by Amy Shojai
you aren’t feeding the cat. A smal bandage may be
provided to keep it covered when not in use.
Some cats won’t bother the tube at al . Others are
intent on either cleaning it or trying to remove it.
Monitor your cat, and if necessary, provide a col ar
restraint that keeps her from doing damage to the
tube or herself.
SENILITY
As they age, cats can develop signs of senility, or
cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS). “CDS basical y
represents a loss of memory and learning, or a reduction in
learning memory,” says Benjamin Hart, DVM, a behaviorist
at University of California-Davis. The syndrome has long
been recognized in elderly dogs, and cats also are affected.
“Cats age much more graceful y than dogs,” says Dr. Hart,
and because they live much longer, the age when they
develop symptoms is therefore much later.
“You’re more likely to see it in 15-year-old and older cats,”
says Gary Landsberg, DVM, a behaviorist in Thornhil ,
Ontario. He authored one of the first research papers on cats
that concluded, in part, that as many as 80 percent of cats he
sees that are over the age of 16 show signs of senility.
“Some of the brain changes in [these cats] are similar to
those seen in the early stages of human Alzheimer’s,” he
says. Like the affected humans, cats with cognitive
dysfunction also have deposits of amyloid material in the
brain.
Senior Symptoms
Signs of feline cognitive dysfunction can be vague and
confusing, and mimic other disease conditions. Look for:
Disorientation: wanders aimlessly, acts lost and
confused, may not recognize family members or other
familiar people or places, gets “stuck” in corners or lost
in the house
· Interaction changes: no longer greets family members,
dislikes or avoids petting, not as interested in getting
attention, interaction changes with other pets
· Sleep changes: is awake and active at night, sleep
cycles are disrupted or reversed
· Housetraining is forgotten
· Anxiety or compulsive behaviors: tremors, yowling and
crying, repetitive pacing, floor or object licking
In the past, these symptoms would have been
brushed off as a normal part of feline aging, says Susan
Little, DVM, a feline specialist in Ottawa, Canada. Today,
there are treatments available that can help. “It actual y
should be recognized as a specific health issue of a geriatric
cat.” Affected cats typical y seem to forget how to do normal
cat activities. For example, they are unable to find the litter
box, or simply sit in the middle of the room and cry.
Often, dog studies have been based on tests used to help
diagnose human Alzheimer’s patients. Fewer studies have
been conducted in cats, and these studies, in turn, often
have been based on the canine studies, says Kel y Moffat,
DVM, a general practitioner at Mesa Veterinary Hospital in
Mesa, Arizona. She conducted one of the first studies in cats
that included ful blood panel examinations and neurological
workups.
She examined 155 cats, aged eleven to twenty-one years
old. She evaluated whether the cat’s relationship with the
owner or other animals changed—perhaps a decrease in
tolerance to being handled or being left alone, for example,
or failure to recognize familiar people or places. “We asked
if these cats were waking up the owner at night, or
excessively vocalizing at night; if they’re wandering, pacing,
or any type of repetitive or compulsive type behaviors; and
we looked at anxiety, fear and irritations to see if cats
seemed to be more irritable than when they were younger.”
The last question covered memory and learning—if the cat
stil used the litter box, for example. “We definitely had a lot
of cats that didn’t have any medical conditions [to account
for] showing signs,” she says, with cats older than fifteen
vocalizing a much more at night.
Melissa Bain, DVM, a lecturer at University of California-
Davis also researched feline cognitive disorder. She began
by conducting phone interviews to screen the owners of cats,
aged eleven to nineteen that were patients at the UC-Davis
Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Basic questions were
asked to identify and eliminate cats from the study that had
physical causes for suspect behavior changes. They ended
up with 130 cats for the study. These were then further
identified as being positive or negative for a behavior
change due to potential cognitive dysfunction in these four
categories:
disorientation,
interaction
with
owner,
housetraining, sleep-awake cycle. “We asked them three to
four questions in each category. For disorientation, we
asked if the cat got lost in the house or the yard, or stuck in
corners or behind furniture, for example.” Owners were
asked to answer with increase, decrease, the same, or
absent. They were also asked to compare the aged cat’s
behavior to when they were middle-aged at seven to eight
years old.
“They were al spayed females and castrated males,” says
Dr. Bain, “and the cat had to be positive for two or more
signs in a category to be considered positive for that
category. We haven’t done the statistics on it, but there
doesn’t appear there’s any difference between the sexes.”
