Zane

[Elkhound]

He's eating quite eagerly and drinking well; he's using the box.  He's sleeping a lot--even for a cat!--and doesn't seem to be running around or playing as much as before.  He's obsessed with 'The Bird'; for those of you who don't know it, this is a cat toy consisting of a three-foot long flexible aluminum (aluminium for our British friends) rod with a heavy cord attached to one end, and a tuft of feathers on the end of the cord.

When he was younger, Zane would get on his hind legs and hop around like a small, fat, grey kangaroo.  Now he will bat at it with his paws, but won't chase it around.  When he catches it and starts mouthing the feathers, I take it away and give him a kitty treat.  He's now going through jags of wanting to play with it, then loosing interest, then 5 min. later demanding I get it out again.  Sometimes he'll wake me up at night demanding I get it out for him.  The vet suggests that this might be a manifestation of the feline equivalent of Altzheimer's, but he seems to be mentally OK otherwise.

[Evie]

Well, as forms of mild dementia go, at least being obsessed with 'The Bird' isn't too bad of a way for it to manifest.  When our Genny reached her final months of life, she used to get confused about where her litter box disappeared to (never mind it was in exactly the same spot it had been since we moved into this house), and on several occasions she decided to leave her "presents" underneath the dining room table instead.     That was definitely not my preferred location for her to have an accident, if she had to have any!  *sigh*

[Elkhound]

Since my late Father was in early Altzheimers when he went, I can appreciate that.  (He could and would carry on long, complex coversations in which he was perfectly lucid--would make cogent, appropriate, and intelligent responses to everything one said; but later would have no memory of the contents of the conversation, or even that it had taken place.  On the other hand, when it was something that you wanted him to forget, he'd hang on to it.  I was never sure how much his 'forgetting' something was genuine and when he was just being difficult.)

And yes, obsession with "the Bird" compared with litter box issues is fairly mild; but it is hard to remember that at two in the morning when one wakes up to a banshee yowl---Zane's a common grey tabby, but sometimes I think he must have some Siamese blood somewhere!

[Elkhound]

He doesn't want to run or jump or play.  He used to look out at the birds and squirrels and talk to them.  When we heard neighborhood cats fighting outside he was all "Gimme my Glock, gimme my Uzi, gimme my K-bar, let me at 'em, let me at 'em!"  Now he ignores them.

He eats.  He sleeps.  He asks me to pet him.  He cuddles up to me when I sleep. 

Anyone who didn't know him before wouldn't see anything wrong with him, but he's not the same cat.  His purr-sonality has changed. 

He's not in pain, so far as I can tell, but only occasionally do I see a glimpse of the old, feisty Zane.

[DesertRose]

I'm sorry to hear that.

[Elkhound]

I'm sorry to hear that.

Thank you, D.R.; at this point, I don't know what to do.  He's not, it think, in pain and he seems to be still enjoying life, as far as he can.  But it almost breaks my heart to see him slow down so much.

I think about how irritated I sometimes got when he'd act up; now I'd thank St. Francis if he'd start to act a little bit like his old, annoying self!

[Evie]

Not being in pain is good, at least.  Maybe he's mostly got a case of "just not as young as I used to be"?  After all, even though he isn't of greatly advanced years anymore, he's hardly a kitten anymore either.  He's probably on the downhill slope of middle age at least, and I would think most living creatures start to slow down at least a little by then.  I know I have; not that I've got any major health issues, but I'm not as spry and energetic as I was at 21, and my pursuits tend towards the more sedentary.  Maybe Zane is in the same stage of life...a few health issues here and there, but mainly just wanting a more relaxed lifestyle than he used to prefer?

[Alkari]

I'm sorry to hear he is not his old self.  But as Evie says, maybe it IS a case of just "getting on in years" and slowing down a little in late middle age.   You said he was a full-grown cat when your father got him (do you know his background? was he a stray?), and could be anywhere between 11-14 years old.  That's around the average age for cats anyway, and if he's nearer 14 and still apparently alert and enjoying life, it doesn't sound as though he's doing too badly       

As with any older animal, you really just have to establish that they are in basic good health and not in any pain, and after that, you let them tell you what they can or want to do.   

[Elkhound]

Yes; a stray.  He was already neutered and declawed in the front--although he was able to hold his own against other outdoor cats, and catch mice, birds, and even squirrels with his teeth and back claws (I told you he was feisty!)--when he appeared in Father's neighborhood.  Several neighbors fed him, but when winter came Father decided to take him in.   

The vet says there's a growth on his liver; the only way to tell if it is cancer is a biopsy, and the only treatment would be surgery, followed by chemo and radiation, if it were.  This would be a case of the treatment being worse than the disease, I think.

[Elkhound]

BTW, have you ever known a cat to snore?  Zane does.  Quite loudly sometimes.  I knew that dogs did, but Zane's the first cat I've ever known who did.

[Evie]

Luke sometimes snores, but very quietly.

[DesertRose]

My parents' late cat, Catarina, would snore.  Not terribly loudly, but noticeable.  She also had a fondness for hanging out in the bathroom while people were showering; we decided she was taking steam treatments for her sinuses. 

[Elkhound]

Zane must be feeling better; he actually got an attack of the 'evening crazies' last night---you know, how they go running around the house as though chasing/being chased by an invisible monster?--which he hasn't done in a LONG time.

[Evie]

At my house, that's known as "Psychokitteh Time."

[DesertRose]

Good to hear that he's got some energy back.  My family calls that the "evening crazies" too, LOL. 

I went to the gallery and looked at his picture.  He really is a beautiful cat.