Doomsday
High Plains Drifter
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I have a 21 year old tortoiseshell cat who recently lost her eyesight due to hyperthyroidism.
She is on meds now to control the condition but she will never get her sight back - detached retinas.
In her dreams though, she can still see. Her mind's eye didn't get the blindness memo. So, she sleeps alot more now than she ever has. And dreams of life with sight.
Her eyes are still bright, clear and pretty. But the brain is still controlling them and calling for more light, so her pupils are always dilated.
I wonder if she was confused for awhile, wondering why the world went suddenly dark. I am pretty sure by now she knows it's just her.
She uses her nose and ears and whiskers and antennae alot more now, sort of radaring her way around the house and using her memory to find her way around. She still gets everything done - water, food and the litter box. But mostly, just sits in my studio in a window box that was her favorite spot before she went blind.
When I come in here to be on the computer or work on audio tracks, she still gets in my lap and sits.
She's handling sudden blindness alot better than I would. I admire cats their stoicism, their serenity, their total lack of self pity. They don't whine and cry about stuff, they just adapt. I believe I feel more sorry for her than she does.
The other cats don't understand. She was never the sociable type to any of them anyway, and now when she runs into one of them because she can't see, they're confused. She used to go out of her way to avoid them.
Anyhow, there's nothing to be done for her. She will live the rest of her life in darkness, except in dreamland.
She is on meds now to control the condition but she will never get her sight back - detached retinas.
In her dreams though, she can still see. Her mind's eye didn't get the blindness memo. So, she sleeps alot more now than she ever has. And dreams of life with sight.
Her eyes are still bright, clear and pretty. But the brain is still controlling them and calling for more light, so her pupils are always dilated.
I wonder if she was confused for awhile, wondering why the world went suddenly dark. I am pretty sure by now she knows it's just her.
She uses her nose and ears and whiskers and antennae alot more now, sort of radaring her way around the house and using her memory to find her way around. She still gets everything done - water, food and the litter box. But mostly, just sits in my studio in a window box that was her favorite spot before she went blind.
When I come in here to be on the computer or work on audio tracks, she still gets in my lap and sits.
She's handling sudden blindness alot better than I would. I admire cats their stoicism, their serenity, their total lack of self pity. They don't whine and cry about stuff, they just adapt. I believe I feel more sorry for her than she does.
The other cats don't understand. She was never the sociable type to any of them anyway, and now when she runs into one of them because she can't see, they're confused. She used to go out of her way to avoid them.
Anyhow, there's nothing to be done for her. She will live the rest of her life in darkness, except in dreamland.
