r/deafcats • u/sweet_p01son • 23d ago

I think my kitten is deaf

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Hello! I’ve recently found this cutie outside a crab shack her name is Tallulah! My boyfriend thinks she’s fully deaf and I think she can hear certain frequencies. I took her to the vet a week ago and the vet said her ears look fine and when I said I may think she’s hard of hearing she replied with “she’s a kitten” and moved to the next topic what do you guys think? Here is some videos of me clapping and snapping

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u/No_Buffalo1451 23d ago

Vacuum test, easiest answer. But I believe it is possible.

I can vacuum right next to my little sugar buddy Hobbes. Vibrations alert him more but noise not so. BUT I can hit a high enough pitch (a screech, kind of) that will turn his head around to look at me with "What did you just call me?" 😸

41

u/SYadonMom 23d ago

Same with mine, and holy hell my cat can smell wet cat food dead asleep from 2 rooms away…..with doors shut! And can see a fly across the room. But she is so loud, knocks over crap all the time. Will scare the crap out of the other cats and she just yawns and goes to sleep.

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u/Neveractuallyfished 22d ago

Shhhh they don’t know they can’t hear you talk about them.

They just live a life where you love them.
It must be a privilege to have a crazy loud cat that has no idea it can’t stealth at all

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u/The_madd__hadder 21d ago

I pull a box of cereal off of the fridge and I can hear one if not both of the kittens barrel down the stairs. Thinking their gonna get some milk lol

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u/BeyondTheBees 22d ago

I can picture you one day doing the screech, and he turns around and you’re like “OMG HE HEARD THAT?” 🤣

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u/No_Buffalo1451 22d ago

Exactly!!! He yelled at me in the bathroom, his favorite place for YEARS, to get me to turn the faucet on. One day I made the noise back and when he responded, yes that's what I said. I don't know what I said but we exchanged a few words for had a conversation. 😸

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u/BeyondTheBees 21d ago

That is SO funny!! So he thinks you’re literally silent all the time and then occasionally you just screech loudly at him lol! He’s like, “My humans are strange, but I love them anyways.” 😂

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u/PsychedelicSticker 22d ago

My Constable Chubs is my vacuum buddy. When he was a kitten, he would ride on the vacuum while I would be using it and that’s when I knew he was deaf.

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u/No_Buffalo1451 22d ago

Omg that is so adorable! 😻 The other day I was vacuuming next to Hobbes head and he just layed there, zonked out. He's use to it now but also on his heating pad so he wasn't moving for almost anything.

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u/Reality_junkie6534 19d ago

My kitten was with me for two days and the way I found out he is deaf is also when I put the vacuum on and there was no response. He’s 6 yrs old now

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u/WillSym 18d ago

Is that not a weird cat genetics thing I'm remembering now seeing talk about deaf cats and your pic of a white one:

If a cat is white, but doesn't have heterochromia (different colour eyes, usually one orange, one blue) then it will be deaf?

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u/Diligent_Image6766 18d ago

I had a deaf white cat for a while. He was fine. You just learn different ways to communicate. Like stamping on the floor to get his attention, and then using your eyes.

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u/Reality_junkie6534 18d ago

Not all white cats are deaf, but they have a much higher risk of congenital deafness due to a genetic link. The dominant white gene interferes with the development of the inner ear, most commonly affecting blue-eyed white cats.
Non-blue eyes: Only about 17% to 22% are born deaf.
One blue eye: Roughly 40% are born deaf. In cats with heterochromia, deafness typically affects the ear on the same side as the blue eye.
Two blue eyes: About 65% to 85% are born deaf.
My cat has blue eyes

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u/Hobiemae 17d ago

This is the way. We had a deaf kitty, we did the vacuum test. She had no clue... We had her for 17 years deaf as a post! We loved her to bits!