My Detective (aka Curiosity) Has Surfaced Again

And, it is all about Ivy.  Yes, Sweet Ivy who seems to be at odds with the world she lives in has kindled my interest as to why her behavior is so puzzling to me !  Throughout my life, and that is quite a long time, I have had several cats and Ivy's behavior is far from what my experience has been with my cats.  After four weeks of interaction and observation of Ivy's body language and facial expressions or lack of, I know there is something missing from my understanding of her before she came into my world.  Something more than shyness is going on here. When evaluating my observations and searching for as much information as possible I believe I may have come upon the reason for some of her behavior.  And, here is a quote from one of the cat behaviorist that I have been reading.

"Deaf cats tend to have a normal quality of life; they cope by using their other senses to compensate for the hearing loss."

Yes, yes, yes.  Let me tell you some of my observations.

Never comes when I call her.
Startles when she doesn't see me approaching her.
Does not respond when I shake her jar of treats.
Sleeps a lot and if deep in sleep does not awaken easily.
Does not respond to squeaky toys.

However, she will respond to hand clapping or foot stamping if I am close enough so she can feel vibration.

Since I have become aware of her possible hearing loss, I have noticed that my approach to her has changed and she seems more comfortable and is interacting with me differently.  Just the fact that I don't think she hears me has a way of automatically changing how I interact with her.  It's all good.

There is so much more to blog about cat hearing loss and I will mention more in the near future. There are genetic causes, the myth of white cats with blue eyes are deaf, teaching sign language to cats and providing emotionally secure environments.

Have a Good Weekend.  Our heavy rains have slowed down somewhat.  I am waiting for the sun!

Mary