skimomma Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 I have had four cats in my lifetime. They live forever. The two that have passed were 18 and 22. I have an almost 19yo that is so healthy the vet said he would not believe her age except that he has been her vet the whole time. And what we call a "kitten" that is 3 years old. The older living cat is now deaf. The two cats of yore also went deaf in their later years. Do old cats just go deaf or is it something about the owners? We do have musicians in the house so there is live instrument practicing. And we do play a lot of recorded music, sometimes (rarely) loud, but not too loud as we do live in a dense neighborhood. We are not loud movie or video game people. Some cats have purposely left the room when an instrument is brought out but none seem to avoid or notice recorded music. One interesting thing is that our current deaf cat and one of the past ones really REALLY mellowed out after they went deaf. Our current one was a stray we brought in as a young cat and she was always spicy and not really into pets or lap-sitting and is now the loviest cat ever. The deceased one was very affectionate but also super nervous. Once she went deaf, she completely chilled out and even enjoyed going outside on a leash, which she would never ever consent to when she could hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GailV Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 Our older cats have tended to go deaf too. We noticed around 17 years and on up. Honestly, it's been the "mellowing" that has been the tipoff -- no longer needing to go hide when we have guests in the house, for example. By the time Geriatric Cat hit about 19yo I could run the vacuum in the same room as him and he would just look annoyed rather than running to a different level of the house. We tend to be quiet people. Dh is VERY protective of hearing, so on one hand we wear ear protection when something loud must happen, but on the other hand we rarely voluntarily do anything loud. So, no explanation here. But your experience matches ours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 Older people and older dogs also tend to go deaf and the percentage go higher, the older they are. Sounds normal to me. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 Cats go deaf as they age the same way that people do. An 18 year old cat is 88 in human years, so it makes sense to me that your cat would be loosing her hearing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimomma Posted June 15, 2022 Author Share Posted June 15, 2022 That's a relief! It is normal and it wasn't caused by us! My deaf cat is still afraid of the vacuum but only if she is awake and sees it. She will nap right through it if she is asleep. If she is sleeping on the floor, she feels the vibration and takes off. My "kitten" is not the brightest. She is also deathly afraid but thinks she is protected if she is under the covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 1 hour ago, skimomma said: That's a relief! It is normal and it wasn't caused by us! My deaf cat is still afraid of the vacuum but only if she is awake and sees it. She will nap right through it if she is asleep. If she is sleeping on the floor, she feels the vibration and takes off. My "kitten" is not the brightest. She is also deathly afraid but thinks she is protected if she is under the covers. Covers protect one of our cats from everything, especially other people in the house. We wouldn't know he was there, except for the lump in the middle of the made bed and the tail that sometimes sticks out. He's sometimes not very good at hiding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanin Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 5 hours ago, GailV said: Our older cats have tended to go deaf too. We noticed around 17 years and on up. Honestly, it's been the "mellowing" that has been the tipoff -- no longer needing to go hide when we have guests in the house, for example. By the time Geriatric Cat hit about 19yo I could run the vacuum in the same room as him and he would just look annoyed rather than running to a different level of the house. Same here! Maggie used to come running when I came home, and now she's sound asleep until I give her a little nudge. She wakes up with a loud "MROW!?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 You are doing something completely right to have all your cats live this long. You rock the cats! Our cats have never lived long enough to go deaf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerenceMil Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 My cat went deaf when he was 19. Miss him 😥 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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