Elderly cat - Weird, erratic behavior

[stephanie junca]

Hi all,

I havent been on here in quite some time. I had an older kitty who passed 3.5 years ago. She was my BFF growing up and gave me 18 wonderful years in her presence. Still remember her often. I came on here at the end of her life when I had to make the difficult decision and you guys were so nice and compassionate. Greatly appreciate it!

A few months after her passing, my husband (then fiance) came upon two adult cats who needed a good home. I adopted them and have had them since. We were not sure on their ages but we found a birthdate on the chip of one of the cats so we assumed that they were both around the same age.

Luna is our tortioseshell mouser girl. Her chip showed her as turning 12 this year. She is in good health, spunky and very sweet. She plays well with our two dogs. She has become my cat essentially and will sing to me often.

Spock is our (potentially) Maine Coon cat who could live in your lap all day long. In the past year, we have seen him decline rapidly. We assume he is older than Luna now probably 13-14 maybe older. He is super skinny even though he eats a lot. He also drinks tons of water and pees like nobodies business. If we don't clean out the boxes often, then Luna will go outside of the box. We have had to add more boxes around the house to remedy this.

Not only are his eating and drinking habits getting worrisome along with his weight loss, but he is also attacking Luna a lot and myself. He will chase Luna around the house and try to mount her. They are both fixed by the way. He will also bite me out of the blue and swat at me. He also swats and hisses at the dogs for no reason but he hasn't ever warmed up to them even though we have had the dogs for two years now. They leave him alone as much as possible.

He yowls in the night a lot as if he were in pain or hungry or I dont know.

I have taken him to the vet probably 3 times just this year trying to figure out if he has something going on healthwise. But after several blood panels, physical exams and even x-rays, the vet has just concluded that he has kitty dementia. He recommended feliway diffusers and just trying to make things comfortable for him. We have one diffuser per floor in our house but it doesnt seem to help unfortunately.

I don't know what else to do to make him comfortable or to make him stop attacking Luna or the dogs or myself for that matter. He never does these things to my husband for some reason.. lucky!

Any suggestions are welcome!

 

[tarasgirl06]

Hi all,

I havent been on here in quite some time. I had an older kitty who passed 3.5 years ago. She was my BFF growing up and gave me 18 wonderful years in her presence. Still remember her often. I came on here at the end of her life when I had to make the difficult decision and you guys were so nice and compassionate. Greatly appreciate it!

A few months after her passing, my husband (then fiance) came upon two adult cats who needed a good home. I adopted them and have had them since. We were not sure on their ages but we found a birthdate on the chip of one of the cats so we assumed that they were both around the same age.

Luna is our tortioseshell mouser girl. Her chip showed her as turning 12 this year. She is in good health, spunky and very sweet. She plays well with our two dogs. She has become my cat essentially and will sing to me often.

Spock is our (potentially) Maine Coon cat who could live in your lap all day long. In the past year, we have seen him decline rapidly. We assume he is older than Luna now probably 13-14 maybe older. He is super skinny even though he eats a lot. He also drinks tons of water and pees like nobodies business. If we don't clean out the boxes often, then Luna will go outside of the box. We have had to add more boxes around the house to remedy this.

Not only are his eating and drinking habits getting worrisome along with his weight loss, but he is also attacking Luna a lot and myself. He will chase Luna around the house and try to mount her. They are both fixed by the way. He will also bite me out of the blue and swat at me. He also swats and hisses at the dogs for no reason but he hasn't ever warmed up to them even though we have had the dogs for two years now. They leave him alone as much as possible.

He yowls in the night a lot as if he were in pain or hungry or I dont know.

I have taken him to the vet probably 3 times just this year trying to figure out if he has something going on healthwise. But after several blood panels, physical exams and even x-rays, the vet has just concluded that he has kitty dementia. He recommended feliway diffusers and just trying to make things comfortable for him. We have one diffuser per floor in our house but it doesnt seem to help unfortunately.

I don't know what else to do to make him comfortable or to make him stop attacking Luna or the dogs or myself for that matter. He never does these things to my husband for some reason.. lucky!

Any suggestions are welcome!

He may have arthritis. It's pretty common in mature cats. Providing him with some steps (it doesn't have to be fancy. You can buy cat steps, but I just use a single-story cat condo on one side of my bed; it's a platform bed, so it has a "step" all the way around it) to things he likes to get up on may help. Also, I scoop 3-5 times daily anyway, as I know cats like their toilets to be clean and so do my roomies and I. The feliway is a good thing to use. You might look into the spray, which is odorless and stainless and can be used on carpets/rugs/curtains/drapes etc. Some people swear by CBD oil; I haven't used it. But you might look into it for his discomfort.

 

[sunny578]

That's so interesting re: no health issues. Nothing with his thyroid? The urinating and the drinking just seem like red flags, so it's crazy that his blood panels are totally normal. Has he had his urine checked? His kidneys are normal?

