Symptoms of blind kittens??

Question

My cat had five kittens about three weeks ago. There is this orange one, Monty, and he seems not to be seeing the best, if at all. Monty is a male, and the rest of the kittens have light blue eyes, but his are a darker blue. When we pick him up, he shakes really hard, and he meows like anything! And, when he was on my bed, he didn't even notice he was coming to the edge, and he almost fell off. All of the other kittens knew the edge was there... He also seems to find things by smelling first. And his eyes seem to "roll back in his head", so my mom says, but he doesn't seem to focus with his eyes.

I know you are probably going to say to take him to a vet, but we have very limited money, and if he isn't even blind, we don't have themoney to waste. Also, if he really is blind, would it be alright to just leave him be, or could it hurt him if we just left his eyes alone.

I am not an expert on cats, I am only 13 years old, so don't freak out at me if we are doing something wrong...

Answer 1

Have you tried to dangle a toy in front of him and see if he responds?  Maybe try putting a pillow a couple of feet from you with the kitten on the other side and then call him and see if he runs into the pillow.

Answer 2

If this kitten is blind due to some birth defect then there is probably not anything that you can do for it.  That doesn't mean that the kitten won't grow to be able to live a perfectly happy and normal life as long as it's allowed to live inside and learns its territory as it grows.

Animals, like humans can learn to rely on their other senses to get them through life.

The only real way to know for sure if this kitten is blind or just slower to develop than the others is to take it to a vet for an exam.  I don't think you'd be wasting your money either way.

If he's blind you will then know how to help raise him and understand him; if he is just maturing slower or has a medical condition that the vet can do something about then that's good too.

Answer 3

not pouncing on moving objects  crusty eyes and blue or one plain color go to winkapidia.com and search Symptoms of blind kittens

Answer 4

Blind kittens get along fine if they have a home where they know where all the objects are.

start teaching him to find the edge of things.

You can search for rescue organizations that will help with vet bills so you can go.  

You NEED to have your mama cat fixed so she doesn't have more kittens.

The rescue organizations will give vouchers and all the cost will be take care of .

Look into it.

If you are in the Us then call the SPCA.  They also have low cost/ free vet care. or programs that will help you.

good luck.

Answer 5

One way to tell if your cat is blind is checking if his eyes responds to light (Pupil of eyes get bigger or smaller), inability to follow objects such as toys or bumping into things if you see a whitish opaque clouding of the lens which may indicate cataract which is successfully treated by surgery.

Answer 6

Although I have had suspicions of blindness with one of my old cats, it is almost impossible for a vet to diagnose blindness even if you did take the kitten there.  And even if the cat were to be blind, there likely would be little if anything that the vet could do to change it.

Also, it is possible that this kitten is just a late bloomer.  Three weeks old is not that old for a kitten and he could still be trying to figure out how to work his body.  Kittens are very uncoordinated creatures.  As long as his eyes don't look infected, I don't think you need to worry too much.

Answer 7

sounds like its still a bit too early to tell if eyes are fully developed yet-give it a few more weeks and watch.A test you can do is be behind the cat and drop a cotton ball or small ball-drop it in several angles in front of the cat eyes-its a natural reflex to look at what passes by the eye-

if it is blind it will adapt to its surrounding very well-my dog had eyes removed due to glaucoma-most people don't even notice he can not see-best of luck

Answer 8

Your kitty is still very young. I have one called Bumpy (age 10 years) who was always crashing & clunking about. She still shows her love by giving me a 'headbut' (bashing me with her head!) But she can see and doesn't shake.

Obviously you think something is wrong. He could be brain damaged from birth or before, he could be ill or not.

His mum (your cat) will do her best. Let her take care of him. Give her space to do that. Don't interfere too much. If you don't put Monty on your bed he won't fall off!

I know money is limited but there are animal welfare groups like Cats Protection, RSPCA, Blue Cross etc who will help you get your cat spayed so she doesn't have any more kittens and should be able to help with any health problems your pets have.

Good luck.