Could my kitten be deaf?

Not a diabetes question, so hope this is okay.

Got a new kitten 6 weeks ago. Maggie is now just about 8 months old. When we got her, she had been recently spayed, wormed (hookworms), and flea-stuff treated, before being shipped 600+ miles north to a local shelter. We took her to our vet right away. He declared her healthy, worm and ear-mite free, but she had a lot of dark gunk in her ears, which he cleaned out. She's half Maine Coon, so she has furry ears, and you cannot easily look inside, between the fur and her being a squirmy kitten, but it doesn't look like much of anything is building up in there; but again, you can't get a good look down deep.

I am noticing that she doesn't respond to calling, clapping, dogs barking, snapping, much of anything. But then, sometimes, she does, or the timing just seems so. But, she's a kitten, and therefore a bit of a squirly screwball. Could she just be so intent on whatever has caught her interest, or in preparing to pounce on it, that she is too focused to hear? I don't even see an ear twitch, most of the time.

Just now she was threatening to get through my houseplant defenses at the other end of the room, so I started calling to her, then shouting, clapping, whistling, it wasn't until I banged on a small table at my end that I saw her ears twitch my way for a couple moments. Then she was then sitting on the floor among her toys, grooming for a few seconds, and I started tapping the bars of her crate (we have big excitable dogs, so when no one is with her, she goes into a giant crate-pen for safety), not a twitch. Then she went into the crate to eat some of her food, when I tapped on it this time, she immediately looked up, but since she was on a shelf, she would have felt it.

Is there some sure way to confirm that either she hears or she doesn't? I'm finding it hard with her being a kitten, not knowing that she follows me into the bathroom because she hears me calling her, or because she's noticed I'm missing and figures that's where I am (she loves to play in the sink when I have the water on) and the same for leaving the room, and does she ignore me calling and whistling because she's young and distracted, or because she can't hear me?

If she's deaf or partly deaf, then I would change my approach at calling and teaching her. No use stressing word commands if she can't hear them, now is there.

 

Vitamin deficiencies can cause temporary deafness in some mammals. What vitamin I don't know, sorry. What is she eating and how is her appetite?

 

Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) Deficiency
I found this in PetMD. I've used this site a lot in the past but lots of ads and slow to load. Good luck.
https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_vitamin_b1_thiamine_deficiency

 

The best way to tell is to catch her sleeping, quietly and soft walk up behind her, hit metal pan with metal spoon. Stay about 3 feet away so she won't feel the vibration. If she startles, she at least hears something, if she's deaf she won't respond. I had a deaf cat from about 4 weeks old until 20 years old. Didn't realize he was deaf until he was about 6-7 months old. They learn lots of sign language just fine. Doesn't have to be 'real' sign language, decide what means 'eat', no, etc and use that. All my animals (dogs/cats) respond to hand signs even 20 years after he's been gone. It's handy to be able to communicate with/correct them from a distance without yelling.

 

Because of our older cat's diabetes, she gets pretty much the same diet. The older cats get FF Classic Pates. Maggie gets two cans of FF Kitten classic pate a day, and unlimited TikiCat Fish Luau dry food. Some days she eats little of the dry food, some days she eats much more. Eventually, when she is adult and no longer growing, she will get wet food only, but this way I can make sure she isn't running short of calories. Her food is in a giant crate-pen that she is put into when no one is around to watch out for her, as we have two larger dogs, a house in disarray as it gets sorted for moving in a few months, and one of the two older cats is not happy that Maggie joined our household, so no one but Maggie gets to eat the dry food, or steal her wet food.

 

One of our dogs came trained to hand signals, and the newer one continues to pick them up.
Our cats have only ever cared about two hand signals--the one where you put your hand down for them to come rub against, and the one where your hand is reaching for the squirt bottle because they have ignored your verbal command of "No!"

 

Is this cat white by any chance? Does she have blue eyes?

 

No, she's an orange cat, amber eyes, half Maine Coon. Fluffy orange kitty.