She says many of the cats showed increased vocalizing for
no reason. “We didn’t know what category to put it in. The cat
would just meow and act confused. It seemed to happen at
night.”
The acronym D.I.S.H. (disorientation, interaction, sleep
changes, housebreaking) was created to help identify
cognitive disorders in dogs, and because the drug Anipryl
was licensed for use in those specific categories, says Dr.
Landsberg. However, the acronym doesn’t account for
anxiety or compulsive behaviors such as howling and
repetitive pacing that tend to be quite common in both older
dogs and older cats. “Broader categories are probably a bit
better. That’s what we were looking for in cats, because you
don’t look at learning and memory tests in exactly the same
way,” he says.
Dr. Bain’s cat study indicated that 20 percent of eleven-to-
twelve-year-old cats were positive for one or more
categories. “We considered one category to be mild
impairment,” says Dr. Bain. “Only 3 percent were positive for
two or more categories—a very smal amount.”
As the cat’s age increased, so did the prevalence. The
percentage of thirteen-to-fourteen-year-olds positive for one
or more categories was 33 percent, but only 8 percent were
positive for more than two categories. 42 percent of the
fifteen-to-sixteen-year-olds were positive for one or more
categories; 16 percent of this group was
positive for two or
more categories. 61 percent of the final group of cats aged
seventeen-to-nineteen-year-old cats were positive for one or
more categories. “43 percent were positive for two or more,”
says Dr. Bain.
Age-Defying Tips
Researchers agree that mental stimulation drastical y
improved the cognitive function of aging cats.
Keep your cat both physical y active, and mental y
engaged throughout her life to keep her brain young
and potential y prevent or slow the progression of
aging changes. Teach her to walk on a leash; teach
her tricks; offer brain-stimulating viewing entertainment
such as bird feeders outside windows.
Offer puzzle toys that reward the cat’s interest by
dispensing treats. This can mimic feline hunting
behaviors and keep the cat entertained and mental y
sharp.
Treatment
It’s vital that the condition be diagnosed correctly. A
single behavior change in an old cat could potential y have
several causes. For example, a break in housetraining might
be due to arthritis that makes getting in and out of the litter
box painful. It could also be caused by kidney disease or
diabetes that prompts increased urination. Personality
changes could be caused by a brain tumor, hyperthyroidism,
or pain from dental disease. Wailing at night sometimes is a
sign of high blood pressure.
Without the proper screening tests to rule out other
causes, it can be very difficult to definitively diagnose this
condition. A large percentage of geriatric cats displaying
these objectionable behaviors are simply put to sleep.
Today, medical help can reverse the condition in a
percentage of affected cats, and preserve the bond between
the owners and their pets.
Once properly diagnosed, the human medicine selegiline
hydrochloride (Anipryl) has been FDA-approved in the
United States to treat canine cognitive disorder. “Anipryl can
be used in cats now in Canada,” says Dr. Little, and it has
been used with success off-label in the United States. Dr.
Fortney says the drug may work to prevent the ongoing
damage to the brain. “It acts on one of the neurotransmitters
in the brain responsible for nerve-to-nerve communication,
and slows the natural destruction of the chemical compound
dopamine in the brain.”
Cognitive dysfunction is a progressive disease, and
medication can slow or reverse these behavior changes but
not on a permanent basis. “The medicine is not a magical
elixir or fountain of youth,” says Nicholas Dodman, BVMS, a
behaviorist at Tufts University. Time wil catch up with the cat,
and there wil be an eventual decline. But selegiline can buy
time and improve the cat’s quality of life for perhaps a year
or more. And when your cat is 17 or 18 years old, another
year or two is golden. General y the cat wil need to be on the
drug for about four weeks before any results can be
expected.
Comfort Zone
Cats suffering from senility often forget to use the litter box.
Keeping the cat’s bedding and your carpet and upholstery
clean and odor-free helps maintain quality of life for you both.
Here are some of my favorites.
Anti-Icky-Poo uses live bacteria to eliminate any
organic material left behind by your pets.
Urine-Off employs an enzyme that digests the urine
molecules.
Zero Odor is not an enzyme, but is composed of anti-
odor molecules that bind with odor molecules and
change them from smel y to non-offensive.
AtmosKlear Odor Eliminator developed for the
automotive industry can be used straight or mixed with
other cleaning preparations. It's recommended for pet
odors and other household odors (smoke, gym bags,
basement mustiness, etc).
New Frontiers
A number of other studies of dogs using selegiline have
shown promising results regarding increased longevity. The
newest treatment, a therapeutic diet for canine cognitive
disorder, was made available in 2002, but researchers say
that work on a comparable feline diet has not made
significant strides.
