Some Blind Tiger Jerking Suds on the Side

I took Tabby the Cat in for her semi-annual physical last week. For a 20 y ± 3 mo with incipient renal failure, she's doing quite well, apparently...aside from the blindness.

I've suspected for a few weeks that her vision might be impaired. She'd been hesitant about leaping gaps between furniture, and it'd been some time since she's gone on one of her mad tears around the place. She'd seemed to ignore moving string, but since there was always an initial look at it I figured she's just over string, which at her age didn't surprise me. Same with the glitter-poms. Her eyes, while not cloudy, still didn't seem quite as clear as they'd always been. So I thought maybe she had cataracts or something.

But the first thing the vet did upon entering the exam room was check her eyes. I don't know if I just never remembered that from before, or she noticed something about Tabby's behavior (certainly possible; Tabby was much more subdued on this trip than she has ever been). Anyway, apparently her retinas have detached, which the vet seemed to attribute to undiagnosed hypertension.

I felt mildly guilty, but after asking about it there didn't seem to be anything I should have done but didn't. Mostly I feel bad for Tabby. It sounds like it would have happened suddenly, and if so she must have been scared; but she can't talk about it, and I can't console her.

What's remarkable, though, is how little difference it seems to have made to her routine. As I say, I thought she might have somewhat impaired vision, but blindness never occurred to me. She doesn't bump into things (except for earlier this week when I left a box in the middle of the floor), and although she's hesitant about leaping gaps, she still leaps them. But I do notice things. She's more careful about climbing into my lap, testing before she transfers weight to that next step to make sure she has a solid footing.

Still, I suspect she isn't entirely blind. I suspect, from some uncontrolled ad hoc experiments, that she has some middle-distance vision remaining in her right eye. The idea makes it easier for me to bear, and if it's real, it probably makes her condition easier for her to bear.