Question:
I was very moved by reader T.O.'s concerns with his elderly Maine coon's distress. My "old man" Chevy is over 18 years old and also yowls when he can't locate me, and his voice is unique. In his case, arthritis is unlikely because he regularly jumps onto the highest furniture available and races around like a kitten with his tail held high.I've just nursed my 90-year-old mother through a rapid decline into dementia, so Chevy's similar decline has been no mystery. My only question was whether his vision loss (diagnosed as cataracts) and hearing loss were causing him more distress.A major part of your advice to T.O. (keeping a heating pad on the right side of my bed pillow) has resolved most of Chevy's agitation. It is reliably warm, it has both his and my smells, and it never moves. A quick rub of the "dirty" towel cover against the clean one guarantees it as his territory.Chevy is slowly ceding his alpha-male status to my 5-year-old Maine coon, and the three females (each over 10 years old) are also renegoti
B.C., Port Tobacco, Md Jul 16, 2006
Answer:
I am glad that my advice was helpful in your dealing with Chevy's age-related dysphoria, as I prefer to call senile dementia, or dementia praecox.Humans, like other animals, become more fearful, anxious, defensive and sometimes aggressive when they are aware of the loss of mental and physical abilities, and when the senses of sight and hearing and sometimes smell become unreliable. Pain from old injuries, arthritis or other degenerative disease, coupled with adverse reactions and side effects from prescribed medicines, can intensify the dysphoric state.Whatever helps promote euphoria (gentle massage, especially -- see my books "The Healing Touch for Cats" and "The Healing Touch for Dogs," both published by Newmarket Press) is all that is called for.
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