She Makes It Look Easy

As many of you visitors might remember I've posted pics of the cats Bits and Hawkeye. They are both special needs cats. I was playing with the 10 1/2 month old kitten Hawkeye and wanted to film some of her clever ways. It's almost impossible to tell she is blind. She is a small cat, only about 10 inches tall and it is her first birthday on July 1st, Canada Day.

Hawkeye loves anything crunchy sounding especially foil paper. We are not sure how much sight she has...she will walk into objects if they have been moved depending on the light in a room at any given time. She also can chase and catch bugs, she caught and killed a bumblebee the other day and proudly delivered it to her mistress, my daughter. Is she seeing the bugs or listening to them? On some days she seem completely blind on others she seems to be able to see shadows and be extremely precise in her games and running around.

She is an absolute love bunny and so so cute in person you just want to hug her all the time. She has also enlivened the life of her room mate the cat Bits who is a little overweight, has balance and depth perception challenges (he has a stunted tail and one green eye and one yellow eye, slightly askew ...a little like Marilyn Manson and very cute in his own right). She has inspired Bits to play and chase and gives him all kinds of fun company he is ten years old but gets t be a big brother and play like a kitten with her. She uses him as a guide sometimes and a rock if she is spooked by her environment if it changes.

In this short video you can see her playing with a piece of foil paper. At one point you can see how she loses track of where the toy is and manages to gently feel around for it...sometimes finding it, sometimes not...and then she accidently walks on it and finds it. She loves the cat bed that Tuffy P and Mister Anchovy gave to her and Bits. Unfortunately Bits was having a huge nap upstairs when I was filming the kitten so he is not in this video.

She also has a very clever way to get a drink of water without using a bowl. Many cats use sinks or tubs to get fresh water, but Hawkeye also uses the drain in the bathtub as a kind of steady reference and a compass. You can see her get a drink at the end of the video. Watch closely as she feels for the drain to rest her arm and paw on it to anticipate and know where the water is coming from and she licks it off her arm. What a smart cat!

This isn't my best filming as I was trying not to giggle while I filmed her playing...but you get an idea of her personality. She is a rockstar!