Goldie is my friend except when she chases me and attacks me to practise her hunting skills. When she’s being nice, I am happy to share the sheepskin rug in front of the heater with her. Goldie is 13, a year older than me, and her brain is being bad. Mum says it Cat Dementia and we all have to be patient.
Mum and Dad have been sort of joking for a while that Goldie’s memory isn’t very good, so she had a big visit to the vet who said she is in good health except for one tooth that has a crack in it.
She’s had a cat flap for years but now she can’t work it very well – she pushes at the flap a lot but doesn’t always come through, she just sits and cries instead. She does the same about her food – sits and cries until they pick her up and put her with her food. Other times, she manages the cat flap and food just fine.
She spends a lot more time inside too. She’s always been a talkative cat but she’s got a lot noisier, especially at night (kind of like ‘sun downing’ in humans with Alzheimer’s). She gets a bit disoriented too and sits in the hall calling us, as though she can’t figure out where we are.
Mum had a chat to the vet about whether Cat Dementia was a possibility and he said yes. Mum did some research and Goldie has about 80% of the symptoms cats tend to develop.
There’s no treatment but there are things Mum and Dad can do to help us all cope as she gets worse. We’re not doing anything yet, apart from opening the door a zillion times a day, but as she gets more confused Mum and Dad will start making a few changes. Poor Goldie, it’s a bit sad that my friend has a bad brain…
