Complete Care for Your Aging Cat - Amy Shojai [125]
Researchers agree that mental stimulation drastically improved the cognitive function of aging cats.
Keep your cat both physically active, and mentally engaged throughout her life to keep her brain young and potentially prevent or slow the progression of aging changes. Teach her to walk on a leash; teach her tricks; offer brain-stimulating viewing entertainment such as bird feeders outside windows.
Offer puzzle toys that reward the cat’s interest by dispensing treats. This can mimic feline hunting behaviors and keep the cat entertained and mentally sharp.
Treatment
It’s vital that the condition be diagnosed correctly. A single behavior change in an old cat could potentially have several causes. For example, a break in housetraining might be due to arthritis that makes getting in and out of the litter box painful. It could also be caused by kidney disease or diabetes that prompts increased urination. Personality changes could be caused by a brain tumor, hyperthyroidism, or pain from dental disease. Wailing at night sometimes is a sign of high blood pressure.
Without the proper screening tests to rule out other causes, it can be very difficult to definitively diagnose this condition. A large percentage of geriatric cats displaying these objectionable behaviors are simply put to sleep. Today, medical help can reverse the condition in a percentage of affected cats, and preserve the bond between the owners and their pets.
Once properly diagnosed, the human medicine selegiline hydrochloride (Anipryl) has been FDA-approved in the United States to treat canine cognitive disorder. “Anipryl can be used in cats now in Canada,” says Dr. Little, and it has been used with success off-label in the United States. Dr. Fortney says the drug may work to prevent the ongoing damage to the brain. “It acts on one of the neurotransmitters in the brain responsible for nerve-to-nerve communication, and slows the natural destruction of the chemical compound dopamine in the brain.”
Cognitive dysfunction is a progressive disease, and medication can slow or reverse these behavior changes but not on a permanent basis. “The medicine is not a magical elixir or fountain of youth,” says Nicholas Dodman, BVMS, a behaviorist at Tufts University. Time will catch up with the cat, and there will be an eventual decline. But selegiline can buy time and improve the cat’s quality of life for perhaps a year or more. And when your cat is 17 or 18 years old, another year or two is golden. Generally the cat will need to be on the drug for about four weeks before any results can be expected.
Comfort Zone
Cats suffering from senility often forget to use the litter box. Keeping the cat’s bedding and your carpet and upholstery clean and odor-free helps maintain quality of life for you both. Here are some of my favorites.
Anti-Icky-Poo uses live bacteria to eliminate any organic material left behind by your pets.
Urine-Off employs an enzyme that digests the urine molecules.
Zero Odor is not an enzyme, but is composed of anti-odor molecules that bind with odor molecules and change them from smelly to non-offensive.
AtmosKlear Odor Eliminator developed for the automotive industry can be used straight or mixed with other cleaning preparations. It's recommended for pet odors and other household odors (smoke, gym bags, basement mustiness, etc).
New Frontiers
A number of other studies of dogs using selegiline have shown promising results regarding increased longevity. The newest treatment, a therapeutic diet for canine cognitive disorder, was made available in 2002, but researchers say that work on a comparable feline diet has not made significant strides.
“There are a couple of other drugs available in Europe, Canada and Australia,” says Bill Fortney, DVM, director of community practice at Kansas State University. One is called Fitergol (nicergoline) made by Rhone Merieux in France. “They end up increasing the blood flow to the brain, and therefore delivering more oxygen to the brain so that