Last updated Nov 5, 2025
Kellie Gormly / Cats.com
Our hearts are warming with the news that a sweet blind kitten named Foxy, who lost both of her eyes, has found her forever home. And we are rooting for all other blind cats and kittens to get a happy ending!
Foxy, a beautiful brown tabby, came to the Best Friends Pet Adoption Center in Southern California from the Los Angeles Animal Services shelter at the end of August. We don’t know if Foxy had been a stray picked up or an owner surrender. But the L.A. shelter staff saw her swollen, enlarged eyes and knew the kitten was in serious pain.
“That shelter then sent out a rescue plea due to her extensive medical concerns,” says Dr. Ariana Dubelko, Best Friends veterinarian, in an email to Cats.com. “It was clear she needed immediate medical attention, so our admissions team picked her up that afternoon, and I did her surgery the next morning.”
Foxy’s enlarged eyes indicated severe glaucoma, which is extremely painful and either caused by a direct injury to the eye or an untreated corneal ulcer, Dubelko says. She knew the kitten was likely completely blind, since she seemed startled by touch, even when Dubelko would tap her hand near Foxy. The emaciated kitten likely was so underweight because she wasn’t eating well with this pain, Dubelko says.
The poor kitten’s eye condition only would have gotten worse, which left Dubelko with one option: removing both eyes via a surgery called a bilateral enucleation.
“The surgery to remove her eyes was necessary because her eyes were not only non functional, they were causing her immense pain,” she says.
Kellie Gormly / Cats.com
After surgery, Foxy went into foster care with a member of the Best Friends medical team. After about two days, Foxy was eating, playing, purring, and gaining confidence in navigating her surroundings. That’s a great recovery!
“When she returned back to our adoption center the following week, she was such a sweet, happy girl, making muffins in her blanket, eating all her food, and playing,” Dubelko says.
Indeed, Foxy was the same playful kitten after both of her eyes were removed! Best Friends staff described her as “an adventurous and affectionate purr machine.”
It sounds devastating to us humans: Just the thought of waking up after such a surgery in total darkness, with our eyes gone. Yet, animals have a remarkable resilience about them, and they don’t seem to get as upset as people tend to over major life challenges like this. Cats just adjust somehow and figure things out. I once fostered a tuxedo cat, Quincy, who was blind, and he found his way around the room quite well.
“The vast majority of blind cats live happy lives,” Dubelko says. “In cases like Foxy, her quality of life is much improved now that she is not experiencing severe, chronic pain.”
When you adopt a blind cat, they do need time to feel out their surroundings and learn how to navigate their space, the vet says. But once a blind cat gets comfortable in their home, you would have a difficult time knowing they are blind just from watching them. They do just about everything a seeing cat does, including chasing toys, jumping on and off high surfaces, catching bugs, and mischief like knocking your items off of shelves.
Kellie Gormly / Cats.com
“In fact, many people do not realize their cat has vision loss until they move to a new home and notice their cat acting differently in the new space,” Dubelko says.
“Cats are incredible animals and adjust extremely well,” Dubelko says. “We joke that they have extra senses that us humans just don’t know about.”
It seems so! Still, even though blind cats tend to manage quite well, they still need some extra help. Blind cats must be kept inside, and in a larger house, it is best to keep them confined to a smaller area so they can learn where things are.
Blind cats who get outside face serious hazards, like this elderly Massachusetts cat named Tiki. Last winter, Tiki – a black and white tuxedo who is 20 years old and blind – wandered outside in frigid weather and ended up stuck on a frozen pond. The ice cracked, and the terrified cat fell into the frigid water beneath the ice. If it weren’t for the Good Samaritan who witnessed the accident, took his boat out to retrieve the cat, and called for emergency help, Tiki could not have survived the ordeal.
We encourage our readers not to pass up a vision-impaired cat waiting for a home. Adopt one, and you will be rewarded with years of love!
