First, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to answer all of our questions. I've learned a lot from reading the other threads, as I'm sure others have.
My question is this-when does cognitive decline usually start in cats? My family has been lucky to have two cats that lived into their very late teens and early twenties. But, as they grew older, they seemed to go senile in a sense. One of them, Wanda, would have episodes where she would become very forgetfull and disoriented for a period of time, then recover. Although from what I've read cats don't have strokes like humans do, that was the best way our vet could explain what was going on to my Dad.
Dad's cat Pumpkin is now 10 years old. Occasionally, she'll seem to have "vacant" spells, where she seems to be staring off at nothing. I know this is common among all cats, but I know it upsets my Dad. As of her last vet visit, she is healthy and everything is normal (they've started doing yearly comprehensive blood tests because of her age). Is this something he should worry about, and what signs or symptoms should he be looking for?
My question is this-when does cognitive decline usually start in cats? My family has been lucky to have two cats that lived into their very late teens and early twenties. But, as they grew older, they seemed to go senile in a sense. One of them, Wanda, would have episodes where she would become very forgetfull and disoriented for a period of time, then recover. Although from what I've read cats don't have strokes like humans do, that was the best way our vet could explain what was going on to my Dad.
Dad's cat Pumpkin is now 10 years old. Occasionally, she'll seem to have "vacant" spells, where she seems to be staring off at nothing. I know this is common among all cats, but I know it upsets my Dad. As of her last vet visit, she is healthy and everything is normal (they've started doing yearly comprehensive blood tests because of her age). Is this something he should worry about, and what signs or symptoms should he be looking for?