Complete Care for Your Aging Cat - Amy Shojai [127]
Max either hid from her or wailed for attention. Without warning, he’d climb into bed in the middle of the night, cry to wake her, and make a mess. “I was at the end of my rope,” she says. “I had to deal with this ailing kitty that’s always been so friendly and wonderful, good company and very loving.” She knows not to take it personally, but dealing with middle-of-the-night messes makes it hard. “It hurts so much to see him this way.”
Elizabeth became more and more upset as Max’s condition deteriorated. “He had this look in his eyes that said, who are you? where am I? I don’t know what’s going on! I’m upset, and I don’t feel well,” she says. “If you see an animal suffer like that, I feel it’s your responsibility not to prolong it.” She loved her cat and was torn by the thought of losing him, but knew she’d ultimately have to put Max to sleep.
The suffering—for them both—had been going on for five months when Elizabeth received a questionnaire from Max’s veterinarian, Dr. Kelly Moffat, requesting information for a study about senior cat patients. Participation in the study included complete blood work, physical and neurological exams. Elizabeth jumped at the chance that something would be found that could help Max.
The tests came back normal. For his age, Max was quite healthy and there were no physical problems they could find that would account for his distress and behavior problems. “Dr. Moffat explained that at a certain stage of the game, sometimes cats deteriorate on a cognitive level.”
Two months ago, as a last-chance effort, Elizabeth agreed to try an experimental treatment of Anipryl, a drug approved for use in dogs for cognitive dysfunction. Max received ½ tablet every morning. Elizabeth noticed a change within only a couple of days. “It was pretty dramatic,” she says.
Max seemed to regain his composure overnight. His appetite returned, and he began to beg for food just like old times. “Now he knows where he is, he recognizes me, he knows what’s going on,” says Elizabeth.
Thoughts of putting Max to sleep have been put on permanent hold, ever since the glazed look in his golden eyes lifted to reveal what was always there, under the confusion—Max looking back with love.
Bottom Line
Anipryl is dosed by weight, and costs about $1.50 a day for a cat.
STROKE
Common causes of human strokes are smoking, primary high blood pressure, and atherosclerosis—deposits of cholesterol-rich plaques within the arteries. Strokes are not nearly as common in cats because they don’t have those diseases, says Lisa Klopp, DVM, a neurologist at University of Illinois. “Cerebral vascular accident is something we definitely see in pets,” she says, but the causes are different. A cerebral vascular accident—called a “stroke” in humans—is a disorder of the blood vessels in the brain that results from interference with the blood supply.
“When I was in vet school, I was told that cats don’t get strokes,” says Carley J. Giovanella, DVM, a neurologist at Gulf Coast Veterinary Surgery, Orthopedics and Neurology in Houston, Texas. “But the more that we utilize MRI and diagnostic modalities to really see the brain, and see the vasculature of the brain, we’re finding out that is not the case. They do get strokes. They get plaque development from thyroid changes, they get blood clots from endocrine diseases, they get vascular changes. Quite a few cats get vascular accidents.” The brain doesn’t really feel pain the way that the rest of the body does. So a stroke isn’t painful or progressive, and can resolve over time.
“There is also a specific syndrome called feline ischemic encephalopathy,” says Dr. Klopp, and in most cases a cause can’t be determined. But sometimes it’s due to the parasite, cuterebra, when it migrates into the cat’s brain by mistake.
More commonly, infectious diseases and endocarditis, an inflammation of the heart tissue, bring about strokes in cats. But by far, the major culprit in feline strokes is high blood pressure caused