Hi everyone, I think my Girl cat has Dementia? She is a long hair, 13 years old. I’m the past month she has stopped cleaning entirely! She is covered in mats and her nose is constantly filthy. She walks around crying all the time. But looks at me with vacant eyes when I can get her to give me eye contact. Back in March the vet told us to put her on weight management because she had got very fat, she wa son that for a couple of months, then my boy cat has been really poorly with bladder stones, so both cats have to be on c/d food, as they were sharing food. In the past couple of weeks she has seemed to drop a lot of weight very quickly. My chunky girl has seemingly turned into a bag of bones. She constantly drinks water and sometimes sits with her chin in the bowl for a while. She constantly has a wet chin from being in the water bowl. As I type she been outside crying, came up stairs and has sat in the bathroom crying and now she has moved to my other bathroom to sit in it. She is obsessed with the shower and fell in it last night while my son was showering. Is this dementia?
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Could It Be Dementia?
- Thread starter Lafemme
- Start Date
This is more than dementia.
Can you help her keep her nose clean with a gentle wiping? Can you shave or trim up those mats?
Can you give her a calming treat?
But mostly she needs to be seen by a vet, and tell them all that's going on with her.
Can you help her keep her nose clean with a gentle wiping? Can you shave or trim up those mats?
Can you give her a calming treat?
But mostly she needs to be seen by a vet, and tell them all that's going on with her.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
Yes I am going to take her the vets. I’ve been trying to keep her face clean and I’ve been desperately trying to remove her mats. I have an array of tools and every time she just gets too upset and goes for me. I don’t see what else it could be.
Try scissors on those mats, also I read that if you put a little corn starch on those mats and try and work it in a bit, leave it on for a few hours it'll help the strands of hair to loosen.
I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this! Dementia is likely part of it, but can she still hear? The water issues and weight loss are concerning.
Sending loads of love and prayers!!
I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this! Dementia is likely part of it, but can she still hear? The water issues and weight loss are concerning.
Sending loads of love and prayers!!
Any number of conditions could cause what you are seeing. At the most basic level any sort of illness or problem that could cause pain could make her unwilling to groom or eat. Pain makes her loose her appitite, losing appitite causes her to eat less and have less energy, having less energy makes her not want to groom, having less energy also makes her loose weight and can cause her to appear confused. It could be a big ripple from something like arthritis (as a basic level pain problem).
It could be hyperthyroidism as another idea. Excessive thirst, weight loss, and unkempt appearance are all classic signs. I know in humans it can cause confusion and behavior changes so it may be present in cats as well.
It could be as simple as a stress reaction to the dietary changes triggering a ripple effect.
Hopefully your vet can get to the bottom of it quickly. I personally request x-rays and blood work upfront if there is even a chance either will show something. Just so my cat doesn't have Togo back multiple times as we rule things out. Also, you then have a baseline to compare with for retesting if it takes longer to figure out.
Please let us know how it goes. I do shorthair cats only so I can't help with the mats, hopefully the vet can help you there too.
It could be hyperthyroidism as another idea. Excessive thirst, weight loss, and unkempt appearance are all classic signs. I know in humans it can cause confusion and behavior changes so it may be present in cats as well.
It could be as simple as a stress reaction to the dietary changes triggering a ripple effect.
Hopefully your vet can get to the bottom of it quickly. I personally request x-rays and blood work upfront if there is even a chance either will show something. Just so my cat doesn't have Togo back multiple times as we rule things out. Also, you then have a baseline to compare with for retesting if it takes longer to figure out.
Please let us know how it goes. I do shorthair cats only so I can't help with the mats, hopefully the vet can help you there too.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #6
She can hear and it’s definitely in spells and not all the time. I’ve tried cutting the tats out aswell, but she has some big old claws that she uses in me. I’ve managed to cut some out, but the ones underneath she will not let me get too. Xx
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #7
Definitely to the vet as soon as possible and request a full senior blood work panel. Diabetes, kidney disease and hypothyroidism can all cause the symptoms you describe. The weight loss and constantly drinking leads me to think diabetes is the top contender.
Oh by the way, try the corn starch and work on them a little bit at a time, but be sure and ask the vet to trim or shave those mats, she'll feel a bit better with them gone.
