[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference misery::feline

Title:	Meower Power - Where Differing Opinions are Respected
Notice:	purrrrr...
Moderator:	JULIET::CORDES_JA

Created:	Wed Nov 13 1991
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1079
Total number of notes:	28858

816.0. "Alzhiemers in Cats?" by MKOTS1::COOPER () Thu Oct 13 1994 13:00

    A friend of mine, who reads this file, but doesn't write in hear asked
    me to find out if anyone has know a cat to have alzhiemers (sp).
    
    I looked through the keynotes and couldn't find anything in aging or
    under that keyword so that is why I am asking now.
    
    She said that the cat will go into rooms and cry because she doesn't
    seem to know where she is.  Last night was their wet food night and
    usually they are both there battling to who is getting to it first.
    
    Instead Spooky Friday went into the basement and stayed there.  She is
    about 12 and a half years old and Spooky is going into the vets, but
    can anyone shed some light on this subject.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
816.1	Sensorily Deprived?	LJSRV2::FEHSKENS	len - reformed architect	`Fri Oct 14 1994 07:54`	29
	I don't know that it's Alzheimer's, but old cats definitely slow down. My Merlin, who's 19, seems to stop and think a lot lately, like "uh, what was I doing, oh yeah looking for Daddy's lap". And he's getting very hard of hearing, so he seems more spaced out than he really is. His tired old bones just make him slow. He talks a lot demanding attention, but usually only when he feels I'm ignoring him. He's developing cataracts, and he doesn't seem to really smell things unless you put them right under his nose. My guess is that the acute senses that cats have relied on all their lives (hearing, smell, sight, whisker-sense) deteriorate with age. Their brains are still working, thinking cat thoughts, but they're less well plugged into the world around them, which is very confusing for them, and may ultimately prove terrifying. One of the things I got from Elizabeth Marshall Thompson's latest book, "A Tribe of Tiger", is that cats are about meat, and survival for the cat as a species has historically meant being able to hunt (so that's the way their genes are wired). I have found this idea to be remarkably applicable to just about any aspect of cats' behaviour. Her corollary to this theme, tossed off in a single sentence, is that with so much of their basic behaviour wired in like this, the rest of a cat's brain is free to develop a unique personality. len. len.
816.2	Max is "Mommy's Boy" and knows it!	USCTR1::SCHILTON	MRO3-1/E9, DTN 297-7558	`Fri Oct 14 1994 09:26`	10
	My cat, Max, will go down to the basement and cry a couple of times ... because he's wanting some attention. As soon as I call him, make any kind of fuss, he tears right back upstairs again like a shot, to Mommy and everything's fine. Maybe your friends cat is feeling neglected and wants some "special" attention. Sue
816.3		JULIET::CORDES_JA	Four Tigers on my Couch	`Fri Oct 14 1994 10:03`	7
	Several of my cats will wander off to another room and then cry woefully. I usually can figure out who it is by the sound of their voice and I'll call out to them and ask if they're lost. That usually stops it. With Onyx it works great because he'll come looking for me afterwards for some love and attention. Jan
816.4	Spike does that...	FSTCAT::COMEFORD	I'd rather be a Bandit than a Bogey...	`Wed Oct 19 1994 13:51`	8
	And he's only 2. Usually it means he's lonely and wants attention, or sometimes he wants the other 2 cats to play (the call is sufficiently different that I get it right about 90% of the time). Calling out to him either brings him trotting to me for love, or gets me another cry (as if to say "Not you Daddy, the other cats..."). Thanks, Keith