It all started when I was working as the Neonatal Foster Manager at a rescue called Austin Pets Alive! I worked in a special kitten nursery for the largest no-kill organization in the country and I loved every second of it. We took in a bit over 2000 kittens per year and I got to see every one of them, from the teeny newborns to the emaciated, broken 6-week-olds.
One day in the middle of the summer (or as we rescues know it, “kitten season”), I got a text that a critical kitten needed to be transferred to the nursery from our city shelter. Since no one else was available, I jumped in the car to go grab her. This is what I was handed.
I thought, “wow, no way this one is going to make it”. She was emaciated, barely breathing, covered in fleas, and had two ruptured eyeballs. I had only worked at the nursery for about 2 months at the time, and this was the worst-off kitten I’d seen so far. Intake was crowded so this kitten had to wait in line to have her work up done. In the meantime, I thought I’d get her some food and water, as she seemed to need it urgently. To my surprise, she started chowing down. I knew then that I had to take her home to “foster” her. I had some other fosters about her age and I thought she’d fit in great.
Turns out, she did fit in great! She loved her new kitten friends and romped around our kitten room like a champ. But, she was very, very sick. She was extremely dehydrated from nonstop diarrhea -- we’re talking the food goes in and comes right back out the other end a few seconds later. She couldn’t hold anything down. We put her on a slew of meds to deal with her infections, as well as sub-Q fluids for dehydration, and an appetite stimulant. It was our hail mary of kitten meds combo. The first few days were rough. Boozy faded on me a few times -- meaning she essentially tried to die. Anyone who fosters young kittens is familiar with this sad process. Luckily, I managed to revive her each time, and with round the clock care (literally), she finally began to gain weight and have solid poops!
After a week or so, Boozy finally started getting that kitten belly that looked like she swallowed a tennis ball! She quickly became a little chunk and I grew to love her spunky, quirky personality more and more each day. We decided to adopt her. Once you’ve been through hell and back with a kitten, it’s almost impossible to let them go. We adopted her along with her little companion, Slurpee.
As Boozy grew and learned her way around our home, we began to realize that having a blind cat was just like having any other cat. She didn’t need any special care. She knew where her food was, she knew where her litter box was, and she knew where the water fountain was. She played with toys like a normal cat and played with our other cats like a normal cat. “Special needs” -- I don’t think so!
After Boozy came into my life, I became obsessed with helping blind cats. Boozy was unlike any cat I’d ever had -- she bonded so strongly with me, constantly wanting to be near me and crying when she couldn’t hear my voice. I told everyone I met (and still do), that blind cats are the most amazing creatures in the world. Yet unfortunately, they are routinely euthanized at shelters across the US.
A few months after we officially adopted Boozy, I reached out to some county shelters within a 200 mile radius around me, asking them to email me if they got in any blind cats or kittens, as I would be willing to take them. About 2 weeks later, I go an email with a picture of this little dude.
He was supposedly “found in a field” and brought to an animal shelter in Houston, where he was automatically put on the euthanasia list. We got in touch with the lady who saved him on the day she emailed, and went to pick him up a couple days later.
We met with the woman who saved his life in Brenham, TX, and he rode back to Austin snuggled up with Boozy, who happily accepted him as a friend. All we did was put the new baby down in the bed next to Boozy in the car, and Booze automatically took to him and starting grooming him and telling him everything was going to be OK.
We decided to name him Hawking, because he had a big ol’ head (which meant he had a big brain!) and a disability, much like his namesake, Stephen Hawking. Hawking struggled to adjust a bit at first, and we quickly realized that he was not only blind, but also had some mental disabilities. He would frequently get “stuck” on ledges in our home that weren’t more than 5 inches off the ground. He just didn’t get it, but that was OK because he was the sweetest, cutest, most adorable cat ever.
A few months later, we were contacted by the same woman who had helped our Hawking out about a blind cat in desperate need at a Houston shelter. She had been brought in with another “normal” cat, who had since been adopted, and now this blind cat was on the euthanasia list by no fault of her own. We made the trip to Houston and rescued this tortie girl just in time.
We named her Tupac, as Tupac is my favorite hip-hop artist and we listened to Tupac the whole drive back from Houston. She is now a super sassy, super loving, crazy tortie who will lick you or bite you at the same time. Her moods are unpredictable, but she is the funniest cat we’ve ever had -- she makes me laugh more than anything on a daily basis. She’s probably bi-polar, and she hates almost all of our other cats, but I can’t imagine my life without her constant silliness.
Our next blind cat was Bacchus. My partner, Nikki, wanted a blind female companion, as she saw the relationship that Boozy and I had and wanted to have something like that for herself. On the last day APA’s nursery was open for the season, three ~2-week-old kittens came in, two orange and one black. The black kitten looked like it had some serious eyeball issues, so I snatched her up, brought her home, and surprised my partner with her!
We took her on as a singleton bottle baby and she was the best little eater and a true fighter. She was diagnosed with bilateral eyelid agenesis when she was a few weeks old, meaning that her eyelashes faced inward, scratching the surface of her corneas constantly and causing great discomfort. She would need corrective surgery when she was old enough.
