A cat that stops answering its name at 10 years old gets called stubborn for a year before anyone looks in its ears. Hearing loss runs downhill from the top: the high frequencies go first, and by the time an ordinary speaking voice is missed, the top of the range is already gone. The response is mechanical rather than medical.
Hearing is the first sense to fade in most cats. The cat still feels the washing machine start, still comes for the 07:00 tin, and no longer notices a treat bag crinkling two rooms away. That gap is the whole diagnosis, and it is testable at home in about 10 minutes.
Why the high notes go first
A young cat hears to roughly 64 kHz, against 20 kHz in a healthy young human, and it localises a sound 30 cm to the side without turning its head. Speech sits at 1-4 kHz, a treat bag rustles near 6-10 kHz, a mouse squeaks at 20-40 kHz. Age-related loss (presbycusis) attacks the top of the range and affects both ears, so a 12-year-old may startle at a slammed door and miss its name called at 65 dB from 2 m.
Most owners notice the change between 8 and 10 years; by 15 a large share of cats show measurable loss on BAER testing, and the sense-by-sense timeline puts hearing first, smell near 11-12 and contrast vision after 10. Not all of it is permanent. Wax plugs, polyps and middle-ear infection block sound before it reaches the cochlea, so the first step is an otoscopic exam of both ears, not acceptance. A cat with a one-sided problem also tilts its head and paws at that ear; presbycusis produces neither.
Three signs that it is hearing, not attitude
The call fails but the kitchen works. You call from 2-3 m behind the cat and get no ear flick, while a can opener at 5 m in another room earns a head turn in under 2 seconds. Low frequencies outlast the speech band, so that gap tells you which part of the range is gone.
Sleep swallows the voice. A cat asleep at 1 m does not stir at 70 dB of speech but wakes when a footstep lands on the same floorboards. During sleep the auditory threshold rises anyway; add loss and sound stops being a wake-up signal at all.
Direction fails before detection does. The cat turns the wrong way, looks up when the noise came from behind the sofa, or searches the ceiling when you knock on the floor. Localisation depends on comparing two ears at microsecond resolution, and a bilateral loss blurs that first.
A four-part test you can run tonight
Same order, quiet room, cat awake and not eating. Three repetitions per test; score the best one.
| Test | Distance and level | Normal response | Repeats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name call behind the cat | 2 m, about 60 dB | Ear flick within 1 s | 3 |
| Key jingle at the side | 3 m, high metal | Head turn under 2 s | 3 |
| Floor stomp | 1 m, no voice | Body tenses: vibration intact | 2 |
| Clap from behind | 4 m, single clap | Startle or ear rotation | 3 |
A cat that passes the stomp row and fails the first two has high-frequency loss with vibration still working. Failing all four needs an exam within 7 days, or within 24 hours if the loss was sudden or one-sided, because a polyp or infection treated early is the reversible kind.
Replace the voice with vibration and light
Vibration travels through structure, not air, and a deaf cat reads it well. Knock 3 times on the floor before entering a room, wait 5 seconds, knock 2 more times; the double signal separates your knock from a door slamming. Stomp twice at 1-2 m from a sleeping cat and wait before touching, so touch is never the first event. A torch flashed twice on the wall works over 5-6 m.
Four hand cues cover daily life: flat palm at chest height for stay, two fingers tapped on the thigh for come, pointed finger with eye contact for up, open hand swept toward the bowl for food. Teach one at a time, 10 repetitions per session, 3 sessions a day, with a food reward for the first 3 days. Most cats connect the come cue in 2 weeks. Keep the same hand and height, because a cue given at 1 m from a crouch and at 3 m standing reads as two different cues.
Four safety risks to close this week
Outdoors. A deaf cat cannot hear a car at 10 m or a dog at 5 m. Harness and lead, or a catio; no free-roaming, plus an ID tag and a microchip registered to a current number.
Startle bites. Approach from the front and slightly below eye level, let the hand land on a shoulder rather than the head, and never lift a deaf cat from behind while it sleeps.
Doors. Two-door rule at the entrance, a 30 cm barrier board in the porch, and the washing machine door closed, because a deaf cat does not hear the drum.
Heat and heights. A deaf cat hears neither the radiator click nor the stove fan. Shut the kitchen door while cooking, cover radiator surfaces with a folded towel, and fit a 40 cm barrier at the top of the stairs it now uses without hesitation.
What the vet should check
Otoscopy of both ears, with the cone seated past the bend of the canal, comes first: wax, polyps, a ruptured drum and middle-ear infection all show up here and all have a treatment. Blood work follows, since hyperthyroidism and hypertension are both common after 10 and both change ear findings; exam plus panel usually runs 300-800 RMB per the cost tables. BAER settles the question when the exam is clean. Bring the four-test sheet; a written home result turns a vague complaint into a two-minute decision.
Four changes to make this afternoon
- Knock 3 times before entering a room; stomp twice at 1-2 m before touching a sleeping cat.
- Pick 1 come signal and 1 food signal, 10 repetitions 3 times a day for 2 weeks.
- Move food, water and litter within 3 m of where the cat sleeps, reachable by sight alone.
- Book the ear exam within 7 days, or within 24 hours if the loss was sudden or one-sided.
The cat is not withdrawing. It is working from a smaller map, and the map is easy to redraw with a hand, a foot and a light. A cat losing sight as well as hearing needs that map kept still, which is what blind cat adaptation is built around.
Frequently asked
How can I tell hearing loss from a cat that is simply ignoring me?
Test with sound the cat cannot afford to ignore, and compare frequencies. A cat that ignores its name at 2 m but turns for a can opener at 5 m has lost the 1-4 kHz speech band and kept the low end. Repeat each test 3 times, write down the result, and take the sheet to the vet instead of relying on your memory of how the cat used to behave.
Can a senior cat's hearing loss be treated?
Sometimes, and only when the cause sits outside the cochlea. Wax plugs, polyps, a ruptured drum and middle-ear infection are found on otoscopy and are treatable, which is why an ear exam comes before any assumption of permanent loss. Presbycusis itself has no treatment, and a hearing aid is not practical in cats, so the working answer is vibration, hand signals and light.
Should I let a deaf cat outside?
No, not free-roaming. A deaf cat cannot hear a car at 10 m or an approaching dog at 5 m, and it also misses the warning hiss from another cat. Use a harness and lead, a fenced catio, or indoor-only living with 20 minutes of active play twice a day. Keep a collar tag and a registered microchip as the backup plan for a door left open.