Blind Cat Embarrassed By World's Tiniest Jump Will Melt Anyone's Heart

When I was young, my friend had a cat with no eyes. Unless you looked right at her face, though, you’d hardly know it, as she would easily leap around the furniture in their house, came running to the sound of cans being opened, and found and nuzzled her family by smell. You always had to be careful not to leave anything in the middle of the floor, though, or she’s smash right into it.

But most blind cats actually manage pretty well on their other senses. Scent, hearing, and of course touch are among cat’s most powerful senses anyway. Still, having a blind cat means you do get amusing moments like this one.

In this video, a beautiful blind cat named Enoki embarrasses himself by misjudging the length of a jump. He’s standing on the bottom shelf of a TV cabinet, only a few measles inches off the floor. But he clearly doesn’t realize that, as he slowly reaches his paw down, trying desperately to judge how far of a drop it will be for him. And, when he finally braves the “leap” he quickly realizes it was little more than a step down, and manages to leek pretty sheepish about it.

Related: Blind Kitty Giving Kisses to Another Cat is Making Hearts Flutter

“Every time I think my cat is faking his blindness, he reminds me otherwise,” reads the caption on this video.

But the fact that Enoki can even make it seem like he’s faking must mean he usually gets around pretty darn well.

Are White Cats More Likely To Be Blind?

Enoki is what is known as a “flame point” cat, which is a way of describing a particular cat coloration that is mostly white with orange coloration on the tops of his ears, tail, and other extremities. Colorpoint cats are cats that have a special, temperature-sensitive component to their fur coloration, such that their coats are all white or cream colored except for their extremities which develop coloration. They are all born pure white and also have blue eyes. The most widely-known version of this coloration is the so-called Siamese cat.

Though there is a pervasive myth that white cats are more likely to be blind, this is a mistaken belief. Some white dogs are more likely to be blind (as well as deaf) and it is true that white cats are more likely to be born deaf, but the same is not true for feline vision.

How to Help a Blind Cat

There are many other reasons that Enoki could be blind, and as they adopted him when he was seven years old, it’s possible they will never know in his case if he was born that way or if something happened to him.

If your cat is blind, there are certain steps you can take to make sure they have a high quality of life without their vision. As with my friends growing up, try to keep your house clutter-free and avoid moving your furniture around. Though cats do a lot of sensing with their whiskers, they may not always know where they are if the space around them changes.

Similarly, keep blind cats indoors for their own safety.

Get them noisy (rustling or squeaky) toys to up their enjoyment factors and help them find the toys. Talk to them often so they can always find you, and put bells or other noisemakers on the collars of any dogs you have in the home so your blind cat can find them too.

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