Jack Tripper, the Adventurous Eyeless Kitten

By Paul Ciampanelli Feb 15th 2011

At Paw Nation, when we manage to get some free time we tend to fritter much of it away scouring the Internet for pictures of cute puppies and kittens, because (a) we're devoted pet lovers and (b) that's why the Internet was created in the first place. We recently came across a Flickr account featuring a farm and animals in Wiarton, Ontario, including one special cat. Jack Tripper stood out not only because he is adorable, but also because of a startling distinguishing trait: Jack has no eyes.

Jack's mononymous owner and photographer, Jamie, describes pieces of Jack's story through captions on some of her Flickr photographs, but we knew immediately that we had to talk to her to learn more about her disabled kitten.

How did you come to adopt Jack?
At the time, I was looking for a new barn cat. A friend of mine boards her horse at a local barn where there were several. Most of the cats are fixed, however, one was fairly new and got pregnant before they could prevent it. Jack was born [around Apr. 10] without eyes and has never known a different life. He was raised with the other kittens, and when I met him I fell in love and ended up bringing him home as a new house cat instead of a new barn cat.

How well does he get around?
Jack's mobility is great! He has an advantage in that he was born blind and was able to grow up like this instead of having to adapt to a whole new way of life. It did take him longer than other cats to learn some things. When I first brought him home he walked around cautiously, feeling around him and sniffing everything. Within an hour he knew the layout of the bottom floor of the house and had no issues getting around. I've owned a lot of cats in my life, but Jack is the most energetic and most playful. Sometimes he'll bump into something. Sometimes he'll fall off of something. But he just straightens himself out and carries on as if nothing happened.