geriatric cat behaviour...Please help :)

Re: geriatric cat behaviour...Please help :)

PHA86 — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:17:26 GMT

I would agree with the exam/bloods route. My already hyperthyroid 18 year old cat started to become very vocal before she was recently diagnosed with Conn's.

Re: geriatric cat behaviour...Please help :)

Steph Worsley — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 20:43:54 GMT

get a full geri cat profile done including thyroid, I had a hand-me down cat who at about 13 started doing this sort of thing, usually at night and she'd usually have found a cat-nip toy sat on it and started shouting. Although she was overweight and not grumpy/tachycardic etc it turned out she was hyperthyroid.....I only ran the bloods after speaking to Sarah Heath about her and she suggested firstly running the bloods as hypert4 can cause similar signs!

Re: geriatric cat behaviour...Please help :)

Julie-Anne Wilson — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 11:01:37 GMT

I recently done some looking into senility in cats as research for one of our Vets. If you look up fabcats, there's lots of info there. Only problem is, if it is senility, you moving is only going to make it worse. With senile cats, the littlest changes can worsen their condition. On of the things that is recommended is giving them a room, just for them and never changing ANYTHING in it, have lots of hiding places cardboard boxes etc.

Definitely look at fabcats http://www.fabcats.org/owners/elderly/index.php

Blood tests might also be worth a go. If it is senility, there's no way to actually test for it, it's a case of once you've ruled out everything else, there's also no actual treatment, but you can at least do what you can to keep the environment the same.

Re: geriatric cat behaviour...Please help :)

Roseann21 — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 10:22:24 GMT

How often does he scream? I had an old cat who started doing occasional yowling for no particular reason, randomly - but not all that often. He also had the habit you mention of staring at nothing in particular, I used to say that he saw dead people(!). He would also do sudden mad dashes around the house, again randomly and for no apparent reason. I was just told it was all part of senility. I considered Aktivait but decided against it, as he was otherwise fine (his bloods were all completely normal), and seemed happy the vast majority of the time.

Sadly he died very suddenly (probably of a heart attack according to my vet), so his behaviour was never explained - but from what you say, your cat may just be showing signs of senility. I don't know what else you could do other than use Aktivait, but I think if he is happy most of the time then that's the main thing.

Re: geriatric cat behaviour...Please help :)

F1chick — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 09:44:51 GMT

Has he had a clinical exam and rpt bloods recently?