# New stray kitten- doesn't respond to sound. Deaf?



## koneko_otaku (Jul 22, 2010)

Normally when I see stray kitten(s), they hide or flee but a couple hours ago my Dad found one by the back door that was very friendly. I figure she is about 12 weeks old, grey on top with white underside, mostly grey face with white cheek, bridge, and chin (with cute grey mustache and goatee) white paw, and partial white necklace.


















However I noticed the kitten didn't react to noise like when my other cat hissed and growled the the new kitten, and when I tried making noise behind the kitten her ear didn't move or anything.

Is there a definite way to tell for sure if the kitten is deaf or just ignoring sound?


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

My sisters cat went deaf in her old age! She could only hear really loud sounds like a door slamming. I dont know of how to tell except what you did! Im not sure what vets look for when deciding that


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Does she react to food noises? (treat bags being shaken, can opener, can popping open?)


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## koneko_otaku (Jul 22, 2010)

Don't know about food noise, she just ate shortly after we first found her.


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## scottd (Jun 28, 2011)

My cat ignores all sounds except me meowing and calling her name and treat bags being shaken. I thought she was deaf for the longest.


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## minikin44 (Aug 25, 2012)

She's adorable!! At first I wondered if Bear had hearing loss... but now I think he's just got "selective" hearing and chooses what he'll respond to (for example, if I'm talking to him and he's not interested, he won't even indicate that he's heard me, but if I open the fridge or a food can, he's all over me). That being said, it doesn't mean your kitty doesn't have a problem.


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## LakotaWolf (Aug 10, 2012)

What a gorgeous girl!

I'd try a variety of sounds - snap your fingers, whistle, crumple paper - see if she reacts to anything. Another thing that cats almost can't resist reacting to is bird sounds - if you have a smartphone (or do this on the computer), pull up a YouTube video of a crow cawing or other birds chirping and turn the sound way up. I've seen even impassive cats with "selective hearing" suddenly focus on bird sounds.

I'm not sure if a vet could even tell for sure unless she has a physical, external, see-able cause for the deafness. 

It could also be that she just has a lot of wax or build-up in her ears and has trouble hearing around it.

If you're planning on keeping her, a trip to the vet to address the potential deafness question should be in order :}


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## koneko_otaku (Jul 22, 2010)

She reacted to lawn mower but still ignores other angry cats. So she does have hearing but I don't know if she is just ignoring other cat or has some hearing issue.

I don't know if I want to keep her, I have enough indoor cat and Socks just don't like any other cat. She still chases Tux after some months of being in the same house.


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## Jacq (May 17, 2012)

The lawnmower might not mean she isn't deaf. She could be responding to the vibrations rather than the noise.

Do you live with your dad? Maybe he could keep her since they seem to be getting along so well in the pics 

I agree that a vet visit is in order, both to check her ears and also to get her all fixed up for her new forever home.


*edit*: Nice username, by the way. I had a cat named Koneko-chan when I was a kid (and an otaku  )


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