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By Maria Azzurra Volpe
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All cat owners love their furbabies, especially those with special needs, who need us more than anyone else. The owner of a blind cat has melted hearts on social media after sharing her pet's heartbreaking story in a viral clip.
In the post, shared on TikTok in February, under the username thenamesamber, the tabby cat, who was born with no eyes, and has always had to rely on her other senses to survive, can be seen getting excited as soon as she smells her owner nearby, even trying to touch her with her paw.
A caption says: "60 seconds of my eyeless kitty getting excited when she smells me and then reaching out for my hand. She loves holding my finger in her paw. she gets distracted very easily since her main senses are hearing and smell."
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Followed by: "Sometimes I don't see her pawing for me & she can't meow so then she just gives up & walks away."
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The poster told Newsweek that one day, while she was on her way to get coffee, she saw a sign outside of her local pet store that said 'adoption day," and as an animal lover, she had to stop and "love on the kitties."
She said: "When I first laid my eyes on Stevie, I asked if she was sleeping, but I soon learned she didn't have eyes. She was born with absolutely no eyeball formation, just empty eye sockets. The vet suspected her mom had some sort of disease that didn't allow her to develop fully.
"She also can't meow, but she does squeak. She was found as a stray at around 4 months old, and I took her home around 6 months old. The lady from the adoption center told me to never let anyone tell me her eye sockets needed to be sewn up because it 'wasn't good for her."
However, about 2 weeks after bringing the kitty home, Stevie got her first really bad eye infection, which quickly healed after the vet gave her medicines, only to return to the vet with another infection less than a month later.
"And this time her brother, whom I adopted at the same time as her, got pink eyes from her eye goo. At this point, the vet told me that in order to prevent her from suffering from an infection for the rest of her life, I would need to get her eyes sewn up.
"$2,000 and a couple months later, she had her eyes sewn up, her stitches removed, and has been living her best and happiest life ever since."
Blind cats may run into risks that other cats usually don't, but according to Cats Protection, there are some key steps you can take to prevent this from happening.
Their first suggestion is to keep them indoors, ensuring that they have access to a safely fenced garden or run if necessary. They also suggest encouraging them to walk around on their own, allowing their scent glands to leave a trail of scent to keep their setting familiar. It is also good practice to talk to your cat as you approach them to avoid startling them.
The video quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 4 million views and 816,400 likes on the platform.
One user, Katie, commented: "My eyeless cat is able to pinpoint my location with scary accuracy. I sit down on the sofa and within 0.2 seconds he's teleported from another part of the house and is curled up on my knee."
And L0neNightW0lf said: "What a precious baby. Please tell her PSPSPSPS for me and give her a smooch on the head."
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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