she brings to mind an interesting thing...it is about understanding and communicating. i had asked her family quite a few questions regarding her personality and got honest answers that they believed in living with her. and i thought i had a pretty good understanding about the blind and feral cat coming in our door.
except..she is not feral and she is not blind. she is shy and has no confidence and is almost abnormally passive... she may be somewhat visually impaired but she actually can see fairly well.
they did not lie to me..they told me her story as both she and they lived it but it was different than what i expected to see.
and this is because for the past 20 some odd years i have lived with hundreds of different animals... i live with blind animals who cannot see anything, i live with partially blind animals who can see some things, i live with seeing animals who can see most everything.
i live with fully feral cats, i live with semi feral cats, i live with sometimes very shy little cats, i live with all kinds of cats, nice cats, not nice cats and really nasty cats.
so my perspective on blind and feral is much different than your average human being.
anyway..my first clue on charlie was that they actually caught her to take her to the vets for testing. my second clue is the vets actually tested her without needing sedation. my third clue was when they walked into this very strange house past a barking pack of dogs with a very frightened cat in their arms....no carrier, no crate..and that cat was not ripping any faces off to try to escape...that cat was just staying put in the safety of those arms.
hmmmm. quite an amazing creature if you ask me. forget feral dixie chick, or semi feral sunny, forget shy little morgan or tiny timid lotus..i can't think of too many normal or abnormal cats around here that would not have freaked out and run.
and in checking out her vision, she actually can see a lot of things. she can see my finger closing in on her eye, she can see my finger as it moves quickly in front of her and her eyes follow the movement too. and she can see the welcome wagon cats hanging outside her cage. her pupils constrict and dilate normally according to the light.
hmmmm..not a blind cat but a cat that can see some easily seen things.
soooo..now saints has a 3 or 4 year old not really feral, not really blind cat who does not meet our mandate. and all because of her history..the family believed what the vets originally told them and her subsequent behavior made it seem to be correct.
except it is not. and not having lived with hundreds of messed up animals...how could they possibly know?
so they did their best for her, they felt truly sorry for her, and in the end, she probably has broken their hearts.
sad situation.
anyway...so what will we do for this little mistake who should have gone to a different kind of shelter?
same as we always do...accept her for what she is (not as wrecked and messed up as we like) and give her whatever she needs to find happness here until if and/ or when, we can find her the perfect home for the rest of her life.
welcome sweet charlie..i totally realize you are frozen with fear, but..i expect that will change eventually around here.
sweet cat.
Can she hear anything? I took in a young stray once that acted 'odd' - I didn't realize it was because she was deaf until I vacuumed in her room and she didn't even turn around. Explained a lot about her behavior - she'd be friendly & calm if she saw you coming, but touch her from behind & she'd freak out. Anyway, welcome Charlie. You're lucky you landed where you did.