LOVE REALLY IS BLIND

Georgianna’s Story

When we adopted our cat, Georgianna, she had already lost an eye to a bad upper respiratory infection as a young kitten. Her disability seemed minor and gave us only a moment’s hesitation before we decided to adopt her. When she arrived, she was incredibly sweet, but unfortunately she was sick——exactly how sick we would soon learn.

Over the next few months, Georgianna battled pneumonia and a liver ailment that brought her literally to death’s door. She also developed a rare autoimmune disorder that affects the eyes. Despite immediately rushing her to our wonderful feline-only primary care veterinarian and having her subsequently treated by two veterinary ophthalmologists, in only one week’s time, Georgianna lost the use of her other eye. With sorrow we made the decision to have her second eye removed. Suddenly we found ourselves owning a blind cat.

To our great surprise and delight, blindness has not stopped Georgianna from being a wonderful animal companion or from leading a great life. Once she bounced back from her eye surgery and was pain-free again, she began learning her way around. In only a matter of days, she went from exploring my office, where we kept her initially, to exploring the entire house.

Now, over a year later, she is healthy and happy. I call her our “amazin’ raisin” since nothing stops her. She is fearless and outgoing, playing, running, jumping and doing pretty much everything our two other sighted cats do. She loves toy mice, fetches Mylar “crunchy” balls that I toss for her, and she has an amusing obsession with being there to “watch” the printer whenever I print pages. She adores being brushed, and has a habit of raising her head and looking up to the shelf where I keep the brush, then meowing to tell me to groom her——now! She races up and down the stairs at top speed, and even plays chase with the other cats on occasion. True, we have made a few small adjustments, such as not rearranging the furniture, padding the arms of a bench that allows her to jump onto my bed, and being careful not to move the desk chair so she can leap up safely, but otherwise, I sometimes find myself almost forgetting that she is blind.

A tremendous buddy, she is sweet and friendly, and forever following me around the house. She is a real inspiration. To her, being blind is not a disability, it’s just a part of her life. She isn’t sad, quite the contrary, refusing to let a lack of sight stop her from living as she chooses. I wish each of us could be so accepting and so happy with ourselves, exactly as we are. She may be considered a special needs cat, but to me, she is just special.