Deaf cat advice

[MagicHouse]

A friend has recently taken in a rescue cat who has turned out to be deaf. Does anyone have any advice? She's finding the idea of keeping a cat indoors hard to come to terms with. Does anyone have a deaf cat who has successfully managed the outdoors or is this too much of a risk? Where they live is not particularly busy road-wise close by, though it gets very busy if he roamed further.

I've had 2 deaf cats, both of which were very happy to be outside as well as inside (we live quite rurally so not much traffic). The only thing is I obviously couldn't call them to come home, but they were both soppy sods who liked being with me anyhow, so never went too far.

One of them later also lost an eye, and still was happy and enjoyed his life! Cats are very resilient...

This is great to hear. Thanks for responding, I'll pass it on :)

My cat is now completely deaf. He still goes outside whenever he likes. We live rurally, but I do check that he's not under the car before driving off. That is my main worry, as on a hot day he does like to sleep in the shade under the car, and he is so deaf that he doesn't move when you start it up.

The second worry I have is that he used to help me feed the horses. He has mainly stopped doing this of his own accord. However, every now and again he will turn up in the field when I am filling the hayfeeder, and I worry that he can't hear them move around anymore and might get accidentally kicked. I try to pop him in the wheelbarrow or on the fence where he will be safe. It's a shame, as he loved 'helping' with that job and would come even in snow or rain.

When cats are deaf or go deaf I think they must become more sensitive to vibration so a horse nearby or a car starting would vibrate the ground and would be felt by their paws. Voices obviously wouldn’t work that way though. My cat still went out although as deafness was due to age she stayed close by and came to no harm.

Ours still went outside when she was deaf, it would have felt very cruel keeping her in. She became very adept at using smells as cues (knew when she could smell me in the shower it was almost dinner time 😍) and she’d also come when I beckoned.

Oh she also slept much more deeply. If we wanted to wake her we’d tap the surface she was lying on because if she got very startled if you touched her.

Thank you all for your reassuring messages 😊

My old lady was completely deaf. We didn't do anything special and she lived to be 20.

I knew someone who had a deaf cat , they had to stamp the ground for him to respond , he felt the vibration ( when it suited him - "stamp" for dinner ' oh I'm right with you there'. "Stamp" for time to come in 'sorry didn't catch that' ............Escape..)