She grew big and strong, and finally she was ready to be spayed and have her eyelid surgery. We went to pick her up from the APA clinic and we were told that her neuter had gone successfully. “Neuter?” we asked. Turns out, Bacchus was a male with cryptochidism -- meaning both of his testicles were retained inside his body! Our little girl was a boy! Not that it mattered, but there was a name change from Banshee to Bacchus.
Unfortunately, Bacchus’s correction surgery for his eyelid agenesis did not take, as is often the case with these kitties, and he had to have both eyes enucleated (taken out) when he was almost a year old. Because his vision slowly got worse as he was with us, Bacchus had no problem adjusting to being blind and is currently one of the biggest trouble-makers in our home!
Our last and latest blind kitty came to us very randomly. I was perusing Facebook as usual one summer morning, and came across an ad from a cat cafe here in Austin. The ad was requesting help and fosters for some kittens who were recently rescued from a hoarding situation. All of the kittens had eye issues and all of them were extremely ill. With my experience caring for neonatal kittens and my love for blind cats, I reached out and offered to help. I was contacted that day by Rachel, the person who had rescued the kittens, and after we emailed back and forth for a bit, she agreed to let me take over fostering the four kittens who had survived the situation (two had passed unfortunately).
Rachel delivered the tiny 4-5 week old kittens to my house and I immediately took steps to give them the best care they could possibly get. All of their eyes were closed, filled with gunk and boogers, and they were all emaciated, and in terrible condition. The worst off was a kitten who had two ruptured eyeballs -- I was told he had already “faded” or in laymen’s terms, tried to die, about 3 times, and it wasn’t likely he would make it. Challenge accepted, I thought.
I named him Blind Guy McSqueezy, after a pretty obscure reference from my favorite show, The Office. He had three brothers with him, all with varying degrees of eyeball issues. One had one ruptured eye, the other had one cloudy eye, and the last had very little eyeball discharge. Squeezy was by far the worst off. After a couple days of caring for him, I noticed that he was having vomiting in conjunction with diarrhea -- symptoms that I knew were indicative of panleukopenia, which is an extremely deadly virus for kittens. I rushed him to the emergency vet that day.
Just as I suspected, after his initial workup, the vet came into the exam room with that look on his face that indicated there was no hope. He told me that Squeezy had tested positive for panleukopenia and also had FIV (an autoimmune virus), and that given his condition, he didn’t think there was much we could do... I stopped him right there and said, “I’m not euthanizing this kitten -- that is not an option”. He looked at me as if I was crazy and said that he didn’t have any other recommendations. I asked him to give me an anti-nausea medication, a dual-spectrum antibiotic, and an appetite stimulant, as luckily from my experience at APA’s neonatal nursery, I knew what I was dealing with. He obliged and gave me what I asked for, but emphasized there was very little hope.
I took Squeezy home and began round the clock treatment. I force fed him every two hours, I loved on him, and talked to him, letting him know that if he fought I would fight with him. About a week later, after many sleepless nights and scary moments, he turned into a new kitten. Bright, alert, and so happy to be alive. He began playing with his littermates and eating a ton!
Squeeze quickly blossomed into the most affectionate, grateful kitten I had ever fostered (and I had fostered over 300 by this time), and I just knew I wasn’t going to be able to let him go. He officially became my boy a couple months later. All of his brothers were adopted out to amazing homes as well. One of them lost one eye, the other has a permanent blue cloudy eye, and the last had no eyeball issues.
Squeezy quickly became my constant companion. I took him everywhere, from grocery shopping to visits with relatives. He ate it all up -- new situations didn’t scare him, instead, he loved them!
He also kind of organically became the mascot for our rescue, Fuzzy Texan Animal Rescue, as he attended all of our events at pet stores and quickly developed a reputation for being the “chillest”, “calmest”, “sweetest” cat in town. Everyone who met him fell in love with him. At almost every event we went to, someone would ask us if he was drugged! We replied no, that he wasn’t drugged; he was just happy to take in everything life had to offer.
Squeeze got the chance to meet animals of all shapes and sizes at the adoption events we went to, from mice to ferrets, and from birds to large dogs. He took it all in stride, always extending his little nose for a sniff of a new friend. Nothing scared him, no one bothered him -- he was and is the most patient cat who has ever graced this earth. :) Everyone who meets him never forgets him, and he has human and animal friends all over town.
So, why blind cats? Because of the stories above. Because blind cats love their humans on a different level -- it’s almost like they know we saved them and they are forever grateful for that. They also surprise you everyday with what they can do. They have no “special needs”, except for an indoor home with people who have plenty of love to give. They can find their way around if you move your furniture, if you move to a new place, if you have a new baby, etc -- their disability does not define them in the least. They’re incredible, resilient fighters whose love makes you feel like you’re the best person in the entire world.
Give a blind cat a home and I PROMISE you, you will never want any other pet than a blind kitty for the rest of your life.
