Jenny, how do you do that?

There are lots of things that I do that many people think are amazing for a blind cat to do such as going for walkies and climbing trees though mummy, daddy and I think it’s perfectly normal. However, there’s a few things that seem to always make mummy say “Jenny how do you do that” every time I do it so I thought I’d share these with you. I’m not sure why mummy and daddy think it’s so amazing as it’s just normal cat stuff to me.

Occasionally even though we have plenty of things to drink from including our own fountain I like to have some water fresh from the bathroom tap. Every morning I sit with mummy in the bathroom to keep her company whilst she does something that she calls her blushons. Whilst I’m there sometimes I get a bit thirsty so I climb up and sit in the sink and ask mummy to turn the tap on. I don’t have it on full as that would get my head all wet, which would’t be very nice at all but mummy turns it on to just the right amount. I can then lap away happily. I’m pretty good at it but mummy always says to me “ Jenny, how do you know where the water is?” as I always have my tongue just the right distance away and never end up with water on my head. I occasionally dribble a bit but that’s only normal when drinking from a water fall. Of course I have amazing hearing and from that I can hear the water running and splashing on the sink, I can tell how far away it is and how fast it’s moving. I can also smell it too, the fresh coolness with the tiny bits of moisture floating onto my nose. I also use my whiskers which act a bit like fingers, reaching out forwards detecting where the water is, they’re very sensitive and so can feel the slightest teeniest droplet of water which then means I can adjust where I put my tongue to lap up the water. All this, happening all at the same time within the smallest of timescales helps me to pinpoint exactly where the water is. Sometimes I make a little error and dribble a bit or miss a lap but as mummy says “we’re all just human (well feline in my case) after all”.

One thing I really love is our treat toy, every day (sometimes twice if we’ve been a bit greedy) mummy or daddy fill it up with dry food and then we can all pick away at it whenever we want. I mastered it really quickly but what amazes mummy is that I know which tubes are full and which ones are empty. Mummy doesn’t understand how I do it because every tube always gets filled up with food so she thinks they should all smell the same, they either have food in them or the food residue so they should all smell the same. What mummy doesn’t realise is that I have along with my hearing an excellent sense of smell so I can sniff each tube and tell if it has a strong smell (full tube) or weak smell (empty tube), I then know which one to stick my paw into to get food 😸.

Speaking of an excellent sense of smell I am really good at finding lost toys, sometimes as we play we might push them or roll them under the furniture such as the bed, chest of drawers or coffee table where they can be difficult to get out again. Normally then we just go and get another toy but then once all the best toys are lost beyond the reach of our paws I have to go and let mummy and daddy know where they are so they can get them out again. They might have been lost for weeks but I can still find them. I can smell each and every toy, they all smell of us as we pick them up or roll around with them and that scent gets absorbed into the toys and so I cane easily smell them out. As well as that I have a great memory, I think better than sighted cats as I have to memory map where I live and where I go so I can remember where the last time I played with my toys was and where I lost them.

I sniff them out and flatten myself out to try to crawl as far under the furniture as I can get, stretc( my paws out and try to reach the crinkle ball, ping pong ball or whatever toy is under there. If I can’t get it from the front I’ll try from the side or back instead. Mummy and daddy can tell when I’m trying to find something so generally mummy will get down and have a look underneath the furniture. She often sees what I’m trying to get and will then get it for me but sometimes after she’s looked she says “don’t be silly Jenny I can’t see anything, there’s nothing under there” I know there is though so I keep trying and then, knowing how good I am at finding toys mummy goes off to get the torch and the stick, she lies down on the floor looks underneath and sure enough right at the back or behind the legs is the toy I’ve been telling mummy was there. She says to me “Jenny, how on earth did you know that was there when I couldn’t even see it?” She gets the long stick and gets the toys out for us to play with again. get them again they might have been lost for weeks but I can sniff them out and get them back again. Silly mummy, even with her eyes she isn’t as good at finding toys as I am!

My hearing is so good that when I prick up my ears and hold my head up high to listen for something mummy and daddy know that there’s something in the flat. It might only be a moth, mosquito or daddy long legs but you can guarantee there’s something there. I can even hear it if it’s in another room or if the tv or music is on. I’ll track it with my ears but moving my head slowly up and down or side to side to find out exactly where it is, I’ll climb up to the nearer highest point to get as close to it as possible and when it comes in reach I make my move and pounce. I’m very patient and can wait for a long time for it to get into the right position but I’ll know when it’s there and I’ll know if it escapes through the window or door into the safety of the outside world away from my super hearing. It’s not that my hearing is so good that amazes mummy and daddy but more that I can hear such a faint sound even when there are other much louder noises going on which for mummy and daddy drown out the quiet ones for them but not for me.

There’s lots of things that mummy and daddy find amazing about me as a blind cat like when I learn something new or figure something out for the first time. The examples above however are the things that I do naturally without being taught that continue to amaze them time after time. I like the fact that I can keep mummy and daddy interested in my blind cat super skills as they always try to make my life so interesting, varied and fun and I love being able to pay a little bit of that back to keep them interested and intrigued. Maybe in the future I’ll develop some more of my super skills to share and amaze you all with.