Our Special Needs Cats

Femi is a solid white cat who can not hear. She is also sterile. We adopted her in late 2003 or early 2004.
Her first family did not pick up on the fact that she is deaf but they knew she had behavior problems. They could not keep her because she picked violent fights with their other cats. We think this is because she can not pick up on audible cues. She also clearly wanted to live outdoors but the family lived in an area that was not safe enough to allow her to do this. She is very, very affectionate with humans, but does not like other cats at all.

She prizes her freedom highly and does not like to be in a building long. She shows off for us by climbing trees and telephone poles. She is a great hunter. If you ignore her for too long, she will gently nip you on your heel to get your attention. I can not ever remember her meowing, but she does purr. She follows around like a dog when we are doing chores and has given our family a lot of affection.

Contrary to myth, all white cats are not deaf. Nor are all white cats with blue eyes deaf. It depends on which genes are present and how those genes interact with other genes.

Femi has learned to sense vibrations around her so well that it is hard for other people to believe she is deaf. We figured it out one day when Clint used a skillsaw right behind where she was napping. She did not move at all, so we knew something was amiss.

This is the sightless kitten we took in 2/2006 to keep "her" from being put down in a shelter.
We took the people's word that this was a female, but it was actually a male!
The person who bred him could not keep him, so another family took him in order to find her a home.
They could not keep him either, due to their housing rules. They asked for help, no one else was interested, so we said we'd take him.
We are so glad we did! We would have missed out on a terrific experience if we had passed him by!!
Anophthalmia is a congenital defect where eyes are not formed. In other words, he can not see because he does not have eyes.

His name when "she" came was Scuttly, but he didn't respond to it. Since we did not like the definition of scut which means menial work or a short erect tail, we searched for a better name. We named her Kelly after Helen Keller and a friend of Wendy's who had to overcome some major obstacles after a near fatal car accident. We felt this name will be a constant reminder to our family that you can overcome challenges, by the grace of God, if your spirit is strong enough. Then, we finally took a peek and saw it was a male. Brandon, the cat's primary caregiver, changed the name to Zach.

He is very adept at finding his way around our three level house and quickly settled in as a part of our family. It would probably be a while before a visitor noticed he was sightless because he knows his way around so easily. He purrs so loudly when we pet him that we feel guilty for stopping.

For a long time, he would not jump on furniture. As we showed him surfaces he is allowed on, by placing them onto them, he could find them again. He even manages to get on the top bunks in the children's rooms to nap with them!! We are not sure how he does this and are hoping to catch him going up one day.

To find his way around a surface (bed, sofa) we have placed him on, he stretches out and makes himself low and feels around with his paws. Because he can not see how high up he is, he will stretch down while hanging on with his hind legs and reach for the floor. He can be startled easy if he does not know you are coming towards him until you get right up on her. To orient himself in a room, he will run to a wall and then turn around. He is not afraid of dogs, but is very curious about them and other animals.

You can dangle a rope over his head and he will find it and catch it with his paws. If you tickle his belly, he will gently wrestle with your hand.

More about Zach, written by request, after he had been here longer.

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