazines? Properly designed for the job and not cruel to the cats?


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## shell195 (Feb 10, 2009)

PARIS&TROY said:


> I have started to do kind of sign language and tapping! He's dying to go outside!
> 
> So thinking about a harness and lead so he can walk round the back garden? Anyone walk a cat on a lead?
> 
> ...


My garden is catproofed. You put up 3ft angle irons at intervals along the top of the fence then attach wire netting (45 degree angle) so its leaning inwards. The cat climbs up but meets the wire and cant get out. Ive got 16 cats that are confined in this way I just make the garden very interesting for them with 8ft poles with rope wrapped round them, a wildlife pond and an outdoor cat scratcher plus 2 apple trees. None of these must be near the fence or they will use them to escape


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## whitecatlover (Apr 6, 2009)

I've had Frankie since he was 18 months and he is now 8. He's a pure white male (yellow eyes) and deaf from birth. Strictly an inside cat. In the last two years he has increasingly been yowling, like he is in pain. He sometimes does this just before he gets playful and starts running around. He has recently taken to yowling at around 2 or 3:00 in the morning. He is not in pain. And he knows where I am and where his sister is (sometimes were in the same room with him). I have assumed that it's because he can't modulate the tone of his meowing, he can't hear it and know that you use a certain kind of meow for certain reasons. But I am puzzled by this behavior starting after I've had him for five years. It did start happening after I moved from a condo to a larger townhome (not much larger), and I thought the initial yowling was to get used to the new place. Well, it's gotten worse and we've been here for two years. 

I use finger wagging and a very stern look on my face to communicate with him when I'm not happy with his behavior. Usually works. If this yowling gets worse as he gets older, not sure what I'm going to do.


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## PARIS&TROY (Jan 28, 2009)

Sounds like a nightmare!
Have you spoken to a vet?


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