Re: Is My Cat Deaf?

[FrancesMember]

(Cool, I love black cats… Daddy was probably dead black. Do any of them look like Egyptian cats, from off the tomb walls? Search pictures of "black Mau cats" to see if any of the children look like that.)
Green eyes are not linked to deafness, only blue eyes are – but she may be hard-of-hearing; it could be because of ear infections when she was on the street. Street cats often get bad chronic ear mite infections that can thicken the ear structure & wreck their hearing with scarring. You should take her to the vet to have her ears looked at specifically: the vet can look inside them & see what they look like. (Animal shelters frequently do slightly cheaper vet care – check for prices.)
TESTS/QUESTIONS/ETC: Does she rotate her ear(s) back when noises happen behind her? If so, she can hear something, as the ear-swivel is a way to pick up the sound for idenfication.
Get a whistle (not a police whistle, just one of those little plastic whistles that blow a couple of tones, shrilly but no too loudly.Try party stores for party favors or dollar stores’ toy departments). Move some distance off & not in her line of sight. Make sure she’s not noticing you – if her ears are swiveling, she is noticing you. Maybe do this when she’s dozing: blow the whistle. See if she reacts. If she does, she can at least hear high tones. – Also try blowing it when she’s concentrating on eating with her back to you.
It could be that she can only hear high tones, like the kittens crying. Frequently, the lower tones go first in deafness. Your voice may be too deep for her to pick up, and hand-clapping is also technically a low-tone sound.
If she can hear high tones, like a whistle, but not low tones, like clapping or your voice, then you can use a whistle to get her attention when you need to. You might also try using a laser-pointer to get her attention.
If she is partially deaf, she certainly can have a full life, but should be a totally inside cat, as she may not be able to hear danger coming her way.