Feline Dementia Howling - and Dead Fred

[Lilith]

For a good while now Emily (my avatar cat) who's 16, has been howling loudly on waking. Once she even sat up and began to wash, and every time she took her paw out of her mouth she'd let out a heartrending yowl. This doesn't go on for very long; it's just as if she doesn't know where she is or what's happening, and then she comes to and behaves normally. If I'm close by I give her a cuddle and talk to her, of course, and I'm making a guess that it's caused by feline dementia and slight deafness. If there was more amiss I'd take her to the vet, but (paws crossed) she's fine otherwise, eating well, coat magnificent, so we live with it.

She did used to sleep on the bed but for some reason decided to stay downstairs, even at night, and it was heartbreaking waking up and hearing her cry. Only for a few seconds, and I knew she wasn't in need, but she sounded so forlorn. But she wouldn't come and sleep upstairs, so that was that.

She had a choice of comfortable beds and chairs downstairs, including a shaggy black sheepskin, known as Dead Fred, on the sunny windowsill, and I bought a Fred for upstairs as well, as my mattress was hard and it was uncomfortable to sit up and read without a cushion of some sort. Then this summer, changed my mattress, bedroom was chaotic with piles of junk everywhere, waiting for a makeover, and Dead Fred disappeared, until I finally rearranged the bedroom and tried to make it look civilised ... I'm not neat

Emily appreciated the change. She'd been coming to sit on a chair in there for an hour or so and now, seeing the bed, with Dead Fred spread invitingly on top, decided to sleep there. This was lovely, though I wondered if she'd wake me up with her early howling system.

She didn't. She's stopped. The only time I've heard her be really vocal was the other day when I was making the bed and Fred wasn't on it. She bawled the place down (she does tend to natter if I'm busy) and then got on the bed so that I couldn't do a damn thing; I kissed her and lifted her down but she went on shouting for Fred. When I put him back on the bed she got straight on him and went to sleep.

Has Dead Fred cured her? But no, she's got another Fred downstairs. Does my company soothe her? But I'm not always by her side, and I never hear her howling when we're in different rooms. I haven't heard her howl for a good few days now.

So, bit of a mystery really. All I can say is good old Fred

[Kay]

sounds very like my 15 year old Tiffany - her howling is worse when she's outside on the enclosed patio, when she makes such a racket I worry the neighbours will complain - there is no reason for the howling that I can see, so I think it must be something in her mind

if she starts it in the house a shout from me usually stops her, but I've given up bothering about it, as like your Emily she is in good general health

just one thing though - she has very similar colouring to your Emily, except no white, so I wonder - is this a ginger thing going on?

[Lilith]

Lol I'm reminded of a story I once heard about indignant neighbours who called the NSPCC out to an empty house where a baby could be heard crying ... turned out it was a Siamese cat. Calling. Making a RRROWWW!

Yes, I've worried in case neighbours think I'm neglecting her - oh, and during Mouse's hyperthyroid period where SHE was screeching for food ...

Aww so your Tiffany's a ginger? Myself I wouldn't put anything past a ginger! Gingers are wacky, off the wall, downright loopy, and a lot craftier than they make out. As I keep saying to my manic Molly, the ginger ninja -

Ginger yer barmy!

[Kay]

here's my ginger ninja/howling banshee

[Lilith]

Aww she's gorgeous, and in marvellous condition - she doesn't look like an old lady

[bobbys girl]

What an amazing colour she is, beautiful!

My 13 year old Willow is not overly vocal but she has become a real 'mardy-bum' and I think she has developed hollow legs! She is always looking for food and follows me into the kitchen every time I go in there. 'Willow, you've just been fed', 'oowww?'(no I've not) You have to make allowances for the crinklies. Having said that, the 'phone rang during tea (sad family news I'm afraid) After a long chat, I got back to find Willow had pinched the ham off my plate!

[Ruth B]

Rule 1 in our house, never leave a plate unguarded. The worst time is Christmas when the bird is out of the oven but i'm busy trying to get everything else finished, I always have to make sure that someone is on guard duty and paying attention for sneaking paws, otherwise a certain little tuxie of mine would be dragging it off, and before him Tiggy would have had a good try at it. We have even learnt to put the empty plates in the washing up bowl upside down otherwise he would be nose first in there.

As for ham, when I was making my sandwich this lunchtime I got mugged for half a slice, all three of them sat there either with the big 'I've never been fed' eyes, or the 'do you think you are going to get out of here with your ankles intact if I don't get some' look. Luckily I managed with just losing half a slice not half the pack.

[Lilith]

Lol - worth washing their whiskers for Little devils.


Sorry to hear you've had bad news, Bobbys girl, and hope the recent storm wasn't too brutal in your part of Ireland - all the best x

[Kay]

Aww she's gorgeous, and in marvellous condition - she doesn't look like an old lady

that's because she's lying down hiding her middle-aged spread

[Lilith]

Aww bless her, she's like my Emily - a chunky marmalade!

[bobbys girl]

Lilith- we got off quite lightly all things considered, can't say the same for folks down south - they really got clobbered. We had worse than that last year and had to have a row of trees cut down as a result. On that occasion the BBC never gave a hint of high winds! Thanks for asking.

The hardest part of it all was trying to keep Bob in. He was crying to go out but it was just too dangerous. When the crying didn't work, he waited until I was asleep the proceeded to bat the contents of my dressing table on to the floor - pots of cream and bottles of perfume hitting a wooden floor at 2AM is one of the joys of owning a cat.

The bad news was from my Godmother's brother (mum's cousins), her son has died, he was barely 40, same age as OH's son. haven't told mum yet!

[Antonio]

My sweet Lola had moments when she looked like she didn't know where she was.
It wasn't a constant condition, but in the last year she looked confused. Sometimes I caught her looking at the corner between two walls, or walking around the house without a destination, looking at things as she had never seen them.
Sometimes she would walk at the end of the corridor and start yowling. It was heartbreaking.
I remember there was a period of time wen the episodes were rather frequent, nearly daily, then they became more far apart.
I could go wrong, but these happened shortly before she got sick with her hyperaldosteronism and disappeared in the last months of her life.

My vet at that time said it was an early sign of feline dementia, but it should have gone worse. The symptoms disappeared rather getting worse.
Emily is gorgeous!

[Lilith]

Oh that's awful, Bobby's girl - that's no age at all

I'm glad the storm wasn't too bad - sounds like Bob was more of a disruption ... ohh yes, things going bump in the night - inescapable with cats! I once had a certain chest of drawers in the bedroom, next to a tallboy, and I'd often be woken by a loud bang as a cat jumped down. Till one night when I was awake and actually staring at the chest of drawers when the 'bang' sounded ... but there was no cat! I can only think it must have been something to do with contraction of the wood, like beams and stairs in very old houses, creaking eerily.

Poor Lola, Antonio ... although I think it's worse for the owner than the cat; I don't think the cat really knows what's going on or feels distressed; they're in a dream. Emily has just jumped up on the bed and gone WAAOOOW! but I spoke to her and that was it - and she must have been wide awake, but perhaps in a dream. She's curled up asleep on Fred now