For the children who asked:This is Zach sitting on a chair during school. He was born without eyeballs (anopthalmia), but gets along just fine without them. He has empty sockets and keeps his eyes closed most of the time. When he opens them, it is not gross. It just looks like a little bit of leather. We have to keep watch that his sockets do not get dirt in them. If this happens, he could get an infection. I have put him on an herbal antibiotic only once, so it is not too much of a problem, just something to watch out for. Zach is about 8 months old.
So far, no one, who did not already know, could tell he was blind. His favorite trick when a new person comes over is to run across the room and jump into their laps. After we explain that he is blind, they ask "But, how did he know where I was?"
He likes to sit in a chair at the table while we are homeschooling. He often will sit up, place his paws on someone's books and pull them onto the floor. Sometimes he will bite the edge of a book and pull it to the floor with his teeth. This is Zach's way of saying "You're spending all of that time with a book when you could be petting me?!"
Zach has learned where everything is in our home. He navigates it effortlessly most of the time using memory, hearing, smell and his whiskers. When something has been moved though, he usually bumps into it. If he is startled and forgets where he is, he will start circling in tight circles that grow larger until he picks up a cue to help him. His senses of smell and hearing are incredible. Everyone in the family has developed their own set of audible cues for him.
Zach has a very strong curious streak combined with fearlessness that sometimes leads him into uncomfortable situations. He often has us laughing when he is checking out something new because his excitment and interest is like a small child's.
Yesterday, he climbed a ladder left in our cottage and ended up on a bookshelf between a teetering globe and a rock tumbler. He was knocking small Science displays off left and right while he howled for me to come rescue him.
When exploring new territory above his head, he will stand up on his hind legs and reach upwards with his paws while sniffing to learn all he can. He is allowed on the couch and the beds, but not the counters or tables. With Zach, that is not a problem. He can't see them to know they are there or how high to jump.
He usually sleeps with one of the children. I have often found him sleeping with Brandon or curled at Caleb's feet. In the mornings, he will jump into one of the smaller children's beds to play with them until time to get up.
Zach has escaped from the house only once. We found him by the door he went through, meowing for assistance. We plan to build a secure outdoor area for him to exercise in, which will allow him to safely enjoy a different experience.
The biggest thing we have to watch out for is when we go to set him down. Every once in a while, because he is so capable and very adapted to his sightlessness, we forget he can not see and instead of slowly putting him down on the floor, we let him drop like we do with our sighted cats.
This scares him because he does not know if he is falling 6 inches or 60 feet. Surfaces like our bed that he is use to, he jumps off with confidence. But, even that has problems for him if something has been moved on the floor. Many times, he will stretch out his front paws and slowly slide from the bed to the floor.
Zach can catch bugs or toys with amazing accuracy due to his keen sense of hearing. He does not have an instinct to attack Pepper, the ferret we have, probably because there are no visual cues to trigger that instinct. Pepper and Zach play with each other for hours at at time.
Zach never feels sorry for himself because he never compares what he doesn't have to what someone else has. He greets each day with excitement and joy. He has taught us to treat limitations like opportunities for adventure. We feel very blessed that God sent him to our family.
Thank you for asking about Zach. I think I answered all of your questions. I hope you enjoyed learning about our unique kitty.
You can see earlier pictues of Zach and read a little more about him and Femi, our deaf cat, here.
