[dbg10]

Tiger is 11 years old and until last year used to be very skittish around people, spending most of his day hiding in various spots and only come out for feeding. He has been with me since he was a kitten and this behaviour never had an explanation. However, in the past year he has reverted to being very friendly, always coming for pats and scratches, crying for food when he's hungry etc, much like my other 3 cats. I would class his behaviour now as being normal.

He has always had a habit of blinking a lot, much more than my other cats. There has never been any discharge from his eyes and the vet never commented on this blinking. In the last few months along with his change in behaviour, he has started going to the water dish and appears to be testing the water level with his paw, before drinking. He also does this with his food. He doesn't blink like he used to, much more normal blink rate than before. I wondered the other night if he might be going blind when I watched him check the level of the water before drinking. He also often won't drink normally out of the bowl, he will dip his paw in and suck the water from his paws repeatedly until he gets enough water.

He appears to have no trouble getting around the house, but on the very odd occasion when he's got outside, he acts confused and runs back in the house. All my kitties used to go outdoors until 5 years ago when a new neighbour threatened them. I decided my best course of action was to keep them inside, which I have done successfully. Occasionally one or two get out, but this usually is only once every few months.

Does anyone have any idea how you would tell if your kitty was going blind? There may be a totally different explanation for his change in behaviour and his checking of the water and food dishes, but I just wondered if anyone had experienced this particular behaviour in any of their kitties?