Expert: Jessica - 10/1/2009

Question
Hello Jessica,
We have a 16-18 year old "long haired 'torty'".  She has been part of our family for 15 years after starting her life semi-feral.  She is 99% an indoor cat.  She has lost some teeth in the past few years but at this point in her life she seems to be healthier and happier then ever before.  We moved to rural Mexico 5 years ago and retirement certainly looks good on her!  While always a vocal cat, in the past 6 months or so she will launch into a heart-wrenching yowl from the bedroom when we are in the living room, or from the living room if we are in the bedroom.  It started to occur during the night once or twice a night and because we love her we would get out of bed and go get her and comfort her.  And it became more frequent.  So we recently STOPPED jumping to her attention and it seems to make her yowling episodes shorter and less frequent.  Yes we fell for a bit of kitty manipulation, but can you think of why she is yowling like this other than controlling us? Yes yes we spoil our critters in this house but what are we here for?  But we need sleep, too.  The only other times in her life she made these sounds is when we put her in the car to go the vet. Now it looks like she is almost in a trance but easily snaps out of it when I talk to her.
Any ideas why she is doing it now so often?
Thanks for listening the long story.
JD

Answer
Hi JD.  She certainly is getting up in years!  I think the behavior is more likely stemming from true fear or confusion than the demand for attention.  Older kitties do often begin to have some loss of eye sight, and it tends to be worse at night.  Once the lights go out, they can feel extremely uneasy about trying to get around the house.  It may help if you left on a light or two or plugged in night lights to help guide her way.

However, there is another condition called Feline Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome (CDS) that is being diagnosed more often as our cats live to older ages. It’s essentially the cat version of Alzheimer’s.  Cat suffering from this condition have behavioral changes.  Among the most common is excessive vocalization, especially at night.  Other behaviors can include depression (sleeping more than usual, lack of grooming), failure to use the litter box, disorientation (walking in circles, facing the walls for long periods or getting “stuck” in corners), unprovoked aggression and failure to recognize familiar people.

Unfortunately, like Alzheimer’s, there is no cure for CDS.  Some treatments are being used to slow its progression and in some cases, reverse some of the signs.  These include a medication called Anipryl, which has been used for cognitive dysfunction in dogs for years, and a supplement such as Novifit.  Novifit works by replacing an amino acid called SAMe, since the depletion of SAMe appears to be a main cause of CDS.  Anipryl increases dopamine to improve cognitive processes.  While this medication is still only labeled for dogs (at least in the U.S. – not entirely sure about Mexico), it has been widely used for cats on an off-label basis.  You should talk to your vet about these possible treatments if CDS is believed to be the cause of her behavior.

In the meantime, it’s recommend for both CDS patients and kitties who are losing their sight to be limited to a smaller area of the home at night.  Smaller spaces provide a feeling of safety for animals.  If at all possible, it’s best that you be accessible to her in this area.   The security cats with these conditions feel with their owners very often helps to reduce the over-vocalization problems.  However, the cat will need a litter box nearby overnight.

I hope all goes well!

Jessica