Kitty Alzheimers or what?

[Katmommy]

I have a 17 year old healthy cat that seems to get lost and cry for us to come help him. He will be sleeping and in the same room as us and then we might leave to go into another room. He will wake up and begin a mournful cry and it will not stop until we come and check on him. I was wondering if anyone else on this site has experienced this or if you might have some answers. We will be spending more time away from home in the fall and we are worried that he might not fare well.

[Princesss04]

My dad has a cat her name is Patches (we call her buger) anyway he has had her since I was four years old. So she is 16 years old. She is the only cat in the house now. She will be fine and than start crying (actting like she does not know were she is at) and they will go play with her and comfort her and she will be fine for a while but than start again. They have her on a special soft cat food because her teeth are bad so they feed her all the time and she will be fine and than a few minutes later she will start crying again. She sleeps with my dad and she will be fine for a few hours in the middle of the night and than she will wake up and cry and he will get up and feed her and play with her than wrap her in her favorite blanket and hold her till she goes to sleep and than it will all start again in a few hours. This goes on all day long! I do not know what to tell you but if you figure something out let me know so I can let them know. She also is losing her hair around her butt (the top part like up by her tail, on the lower part of her back). She digs at her skin all the time and will scratch it so much that she will bleed. They took her to the vet and they sad she has no fleas they gave her meds for the skin irratation and that seems to help a little. They said there is nothing wrong with her just old age. But, I think at times it drives my dad crazy but that is his baby so he loves her and will take care of her no matter what. Let me know what you find out!

[Lucky Rescue]

Yes, cats can get senile, and forget where they are. It's very common for elderly cats to cry for no apparent reason.

When one of my cats was about 18, he started going into closets and howling. He also was very healthy physically.

When your cat finds himself alone, he is confused and calling for you. If it's possible, you might want to leave him in one bedroom when you are away from the house, with all his stuff, and hopefully that will make him not so confused and more secure.

[Princesss04]

You had a cat that was 18 years old that is to neat. How old was he when you got him or her?

[Lucky Rescue]

Princess, I found Monstrose when he was about 2. He was on the street downtown, starved nearly to death.

I had him until he was 20, and he was very robust and healthy up until about 2 weeks before I had to have him euthanized. He was 18 in this pic.

[Princesss04]

I am so sorry he is such a pretty cat. You were very lucky to have him that long and he was very lucky to have found you. Dad got the cat at a bank near our house. They were in a box (there were seven of them) they were so little. I guess the people had dropped them off there. They were not weaned or anything it was so sad dad said. He brought us her home. At night he would yell come on patches lets go to bed and she would come running down the hall to his room and want on the bed but she was so little he would have to put her up there until she got bigger. She still does that to this day. I hate that she has to go through this now. I wish there was something he could do for her. She is such a good cat and a friend to the family. Dad will put the phone up to her ear at night when we talk on the phone and I will talk to her. She will cry and than purr she is so sweet. It makes it hard to see your family member go through something like this and you can not do anything to help. I mean you can love her and comfort her but that is all.

[chico2]

I too had a cat who lived to be 18,I him had from the time he was a very sickly baby....many cats if loved and cared for can live to be 20,sometimes longer.This is what everyone has to think of,who gets a cute little kitten.
20 years is loong time,my kids grew up with Sammy,he was a wonderful cat.

[Katmommy]

I would like to thank everyone for their help with my kitty. I would love any other advice if anyone has any.

I had another Senior Citizen Kitty who lived until he was just shy of 18. He had kidney disease (diagnosed at 7) and lived very well with treatment until the last two weeks.