Is your feline friend over 15 years of age? Vets classify it as a geriatric patient at this stage of life. You need to be aware that, at this advanced age, the risk of age-related illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease or cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS) increases. To help you detect this neurological condition in your cat as early as possible, this article summarises the key facts about feline dementia for you.
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If a cat suffers from cognitive dysfunction, it experiences memory loss.
In general, dementia is a neurodegenerative disease. However, dementia is actually an umbrella term describing symptoms such as memory loss, disorientation, and impaired thinking. Alzheimer’s, on the other hand, is a defined condition and therefore a subtype of dementia.
Good to know: In cats, the condition is referred to as feline cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS).
Cats of any age and breed can suffer from dementia. However, it is clear: the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in cats rises significantly in old age! One study indicates that half of the cats over 15 years old show signs of age-related dementia.
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Typically, dementia in cats results in a loss of cognitive abilities with age. Cats with dementia may display the following signs:
When your cat loses cognitive skills, its behaviour can change. It might become suddenly aggressive or very fearful, despite previously being friendly and tame. You may also notice that it starts vocalising more frequently than before.
Cats usually know their territory extremely well. However, cats with CDS may forget where their litter box is located or where they usually find their food bowl. You might observe your cat staring confusedly at a wall and struggling to find its way out of the room.
Cats are typically fastidious about grooming themselves with their rough tongues. Cats with dementia, however, often groom themselves less. They might also become unhygienic, defecating and urinating in random locations around the home.
Your cat may no longer be aware of what time of day it is. This could be noticeable if it forgets its feeding times.
Cats are nocturnal by nature, which means they tend to doze during the day and become active at night. This sleep-wake cycle is altered in cats with dementia, causing them to sleep through the night and remain wide awake during the day.
Nearly every cat responds to its name and understands what “food” means. However, as dementia also affects the learning and memory regions, affected cats may often forget trained commands.
Vets diagnose dementia in cats by ruling out other possible conditions (differential diagnoses). These include diseases that could lead to your cat becoming blind or losing its hearing. They will also check for ailments of the kidneys or bladder that might account for any incontinence.
Unfortunately, there is no treatment for dementia. That makes it all the more important to support your cat in everyday life. In consultation with your vet, you may consider the following actions:
Sadly, based on current knowledge, vets cannot cure dementia in cats. Once brain cells have died, they do not regenerate, and thus the deceased tissue remains dead. However, you can significantly improve your beloved pet’s quality of life with patience and understanding.
Dementia is generally a neurodegenerative disease. Specifically, while “dementia” is a general term describing symptoms such as memory loss, disorientation, and impaired thinking, “Alzheimer’s” is a defined condition and thus a subtype of dementia.
The German neurologist Dr. Alois Alzheimer first described the neurodegenerative disease in humans in 1906. Decades later, researchers discovered similar changes in the brains of animals like dogs and cats. In dogs, vets refer to it as cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS). Cats can suffer from a similar condition.
The cause: The body accumulates abnormal proteins within the brain tissue over time. These are referred to as tau proteins when inside the nerve cell. Outside the cell, they are called amyloid plaques. The deposition of these proteins leads to cell death in affected tissue. Consequently, the brain can no longer perform essential functions, impairing your cat’s cognitive abilities.
Find out more about Dementia in Dogs in our dog magazine!
At the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen I was extensively trained as a veterinarian and was able to gain experience in various fields such as small animal, large animal and exotic animal medicine as well as pharmacology, pathology and food hygiene. Since then, I have been working not only as a veterinary author, but also on my scientifically driven dissertation. My goal is to better protect animals from pathogenic bacterial organisms in the future. Besides my veterinary knowledge, I also share my own experiences as a happy dog owner and can thus understand and enlighten fears and problems as well as other important questions about animal health.
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