Hi furriends! I have been lucky enough to interview a very good friend of mine, @ChrisGroove1. He is a blind cat who doesn’t let his lack of sight stop him from doing, well, anything!

Hi Christopher! It’s a real pleasure to be interviewing you for The Anipal Times. First of all, could you tell me a bit about yourself, and how you came to your forever home?

My name is Christopher and I’ll be three years old on 2 November 2010 (as close a calculation as I can get). I was abandoned when I was about three months old, outside where my human mom used to work. She found me sitting in front of the store with an empty bag of kibble, a busy four-lane street beside the strip center and a busy parking lot in front. I was born blind.

Mom scooped me up and took me inside and didn’t even realize I was blind until I bonked into a toilet! I have eyes (and I’ve been told they’re beautiful) but they just can’t see. Mom never had a blind kitty before but never gave that a second thought. I’m so easy going and lovable that I won her heart right then and there. At that point, I was no longer abandoned.

Oh my catness, what a terrible thing for someone to do to a kitten, especially a blind one. Thank heavens you were found by such a kind hooman!

Your mom has other cats, and takes in fosters too, doesn’t she? How do you get on with them?

Yes, I have a catfamily and visitors. I have no problem with other cats at all. I like everybody! Mom had read that blind animals are sometimes “on guard” or easily startled but I’m totally friendly and very trusting. You can walk right up to me and pet me. I don’t jump at all. The other cats seem to know I’m blind and I sometimes walk alongside another kitty as a lead, but otherwise, I’m all about exploring on my own. I climb the cat-tree, root in the closets and get in the kitchen trash. (Um, yes, sometimes I trash-pick.)

What’s funny is sometimes the other cats will sit at the window to look out and there I’ll be right with them. I can’t see but I’ll follow their body movements and get a window-seat as well.

But I have never had trouble with another cat. I once got playfully boxed on the head and I boxed back. Oh yes I did!

Hee hee, I box with the neighbourhood cats, but we call it having slap-fights!

Does your mom have to do anything differently because of your blindness? For example, not rearranging the furniture too often, or not leaving stuff on the floor where you might bump into it?

Actually, my mom was concerned about moving things around me after I’d explored and learned the layout of the house. She’d done some research and read that it might make me lost or at least upset my routine and confuse me. She needn’t have worried because I turned out to have excellent navigational skills as well as a love of exploration!

I walk extra-light with my back slightly arched and step on my front paws toes first and feel as I walk. I wouldn’t say cautious; deliberate maybe. Mom thinks I have a Bob Fosse choreographed cat walk. I also use my front paws to feel and sweep along edges while climbing down from things, and of course I have to give a great deal of credit to my whiskers. (The “curb feelers”.) Since I’m easy going and have no fear, a moved piece of furniture is simply something new to explore.

The only time I bonk into things is when I’m playing and get excited…I’ll do a quick turn and ignore the whiskers. Perhaps I’m so comfortable being blind because I was born that way and have never known anything else.

Just to add, I always find my food and water and have never missed the litterbox!

That is good to hear! Food and litter are VERY important for us cats.

Finally, do you and your mom have any advice for readers who might be thinking of adopting a blind cat?
My advice would be to not hesitate to adopt a blind pet, especially a cat. Cat whiskers are like sensors and cats are incredibly adaptable.

A cat blind at birth or one whose vision has faded slowly would be much more adjusted than one who loses sight suddenly. Sudden blindness would be more of a challenge to the human parents and cat, but I wouldn’t let that stop anyone from adopting (or keeping) a cat. I have blind catfriends who have various reasons for their blindness and all of their caregivers agree that their kitties are remarkable and much-loved. I also have a blind and deaf girlfriend. Her name is Penny and she lives at a wonderful shelter called Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary in St Pauls, NC.

A question visitors often ask people who have a blind cat is, “Which one is blind?”

We act just like every other cat. We just cannot see.

Thank you so much, Christopher. I have really learned a lot about blind cats from you!

Tagged as: @ChrisGroove1, blind cats, rescued cats