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- #10
*update*
It has been a stressful week for my little girl. Appointment with the vet to discuss her weight loss and the state of her hair. Two days later she was booked in for a full day to get her hair cut and do a blood work up. Results came back as diabetes. Further tests to investigate her calcium levels, as hey are high, but still in normal, so need to keep an eye out, as this could indicate tumours/lymphoma. So on Saturday we are having a consultation with the vet to get her started on infected insulin and see how things go. I’m nervous of how to deal with this. My other cat is highly stressed permanently and suffers with urinary tract issues and is constantly getting flare ups. Now my girl cat will be on meds all her life. It’s all a little stressful xx
It has been a stressful week for my little girl. Appointment with the vet to discuss her weight loss and the state of her hair. Two days later she was booked in for a full day to get her hair cut and do a blood work up. Results came back as diabetes. Further tests to investigate her calcium levels, as hey are high, but still in normal, so need to keep an eye out, as this could indicate tumours/lymphoma. So on Saturday we are having a consultation with the vet to get her started on infected insulin and see how things go. I’m nervous of how to deal with this. My other cat is highly stressed permanently and suffers with urinary tract issues and is constantly getting flare ups. Now my girl cat will be on meds all her life. It’s all a little stressful xx
Sorry to hear it. Two of my girls plus one foster all hung out at their water bowl before being diagnosed with diabetes. Two of the pretty much stopped grooming themselves, I think because their high blood sugar made them feel listless and sleepy.
Don’t be intimidated by the insulin. It is actually easier to give a cat an insulin injection than it is to pill them. The needle is so thin and the injection goes back by their shoulder blades and they don’t even feel it. The only problem I had is poking myself a few times while pulling skin up to inject.
It does take few weeks and vet visits to get their dosage regulated but after that it is pretty easy to bet used to. And once her blood sugar goes down she will feel so much better.
Don’t be intimidated by the insulin. It is actually easier to give a cat an insulin injection than it is to pill them. The needle is so thin and the injection goes back by their shoulder blades and they don’t even feel it. The only problem I had is poking myself a few times while pulling skin up to inject.
It does take few weeks and vet visits to get their dosage regulated but after that it is pretty easy to bet used to. And once her blood sugar goes down she will feel so much better.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #12
Thank you! It’s better to hear that someone else has coped with it! Are your girls grooming themselves now? My cat is a long hair, so she looks terrible and it is a struggle, even if she could half maintain herself, I could help her. Fingers crossed she starts to feel better tomorrow after we get started with medicine! Xx
Hi Susan.
Just saw this thread. Diabetes in cats is fairly easy to control. Our older one became diabetic after receiving a steroid injection for another issue - this happens sometimes. We were taught how to administer the insulin and it was really easy. Even my husband who is squeamish managed to inject Casper with no problems at all.
Some cats will go into remission from diabetes naturally so it's possible that this won't be a lifelong situation. It's more common when diagnosed later in life for this to happen. Casper went into remission after about 6-9 months or so; it's been a while now so I don't remember exactly.
You just need to be careful to monitor them closely but you don't have to be obsessive about it either. Our tip off to him being in remission was he suddenly started behaving oddly, looking very confused and couldn't stand up without being very wobbly. Turned out - he was in remission and because of the injection giving earlier in the day had too much insulin in him which caused him to "crash". We immediately brought him to the vet and once the stabilized him and ran some tests it was found that the diabetes was gone. It's probably 2 years now since that happened and so far so good!
Just saw this thread. Diabetes in cats is fairly easy to control. Our older one became diabetic after receiving a steroid injection for another issue - this happens sometimes. We were taught how to administer the insulin and it was really easy. Even my husband who is squeamish managed to inject Casper with no problems at all.
Some cats will go into remission from diabetes naturally so it's possible that this won't be a lifelong situation. It's more common when diagnosed later in life for this to happen. Casper went into remission after about 6-9 months or so; it's been a while now so I don't remember exactly.
You just need to be careful to monitor them closely but you don't have to be obsessive about it either. Our tip off to him being in remission was he suddenly started behaving oddly, looking very confused and couldn't stand up without being very wobbly. Turned out - he was in remission and because of the injection giving earlier in the day had too much insulin in him which caused him to "crash". We immediately brought him to the vet and once the stabilized him and ran some tests it was found that the diabetes was gone. It's probably 2 years now since that happened and so far so good!
Yes on the remission. My foster cat went into remission about four months after diagnosis and stayed diabetes free for the rest of her life. The other two did not.
As far as grooming, it did improve on each after diabetes treatment. My two were quite short hair so it wasn’t that they matted that much pre diagnosis but they were greasy and smelly. The foster was a matted, greasy and really stinky mess so she was the most dramatic improvement. I only had to bathe her once and that was pre diagnosis. After that she did just fine taking care of herself.
As far as grooming, it did improve on each after diabetes treatment. My two were quite short hair so it wasn’t that they matted that much pre diagnosis but they were greasy and smelly. The foster was a matted, greasy and really stinky mess so she was the most dramatic improvement. I only had to bathe her once and that was pre diagnosis. After that she did just fine taking care of herself.