 

[ArtNJ]

It does seem a bit off to get a dx of dementia, or only a dx of dementia, with the eating and drinking issues. You might get copies of the records and bring to another vet for a second opinion. With cats (or humans) one needs to be particularly skeptical about the "I can't find anything on the tests so I'll call it [ ]" diagnosis, as it seems these tend to be wrong at least somewhat more often than dxs in other contexts. Of course, this is an elderly cat and there is no guarranty another vet will be able to find something, or that you'll be able to effect things if they do, so only you can decide what is reasonable.

What % weight loss are you talking about over what period of time?

 

[di and bob]

He may very well be having dementia, although like said above I would rerun his blood panels. Mounting and lashing out is a sign of dominance and/or pain. He may very well have arthritis that doesn't show up in blood samples and may benefit from a supplement for that. There are calming aide treats too on Amazon, he may benefit from that. I would try to give him a heated cat pad under a blanket in a spot that the others can't invade, to let him feel more comfortable. Heat is good for soreness too. With the weight loss, etc. he may very well be entering the last stages of his life. Give him all the attention and love you can right now and try to feed him anything he wants, not just what is healthy right now. My Burt would only eat Arby's roast beef, McDonald's meat patties, and Kentucky fried chicken in the last year of his life. My heart goes out to you, I can feel your concern. You will be blessed for loving him so much and trying to find a solution.....

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. As said above, his behavior/weight loss are classic signs of hyperthyroidism, which requires a separate blood test to check his T-4 level. If that was not done, please ask the vet to take another blood sample for testing. Most vets will allow you to bring a cat in without an appt. just to have a blood draw done by a tech.

And, depending on what body parts the x-rays covered, they could have missed arthritis. Giving him an arthritis supplement, such as Cosequin or Dasuquin, can't hurt if he doesn't have arthritis, but may be of benefit if he does.

These conditions can cause anxiety and/or pain which might be the reason he is lashing out at your other cat.

 

[stephanie junca]

Hi there, yes, our vet has run two focused thyroid blood panels (including the T-4) with levels showing as normal. My vet was very perplexed by this as he was expecting his thyroid levels to be off especially the second time I took him in as he had lost more weight. We did the tests last year around this time and then again over the summer this year in July. Both times tests were within range. They did run his urinalysis to check kidneys and again within normal range.

For weight comparison because someone asked in the thread: when we got him he was 13 lbs which he was a little chubby at that point so he could stand to lose a little which he did. Next check up he lost a pound. Next check up which was last year in September, he was down to 9.5 lbs and they noticed that he had developed a heart murmur. That was when my vet decided to do further testing on him and get his levels checked focusing on thyroid, kidneys and potential diabetes. Again, levels showed as normal for him. When I took him in July of this year, he was 9 lbs and so the vet ran the blood panels again to see if anything had evolved. I took him in September of this year for his regular checkup and he is still 9 lbs which is better than all of these drastic weight changes.

I have food stations on both floors for him now because I want him to eat more to see if he will gain weight. He does eat and often. I now give him fancy feast senior 7+ as fancy feast seems to be his favorite. I have tried everything with him... blue buffalo, merrick, candidae, science diet, etc, etc. Fancy feast is what he seems to prefer so I give him a few cans a day plus I leave out a bowl of senior blue buffalo kibbles. Let him eat as much as he wants at this point. I also have fresh water at both feeding areas. Both of these feeding areas are in private zones of the house away from the dogs (who he does not like as I mentioned). One is in my sewing/crafting room where I spend hours at a time. I notice that he will stop by his food and water bowls often. I counted one night and it was about 3 times per hour that he would get water and eat some food. It's almost as if he forgets that he ate or drank so he comes back.

I have often wondered if he has arthritis as well. The vet didn't seem to think he showed signs of it though. Spock was previously declawed on his front paws so I wonder if his front paws hurt him sometimes. I tried giving him calming chews but he will not eat them even if I mix them with his wet food or put tuna water on them. He will not eat them at all haha. I even have pill pockets and nope! I would like to try something that could calm him or give him pain relief if that's what is going on. I've read mixed reviews on CBD oil so I'm a little skeptical about that. Seems you have to be very careful how much you give to your cats or it can cause serious side effects. Would be good to find something in powder or liquid form so I can mix it in to his wet food.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Wow - that is so weird! I am glad he isn't hyperthyroidic but at least if he were you would have an explanation. It's good that he seems to have slowed down with the weight loss too! Ever consider some of the nutritional pastes/gels just for added calories?

Maybe take a look at some different calming options on Amazon - there are a number of them that are liquid. And, a few diffusers that might be different than the one you tried. It might be experimenting with a number of the options, as not all of them work for all cats.
Amazon.com : calming products for cats