Expert: Ali - 10/26/2008

Question
I have a beautiful 4-month old gray kitten who is almost certainly deaf.  I've done lots of tests, and she's not just hard of hearing, she's full-out deaf. She was born in our home after we took in her pregnant mom as a stray. When she was about a month old, she suddenly began walking around in circles with her head cocked to one side (she was kept safe in a closed room with her siblings and Mom, who were just fine and were later adopted to good homes).  I took her to a vet, who said she may have been injured, and just to "watch her". Her siblings grew at twice her rate and were much more coordinated and active. Since then her motor skills have improved and she's mostly normal, but she cries, loudly, a lot, is kind of spastic and hates to be left alone.  We have to lock her in a room alone at night because she has problems using the litter box unless we keep her near it.  The frantic crying every night is breaking my heart! We're dealing with it all the best we can but could really use your advice! The other problem is: Our other (also adopted, older) cat HATES the kitten, but the kitten doesn't seem to understand that.  She can't hear the warning growls and hisses, and gets smacked around by the older cat every single day. Still, the kitten follows her around and tries to play with her constantly.  It's made the older cat kind of neurotic and cranky even to us, because she's always having to defend herself against this little beast!  HELP!

Answer
Kim,

I'm almost wondering if this little girl's mother had contracted distemper while she was pregnant with this litter...This may result in spasticity and impaired motor function which may explain what's happening physically in terms of the lack of co-ordination that this kitten has...I suspect that the deafness isn't so much the issue, in my experience this kitten sounds like she has some sort of disability such as cerebral palsy or distemper neuropathy  with cognitive impairment. It's amazing how much a young kitten can improve in terms of physical challenges - my youngest resident cat was diagnosed with distemper neuropathy shortly after I rescued her from our city's streets at around 8 weeks old...Initially she had a pronounced head bob and her co-ordination left lots to be desired. Kizmit also tended to bug the older resident cats in my home without realizing that they could do substantial harm if they so chose...It might be worth spending some time working with this kitten to develop her social skills. Play sessions with interactive toys like kitty teases and kitten mittens will help to get this kitten's social behavior up to snuff. It's not a bad idea to try out a homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy which is a blend of flower essences designed to calm and reassure - this should help out with the anxiety that you describe. I would suggest a dose of around 5 drops or so in a bowl of fresh water each morning. This remedy is very safe and is used by some veterinarians and pet parents worldwide to treat anxious and fearful cats so it's okay if your older cat drinks from the same bowl, in fact it's probably a good idea as it will help to calm your older kitty. I do suggest that this kitten sees a vet and is thoroughly evaluated to determine whether the litter box issues are related to her disability and how she is doing overall in terms of her health...You could try picking up several kitten sized litter boxes and placing them throughout your house, Kizmit actually urinated in the middle of my bed a few times because she had an issue with being able to control her urges to use the toilet, maybe something similar is happening with this little girl. I found that making sure Kiz always had a litter box close by helped with the accidents and eventually they disappeared entirely - she is about 3 1/2 years old now...