Freebie – our Deaf Cat
We got Freebie (left) in 2004. Snow, his older brother, had selected me as his new can opener during an unscheduled visit to the local Pets Mart’s adoption area. They refused to give him to me without Freebie who – they said – depended on him for guidance. I only paid for the cat I wanted, hence the name.
Freebie has been deaf from birth, a genetic defect in Russian Whites that some (insert insulting adjective here) breeders find desirable as a sign of purity. Yes, he does look cute and in fact he is, but of all the things that shook up our lives in recent years he ranks pretty high on the list. (And if you know us then you know that this is a crowded list).
Being forced to learn how to deal with a deaf cat we turned to the internet where there is of course a Yahoo group for owners of deaf cats. I will be forever grateful for their help and commend them for their initiative. What was not available there we learned through other sources, or by trial and error. I collected information on what worked for us, and what didn’t, and compiled it all in a couple of documents (below). If you have a deaf cat feel free to use them but note that any use must be for non-commercial purposes only. If you wish to add to my collection, or if you made experiences different from what I described please e-mail me. I will be happy to update the files and improve them for further use.
Here are the documents:
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