Hi there, I'm new to the forum and I have a question.
I've had my Bengal, Mika, for just over a year now. She is 4 years old. I adopted her from someone who needed to rehome her due to a family member moving in who was deathly allergic to cats. She was declawed on all 4 paws as a kitten unfortunately ... a fact that I hate but, you can't change the past. I was surprised they had found any vet still willing to do that since most won't even declaw the fronts anymore, never mind all four paws.
Regardless, she is generally happy and well-adjusted, though she HATES when ANYTHING in her environment changes. Once she is accustomed to the change, she is fine ... until she settles though, she is on constant patrol.
I didn't think much of this behaviour before. I just chalked it up to something in her personality and it didn't bother me much. She always seems to settle after a few days and it's not like she ever lost her appetite. If she is VERY upset, and I've not been diligent keeping all clothes/blankets off the floor or out of her reach, she may pee on them ... but that is generally infrequent and doesn't happen unless I've left dirty clothes on the floor for her to get at (aka: laundry day!
).
Lately, though, I've noticed her becoming a little more clumsy. She has never been particularly coordinated ... missing jumps and running into stuff while playing, but I kind of just assumed she was a bit like her mom, forgetting her surroundings when she gets excited. We've never had any bad incidences where she hurts herself or anything ... just ... clutzy moments. It seems to be getting worse though.
The time I can tell the most, though, is when we're playing fetch (she LOVES playing fetch with my hair elastics ... drives me nuts when I need one to tie my hair back and she's stolen all of them out of the washroom and put them under my appliances!! lol). It used to be that she could see and follow an elastic across pretty long distances and always find the elastic and bring it back. Then it started to get harder for her and she would only be able to find the elastic if she heard it hit the opposite wall. Now, she is having trouble finding it even when it hits the wall and makes a noise unless she literally watches it leave your hand and then, it can't go too far or she gets discouraged and won't chase it. She kind of just stares in the direction you shot it in and looks confused.
Originally I thought she might just be a little near sighted. She is slightly cross-eyed so I assumed her vision may not be 100% already. I did receive some papers with her when I adopted her, but I don't care much about papers so I just filed them away and haven't looked at them. I will check and see if it includes the cattery she came from or any information about her lineage. I would like to check with her breeders to see if other cats they have produced have had issues with PRA.
When I researched the breed, I remember reading about PRA, but when I adopted Mika, I assumed we were in the clear since she was already 3 and clearly still had her sight. Now, with more reading, I've found that it isn't unheard of for PRA to be late onset and begin affecting a cat at 3-4 years old, resulting in total blindness within a couple of years. Just in the last week or two, I have noticed that her eyes become a little runny intermittently.
I don't know what to do. I'm worried about her. I love that cat ... In fact, I just moved house solely because my cat (for whatever reason) hated my last roommate and was miserable ... howling for hours on end at my roommate if I wasn't home. Silent as a mouse (except for a little Bengal chatter) when I was home.
Does anyone have any advice? She is overdue for her shots so I've been planning a vet visit anyways ... I will ask the vet to check her eyes while I'm there ... but is it difficult to keep a blind cat? I don't want to jump to conclusions before I have a real answer from a professional, but I want to prepare for the worst, but hope for the best ... If she has late onset PRA, will she still have a good life once her eye sight is gone?