Thursday, May 4, 2017

Harriet: would you adopt this specially-abled cat?

Many of you have heard us mention our "Aunt Jen." She's the one who cares for us when the humans are out of town. She's also an amazing Cat Whisperer, former English teacher and Manager of Feline Care & Behavior at KC Pet Project.

Jen just launched her own blog this week, Mew-sings of the Bored Housecat
When you have a chance, stop by and welcome her to the blogging world.


Below is her first post. It's Harriet's story, and it's perfect for Specially-Abled Pets Week.


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"It was love at first sight" and "I knew the minute I saw her!" are common phrases we hear in the adoption world. The cats that go home quickly are usually the ones that make eye contact with potential adopters and walk towards them.

Admittedly, I can understand why some sort of interaction is preferable when you are looking for your next companion. That's exactly how I picked my own cat years ago. Once I began working in an animal shelter, I began to see homeless cats from a new perspective.



I met Harriet my first day at my new job. She was huddled in her box, scared and striking out at anything that came near her. No one could pet her with a pole, literally. I had seen cats like her before in the previous shelter; I had helped over 40 of them overcome their defensive fears and go on to find loving homes. So when I first saw Harriet, I didn't see an angry cat at all. I saw a terrified cat. Harriet saw nothing at all.

Being in a shelter is scary enough, being blind in a shelter can be traumatizing. Everything is new and scary and unpredictable. We needed a plan for Harriet, and fast. The first order of business was to get her a very consistent and predictable schedule for her daily care. We began by cleaning her kennel at exactly 10 am every single day. We cleaned her kennel in exactly the same order every single day. Introducing this predictability in to her life lowered her stress level to the point we were able to touch her. Most importantly, she had a better quality of life.

It took only a few days of positive predictable encounters for Harriet to quit defensively biting at anything and everything that came within 6 inches of her face. When you lose your vision, the other senses need to take over. She now has to rely heavily on her sense of smell and the information gathered from her whiskers to navigate the world. The best way to interact with a blind cat is to play to her other senses. We used smell to acclimate Harriet to her heightened sense of touch, especially around her whisker area.


As soon as she was able to relax during her daily care we introduced a new game to get her brain working and secretly acclimate her to things coming near her whiskers and face. Giving Harriet a cue phrase of "what's this?" we slowly presented her with really smelly things like tuna and catnip. The cue phrase was given when our hand was about 7 inches from her face, which was just before her normal striking distance.

Each time we presented a new thing for her to investigate we gave her the cue word with our hand down on the bottom of the kennel. We moved our hand toward her nose on her front left side. We stopped advancing at 3 inches and allowed her to choose if she wanted to investigate the new smell or not. The idea behind these exercises was twofold: habituate her to movement near her face and activate the seeking portion of her brain. She was a little unsure about this game at first. She was also a little unsure of our reasoning skills when presenting her with some of the smells! But she took it in stride and played along.

Harriet is closer now to being comfortable in a world where she cannot see. She will investigate things, her gaze follows friendly voices, and she LOVES tuna. Her ideal forever home will need to continue providing her with positive predictable encounters. Cats have an incredible ability to make spacial maps of their environment; so living with a blind cat is not as strange as it might seem. Blind cats need to have litter boxes, food and water dishes that never move. They need to be set up in a sanctuary room and be given time to memorize the layout of the room. Then, slowly be introduced to the rest of the house (and new things like the cat carrier)so they can build their mind map.



Other special considerations with a blind cat would be to always announce your presence in the room by softly saying "hello", use smells and baby gates to protect the cat from falling up or down stairs, use baby protection bumpers on sharp corners or place cat cheek scratchers on the corners of walls. In addition, remember that if you pick up a blind cat, be sure to place the cat near one of the scent markers, in a place where the flooring changes, or right back in the same place.

Most importantly, remember that blind cats may not be able to fall in love at first sight but love is blind. They have just as much unconditional love as any other cat.





Harriet's at the Main Campus of Kansas City Pet Project. If you are interested in opening your home to this very special girl, please stop by and meet her.

https://kcpetproject.org/adopt/cats-adoption/




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18 comments:

  1. What a sweetie. Nice to meet you and hope you find a loving home soon! Karen with Lily, Jane and Henry

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  2. Here's hoping that Harriet finds her furrever home soon! She's a cutie! And I've visited Jen's blog too!

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  3. Harriet is very lucky to have people who care so much about her. Now she just need to find that ONE person

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  4. This was an excellent first post for Jen, and we will drop by her blog and meet her. Harriet is lovely. After reading HOMER THE BLIND CAT, we know how precious and special these cats can be with the right amount of love and care. Wishing Harriet good luck in finding that purrfect home. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo and Cooper Murphy

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  5. Sending purrs and adoption wishes to Harriet! And so glad this shelter considers her adoptable and works to acclimate her and themselves.

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  6. I hope this little girl finds her home soon. ♥
    She is beautiful.

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  7. We stopped by Jennifer's blog to say hello.....loved her story about Harriet!

    Hugs, Pam and Teddy too

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  8. Awww, sure hope Harriet finds a new den to learn and to love and of course to *be* loved.

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  9. harriet; we N joyed reedin yur storree on yur blog over thata way >>>> .....itz waz way kewl lurnin how everee one iz teechin ewe how ta lurn smellz N stuff....sinz we sended ya sum fish smellz at yur blog ....we will leeve ewe sum donutz, cake, pork chopz, burgerz, cheeze N ham smellz heer !!! with all de best two ewe frum all oh uz heer in de land oh trout ♥♥♥♥♥

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  10. This is SO much good advice about dealing with/ living with a blind cat!

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  11. Harriet is adorable and we are glad she is in understand hands. we went over and said hi to Aunt Jen

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  12. Harriet is such a little darling!!! Purring that she finds the perfect forever home quickly. I'll definitely be following Aunt Jen's blog!

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  13. Blind cats need to have litter boxes, food and water dishes that never move. AMEN A MILLION TIMES!!!!!!!!! We moved the furniture, once, five year ago - Dash freaked out TOTALL (being partislly sighted). It got moved back FAST.

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  14. Such a sweetie, I hope she gets a forever home soon.

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  15. We hope sweet Harriet's furever home comes soon.
    The Florida Furkids

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  16. What an excellent post. Thank you, Jen, for your sensitivity and empathy to what Harriet goes through every day. We know it will help her find her happily ever after, hopefully soon!

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  17. Welcome to the blogging world, Jen. I love the name!!

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  18. Great post, and great advice ! We hope Harriet finds a good forever home soon. Purrs

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