Deaf Cat Howl
 

It's driving us nuts and it's so very sad. Ginger is 17 and getting quite deaf. She's always been pretty vocal about letting her wants be known but now her wants are constantly changing and never ending because we just can't give her what she wants all the time.

Partly that's because the other two cats beat her up. It's actually not as bad now that she doesn't hear them coming. Before she would often start things by saying nasty things to them when they approached but now she doesn't hear their approach. So in turn, they are not retaliating against her. Still, we have to keep them separated so Ginger just can't have the free run of the house as she wants so she HOOWWWLLLLLSSSSSS. Because she is deaf she is much louder than before.

Poor old girl. She was not an affectionate cat before but now she seems to want to always be with us. And she can't, she just can't. She has to let the other two have a turn.

Has anybody else encountered this problem? Any solutions? My Vet supplied the wording for my title so I know it is not an uncommon thing. He didn't have a solution.

Welcome to my world. LOL
I have a deaf cat. Casper was born deaf. He is a pure white cat with blue eyes. They are prone to being born deaf. I adopted him at 8 weeks, and after about a 2 weeks, I realized something was just not right.

He is VERY VERY vocal. And to be honest, in 7 years there has been absalutely nothing I can do to curb this.Yes I can get up and shoo him, but then he thinks of it as a game. I even had my neighbour ask me if he was in distress. The reason that they are loud is because they can't hear themselves, so they can't control the "volume" level. There are even times where he will actually scream. It actually sounds like when you accidently step on their tail. He's doing it now.:rolleyes:

Along with him being born deaf, he was pretty aggressive. He was quite the attacker/biter. I even posted a thread looking for help in dealing with the aggression. He still does it. He will actually lock down on your hand. Or you could just be sitting and he will come up to you, bite and take off. When he was 6 months I was suggested by some members here to adopt a second kitty. Well I adopted Winnie at 8 weeks. As she got older she put him in his place. Not in a bad way. When he gets very vocal, she will wake up in a deep sleep and check up on him.

I hate to say this, but it may get even worse, so be prepared. I know I wasn't much help, but I hope with my experience with a deaf cat may help you understand a bit more as to what to expect. Mind you, you are going from a hearing cat to a deaf cat. Where I am dealing with a cat that was born deaf. There is a bit of a difference there.

Thanks for your reply. Yes, it has been getting worse and she's not as deaf, yet, as another cat was. Ginger can still hear if we yell really loudly. Twitchie went completely deaf but was quiet. Along with her hearing I think Ginger has lost her mind. She'll get up on the chesterfield, face the back of it, looking away from us, and howl as if she is the only one there. And she might have been looking right at us just before. We'll yell at her, she'll look around and the expression on her face is "oh, there you are." It's weird. And the yelling only works if we are right there in the room with her.

A TV show on cats many years ago said their hearing was just as important to cats as smell is to dogs. So losing their hearing is very difficult for them. Ginger was never affectionate or cuddly but she did like to play. Now she can't hear the string being dragged over the carpet or the stick being rattled in a box so she doesn't play anymore. Much of her play depended on hearing an unseen object move.

Poor old girl.