Does anyone have a deaf cat?

[Sausagefingers9]

I have found a gorgeous deaf cat for rehoming and was just wondering what it’s like having a deaf cat? Is there anything extra you need to know or do? Does insurance tend to be higher?
I’m assuming they are not allowed outside unsupervised.

Anyone care to share their experience?

My cat is almost 20 and has now been deaf for around 5 years now. She no longer goes out, but that doesn’t seem to have bothered her. It really hasn’t been an issue at all for us, in someways it’s easier, I can hoover right next to her when she is sleeping and she doesn’t even stir. Go for it!

I've had a few deaf cats. They aren't safe anywhere near roads of course, but fine if you have a back garden with no easy access to the front.

I don't know about insurance.

They tend to be quite loud as they can't hear themselves. We have a deaf white cat up for homing at the moment and he screams - I swear he's louder than a baby. We were just saying today that we probably need to look for a home with deaf owners as no one else would be able to put up with the noise. They aren't all that bad though.

I have a deaf white cat. Only goes out in catproofed garden, but you wouldn't know she was deaf. Happy as anything!

I think one of mine must be deaf - he can't hear when you walk up behind him, and when tyhe terracotta tiles in the hall were being dug up (with small jackhammers), he slept through it all.

He goes into the back garden. but doesn't roam very far. we don't have insurance as we can afford the vets bills without it. His miaow is very flat in tone and can be noisy. He is gorgeous and I love him to bits.

Mine is 19and as deaf as a post. Has been for the last few years. It doesn't bother him and he is no longer scared of the hoover! He can sense when I'm so round him and is always waiting by the door when I come in. He doesn't really go out much these days and only goes as far as his sun lounger in the back garden so I don't worry about him getting run over.

This is no help, but we have a definitely-not-deaf white cat, and the first thing people ask is whether she can hear. Is it a thing with white cats? (Ours can hear the rustle of a Felix Goody Bag from two gardens away, but funnily enough is also really chatty and very loud per pp post.)

Yes, white cats with blue eyes are often deaf apparently.

Mine is deaf- definitely prefer it tbh! She's a house cat anyway due to breed, but she doesn't get anxious about DD being loud, fireworks, hoover etc. She isn't very loud and doesn't meow much but has a lovely, sweet meow when she does.

kismet thanks for replying. Ours doesn’t have blue eyes, but she does hate the hoover, fireworks, and has been seriously unimpressed with recent coughing and sneezing!

We used to have a beautiful white cat that the CPL initially thought was deaf. Then they realised he was selectively deaf! He definitely had hearing when food was in the offing!

I thought it was white cats with different coloured eyes that were deaf. My CP branch had one with a blue eye and a green eye recently.

chemenger my white cat with odd eyes isn't deaf at all, yet my white cat with 2 green eyes is completely deaf. Weird!

I looked on Wikipedia. Apparently blue eyed white cats are very likely to be deaf. Odd eyed cats are likely to be deaf on the blue eyed side, interestingly. White cats in general are more likely to be deaf than other colours.

One of my old boys is quite deaf now, he still goes out, but doesn't go far these days. I've never thought to mention it to the insurance, but they have paid out serious amounts over the years for his ear surgery (before he was so deaf) and it's a life time policy. He seems to feel the vibrations from cars and is as wary of them as ever. He does shout a lot, but the vet thinks that could be due to dementia. It must be pretty disorientating being newly deaf and he does lose us in the house at times and get upset. Mostly hes a happy cat though.

I get to meet her tomorrow so fingers crossed it goes well! Glad to hear it’s not a big problem though.

Had no idea about white cats with blue eyes though. I have a blue point ragdoll who is mostly a creamy colour with grey face, he has beautiful blue eyes. He’s already a house cat due to his breed though.

Oh yes re losing us in the house! Ours reminds me of DD as she cries for us when she wakes up from a nap :') she'll walk around the house meowing a sad, plaintive little meow until she finds you and gets a cuddle.

On the first day we had her, DD was so excited to show her harmonica playing to the cat. She slept through it and I was very glad she was deaf! Fingers crossed for you too. Your ragdoll sounds lovely :)

Had one that went deaf when I was a teenager.

You call them visually or through vibrations - I would hit my hand twice on the floor to call mine over, she'd feel it through her paws or, if he was looking at me from a distance, I'd make an obvious hand gesture to tell her 'come here' or point and weep my arm over to tell her where I wanted her to go.

Tuned out that this worked so well, it took about three years before my mother asked me 'why do you bang the floor when you call the cat?'. 'Because she can't hear me'.

A friend was thinking of adopting white cat that was deaf a couple of years ago and asked exactly the same questions as you are. It doesn't go out at all because if she got lost, she wouldn't be able to hear them calling her, but she's perfectly happy and more than capable of realising the fridge door has just been opened through telepathy feeling the noise through the floorboards or them walking into the kitchen and then pulling the door open.