Blindness doesn’t stop these two cats from living their best lives.
Petunia and Frito were both born with glaucoma in 2015. As the disease is incurable in cats, veterinarians removed their eyes to spare the two Meet Petunia and Frito, the blind cats who love to play the pain. Not long after, the duo was taken in by the Best Friends Animal Society’s sanctuary where they began the process of scoping out their new surroundings.
You may be curious how they achieve all of this without eyes, but it’s all in the whiskers.
Cats’ whiskers have proprioceptors at their tips, and these receptors then send signals to the brain and nervous system to tell them if a particular space may be too narrow for them or even about changes in the air around them. Even with no eyes at all, Petunia and Frito can rely on their whiskers to navigate.
Petunia explored each and every corner of the sanctuary on her second day there and would happily push her way through groups of other cats when humans showed up to visit. Frito, on the other hand, stayed close to a chair and waited to receive attention on his turf. Often, Frito could be found just curled up with a whiffle ball, which is his favorite toy, which you can see him playing with in the video.
The two have even climbed up shelves 7 feet up from the ground.
Best Friends cat caregiver Joni Miller stated, “If people could learn one thing from Petunia and Frito it would be this: No need to feel sorry for blind cats.”
Indeed, these two darling cats are living the good life now as they were both recently adopted together!