“There are a couple of other drugs available in Europe,
Canada and Australia,” says Bil Fortney, DVM, director of
community practice at Kansas State University. One is
cal ed Fitergol (nicergoline) made by Rhone Merieux in
France. “They end up increasing the blood flow to the brain,
and therefore delivering more oxygen to the brain so that the
memory is supposed to work better. There are newer drugs
on the horizon that perhaps can better treat this particular
problem, or treat those that don’t seem to respond as wel to
the Anipryl.”
A wide range of various antioxidant, neuro-protective
nutraceuticals, supplements, vitamins and diet can be
adjusted to enhance the cognitive function in the older
animal, says Dr. Lansberg. “But what’s proven to be
effective or not is hard to say.
Although many therapies may hold promise for the future,
cat owners today can’t afford to wait years for them to
become available. Dr. Moffat says environmental enrichment
is easy, costs nothing and your cat can benefit today.
Studies by Dr. Milgram in dogs proved that enrichment
greatly improved canine cognition. “That’s definitely been
proven in people, too,” says Dr. Moffat, and it applies just as
wel to cats. “Use it or lose it, definitely. If they work the brain
on a regular basis, the memory ability is preserved longer.”
She suggests you offer your cat lots of play sessions to keep
her mind as healthy and wel toned as her body. This can
also help wear her out in a nice way, especial y prior to
bedtime, to help curb unwanted nighttime activity and
vocalizations.
Comfort Zone
A natural component of some foods, cal ed phospholipids,
can help reverse some signs of cognitive disorders by
helping brain cel s send and receive nerve impulses more
effectively. Choline and phosphatidylcholine, two common
message-sending compounds, are found in a dietary
supplement cal ed Cholodin FEL, which is a less expensive
alternative to Anipryl. The product is available through
veterinarians, and comes in a pil form or powder flavored to
appeal to cats, to be mixed into the food.
Golden Moments: Love To The Max
“I’ve had Max since he was six weeks old,” says
Elizabeth Jones, a computer graphics specialist in Mesa,
Arizona. She chose the white with gray Manx baby because
he was so playful and affectionate. Throughout their lives
together, Max never met a stranger he didn’t like. “He’d
always come right up get in your lap, make himself
comfortable, and just rub himself on your face,” she says.
When Max was five years old, Elizabeth rescued a
needy white Persian cat. Tenna and Max had the same
golden eyes, and had been born within a month of each
other. Although it wasn’t love at first sight, the personalities of
the sweet, laid-back Tenna and the outgoing, brash Max
seemed to complement each other. “The two of them
became very close,” says Elizabeth.
Max, Tenna and Elizabeth were a threesome for eight
years, until the Persian became progressively il with cancer.
“I had to put her to sleep,” she says. “That’s when a dramatic
change happened with Max. When she left, he was just
devastated.”
Elizabeth couldn’t explain to Max what had happened to
his furry companion. The cat was grief stricken, and his
meow-wails went on for hours. Final y the 13-year-old Manx
slipped away from the patio retreat and was gone for two
days. “I knew he was looking for Tenna. And he wasn’t going
to find her,” says Elizabeth.
She was relieved when he came home, but he was
stil crying and very upset. “I tried to comfort him—he was
desperately unhappy. I was upset, too,” says Elizabeth, her
voice shaking at the memory. With time, the pain eased for
both of them, but Max was never the same.
His behavior and personality began to change, so
slowly that at first Elizabeth couldn’t quite put her finger on
what was wrong. “He doesn’t look 15 years old to me, but I
know he’s getting up there,” she says. He’d always been
food motivated, but now even treats lost their al ure. Max
began to lose weight, and became reluctant to interact. The
gregarious cat she’d always known began to hide. Then last
March when she graduated from school and began working,
things went downhil fast.
“He’d poop on my bed, or pee right in my spot where I
sit on the couch,” says Elizabeth. The glazed look in his
eyes, and his anxious behavior made Elizabeth fear that her
beloved cat was losing his mind. Nothing she did seemed to
help.
Max either hid from her or wailed for attention.
Without warning, he’d climb into bed in the middle of the
night, cry to wake her, and make a mess. “I was at the end of
my rope,” she says. “I had to deal with this ailing kitty that’s
always been so friendly and wonderful, good company and
very loving.” She knows not to take it personal y, but dealing
with middle-of-the-night messes makes it hard. “It hurts so
much to see him this way.”