Determining whether your cat or kitten is deaf can be difficult, especially since they are skilled at concealing their impairments. Cats who are deaf may not always exhibit obvious signs at first, which can cause behavioral misunderstandings. Knowing how to recognize this illness will enable you to give your pet better care.
We’ll look at a few easy methods in this guide to find out if your cat can hear. We’ll discuss warning indicators to look out for and provide advice on how to administer tests in a secure and comfortable manner. Regardless of their level of hearing, your cat can live a happy and fulfilling life if you take proactive measures to maintain their hearing.
Examine your kitten’s responses to noises, such as clapping or using a noisy toy, to find out if they are deaf. Try varying the pitch and volume if they don’t respond at all. Furthermore, keep an eye out for any indications of ear infections, as these can also impair hearing. Any doubts regarding your kitten’s hearing capacity can be verified with routine veterinary examinations.
- How to find out if your kitten or cat is deaf
- How to check if a cat can hear
- Symptoms of deafness in cats
- Types of deafness in cats
- Conductive deafness
- Sensorineural deafness
- Diagnosing deafness in cats
- Video on the topic
- 4 signs of hearing loss in cats
- A dull kitten.
- Perhaps your cat is deaf, but you don"t know about it. Find out the causes of deafness in cats
- cats .Cast cat or not. How to check?
How to find out if your kitten or cat is deaf
The behavior of the cat makes it immediately apparent if there is a hearing impairment in both ears. She doesn’t twitch her ears while she sleeps, so her sleep is peaceful. These animals are not afraid of loud noises and do not react in any way to noise. Opening a bag of food or the refrigerator door doesn’t bother them. A vacuum cleaner doesn’t even bother many pets during thunderstorms; in fact, deaf cats even enjoy the airflows it produces. Older cats exhibit the same symptoms, but senile deafness is the cause of this.
It is thought that because they are unable to control their voice volume, cats with hearing impairments meow excessively loudly. However, this does not always indicate deafness.
Fascinating! Cats and humans have very different hearing ranges. Cats hear sounds at a frequency of 48 Hz to 85 kHz, whereas people can hear sounds at a frequency of 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
How to check if a cat can hear
You can independently check for hearing impairment in the animal at home. All it takes to accomplish this is a sudden, loud noise. Undoubtedly, a healthy cat will turn around and respond. A deaf cat won’t respond in any way to the stimulus. The animal should not be able to see you for reliability; cats that have hearing loss may react to vibrations in the air or your hand movements instead of noise. 95% of the time, this method is reliable. Reluctantly responding to the sound is possible if the cat sleeps tightly and in a fearful manner, and if the environment is very familiar to it.
Only at a veterinary clinic can you obtain precise information regarding the existence of your preferred deafness. Indeed, but not always. As of right now, a medical test that requires specialized equipment has been developed. When it is implemented, the brain’s nerve pulses—which manifest as sound effects—are monitored for both frequency and intensity. Deaf cats are identified by the complete absence of these impulses, which is evidence of their deafness. Rarely are diagnostics needed; most of the time, a cat’s absence of hearing can be determined fairly accurately by its domestic hosts.
Symptoms of deafness in cats
Not every kitten born deaf exhibits congenital deafness from the beginning of its life. Sometimes hearing remains for two to three weeks after loss. The ability to hear decreases with age in adult cats. However, the reason these animals are well-known for their endurance is due to the fact that they have highly developed compensatory mechanisms. Other senses sharpen and aid animals in navigating space and observing every movement when hearing starts to fail.
However, the owners eventually realize that their pet is deaf when they notice that the animal is responding differently to situations that are familiar to them. For instance, if previously, the fluffy one would instantly rush in the hopes of finding something tasty when the refrigerator door was opened or a bag of food was rustled, then the animal with hearing loss ignores these once-attractive sounds. Cats that used to joyfully rush to answer their owner’s call no longer do so. They also don’t react to noise and aren’t scared of loud applause.
Unless it is brought on by ear inflammation, deafness is not a serious illness. You should get in touch with a veterinarian as soon as you suspect your pet is experiencing hearing loss. You’ll be prescribed a medication that will either help you hear again. Alternatively, they will attest to the animal’s deafness and offer suggestions for its upkeep.
Types of deafness in cats
Cats can become deaf in two main ways:
- conductive;
- sensorineural.
Conductive deafness
Comprises the difficulty of sound waves entering the middle or outer ear; for this reason, it was also called conductive. Diseases or infections that result in fluid buildup inside the ear, eardrum damage, or occlusion of the ear canals are typically the cause of its development. Hearing is only partially lost in this instance. It can be repaired with medication or surgery given the proper care.
Sensorineural deafness
This deafness frequently appears from birth and starts to develop as early as the embryo. It is irreversibly incurable. This includes severe inner ear conditions. The majority of the time, sensorineural deafness is total; partial cases are extremely uncommon. Adult cats may also develop it as a result of age-related destruction.
Diagnosing deafness in cats
Due to the intricate structure of the ears, an animal’s ability to hear is solely dependent on the middle, inner, and eardrum working together in unison. Hearing is lost if an issue arises at any of these phases. Because aging brings about changes, this phenomenon is frequently seen in elderly cats.
Deaf cats are sometimes referred to as "eternally sleeping" because they are incapable of being woken up by sounds loud enough to wake up a healthy person. Regular cats typically react when a person approaches, especially if the person walks normally rather than tiptoeing.
You can determine how near you must get for the animal to perceive your presence. To pinpoint the precise distance at which the cat starts to hear, multiple measurements must be made, as it varies based on the cat’s sleep phase. We accept the average indicator as the actual data.
Calling the animal to you from a different room is another reliable method of determining if it is deaf. There may be a chance of diminished hearing if the cat is unresponsive to your voice. But some cats will deliberately ignore you to reaffirm their authority as the head of the household.
Only a veterinarian can diagnose “complete deafness” with a certain accuracy. A specially developed BAER (Brainstem Auditory) test will help to do this. The procedure is painless for the animal, the main thing is to hold the cat and allow the doctor to attach a special clip with electrodes to the ear. Each ear is examined separately, for this the second is plugged with an earphone or a foam insert. Then an acoustic noise is emitted and the brain"s reaction is checked. In a cat with good hearing, impulses will appear in the brain in response to the sound, which will be reflected on the monitor screen. With deafness, the brain does not react to noise, so impulses do not appear.
The animal should not be abandoned because it is deaf. These pets are friendly and even interact with their owners; however, they now respond more to gestures and facial expressions than to vocal cues. These pussies’ owners learn to make eye contact with them so that the animal and human can communicate effectively without using words.
| Signs of Deafness | What to Do |
| Not responding to sounds | Try clapping your hands or shaking a toy to see if they react. |
| Excessive meowing | Consult a vet to rule out hearing issues. |
| Surprised by touch | Gently approach and see if they flinch when touched. |
| Playing alone | Engage them with visual toys to keep them stimulated. |
If you are aware of the symptoms, identifying whether your kitten is deaf can be a simple process. Observe how they respond to sounds, like soft voices or crinkling paper. Your kitten may have hearing loss if they appear unresponsive all the time.
Try a few easy tests at home. Try creating noises from various perspectives and see how your kitten responds. If noises that would typically draw their attention go unnoticed, you may want to have a more in-depth examination with your veterinarian.
In order to help your cat adjust to any hearing problems, early detection is essential. A deaf cat can lead a happy life if they receive the appropriate care and adjustments. You can make sure your kitten gets the help they need by being aware of their behavior and getting professional help when necessary.
