After more than two weeks in our isolation cottage, Popeye the blind cat from Lebanon finally moved into the cat house this past weekend. All of his tests came back negative — we ran titers on four different viruses — giving him a clean bill of health. His CBC (complete blood count) profile and chemistry panel all looked great, too, as did his thyroid. Our small animal vet, Dr. Brenda Culver, explained to me that this means what happened to his eyes was most likely a response to a viral infection of some sort, which his body’s immune system finally and successfully fought off … but at the cost of his vision. He has no active disease processes going on now.
I took these photos of Popeye in the cat house playing with that toy I call a springy-thingy … although I’ve seen them called a pom-pom and a ‘swat exerciser,’ among other names. Because Popeye can see shapes and shadows through a small opening in his right eye, he can kind of … sort of … see that it was moving. The hard part was getting his aim lined up and ready to swat it back. In the photo above you can tell he went wide of the mark. (Reminds me of my former tennis game.)
So after a few misses, Popeye would decide to take control of the situation and that confounded pom-pom. That’s what he’s doing in this photo. He’d push it all the way down, then ease up gently, and do this a few times. Then, when he thought he knew exactly where it was going to spring back, he’d let go. And sometimes he’d nail that thing with his paw, and feel very pleased with himself!
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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