# can anyone help my 20 year old cat sleep at night?



## sallyann1969 (Feb 7, 2006)

my vet says she's simply not getting any younger and she's gone a little crazy.
What she does is this: 
When we go to bed at night and turn off all the lights, after about 10 to 20 minutes she starts crying, well actually its more like waleing. You know that horrid sound they can make, sounds a bit like a baby crying. I live in a small ground floor flat and its not a case of she doesn't know where we are because she will sometimes come to bed with us then go back to the living room to do her crying. It can go on for about 20 minutes and she pays no attention to us even if we call her. 
I've tried putting on a night light but she still does it. She even does it when I'm in the computer room, with the door open and the TV is playing in the living room, 10 paces away.
I'm worried she does it when we're not here aswell and she's getting herself stressed about it.
She can also start doing it in the middle of the night and wake us up.

Other things she does are: 
She will not drink water from her own bowl. She only seems to want to drink it from MY glass. It doesn't bother me, she can have my water but she seems obsessive about it.
Also she steals socks!! Clean or dirty it doesn't bother her, she's not fussy. But as she steals them she meows wildly and runs away with them. She never hides them just puts them in the living room on the floor. She does this at night too and also when we're not there. I come home from work sometimes to find them all over the floor. She steals them from the laundry basket, from the floor of the bedroom if they've been left there, from the drawer if its left open with just enough room for a paw. It's almost always socks but I have known other items of underwear too.  About this, my vet says she is revisiting her happy place when she's feeling a bit low, her happy place must be when she had kittens because she treats the socks like her babies. 

My vet just says she's crazy and has no suggestions. Can anyone here help me at all? Has anyone had any of these experiences??
Thanks
sallyann


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## sallyann1969 (Feb 7, 2006)

By the way I've posted a picture of her in the photo gallery, her name is Boj.
sallyann


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

Here is some information for you:

http://www.petplace.com/cats/behavior-o ... page1.aspx

http://www.vetinfo.com/catold.html

http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/aging2.html

http://www.2ndchance.info/oldcat.htm

Also:

*Signs of brain aging (cognitive dysfunction) in pets *

*Disorientation* - Your pet might be disoriented if he gets lost is familiar places, gets stuck behind furniture, or shows decreased responsiveness to sights and sounds.

*Activity changes* - Pets may begin to sleep more and play less. As cognitive function declines, there may be an increase in activities such as restless pacing, licking, or repetitive barking.

*Sleep cycle alterations* - Your pet may experience restless, unsettled sleep or waking at nights.

*Changes in social interaction* - Your pet may become less interested in greeting or social play with familiar people or pets. Some pets may become more irritable.

*Apathy and depression* - Your pet may have less interest in people, other animals, toys, eating and grooming.

*Anxiety* - Signs of anxiety include fear of sounds, people, or environments; a desire not to be left alone as much; and an increase in irritable aggression.

*Learning and memory* - The ability to adapt to new environments and learn tasks may be greatly impaired. Dogs may no longer respond to some of their previously learned commands, be less able to perform tasks learned in agility or obedience training, or be less able to function in the work for which they were trained (e.g., drug-sniffing dogs, seeing eye dogs). House soiling may also be a sign of declining memory in both dogs and cats. 

*Treating behavior problems in the older pet*

Fortunately, treatment for these problems is now available in the form of a prescription diet or a special drug that may improve the physical signs and perhaps even slow the progress of cognitive dysfunction disease in dogs.

Recent data suggests that keeping pets physically and mentally active may also improve cognitive function. Exercise your pet daily, play games with him frequently, review simple obedience commands during his daily walks and play, and occasionally provide new toys. And, of course, be sure to give your pet lots of love and attention during his golden years.


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## sallyann1969 (Feb 7, 2006)

Thank you for that, I really appreciate it. It's a great help.
Since I posted my first message she hasn't got any better and she's started doing something else.
last night I noticed it looks like she's been biting at her front legs. She has two bald patches, one on each leg. It's only that the hair is much shorter, not down the the skin. Could this be a sign of stress?
sallyann


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## seashell (Dec 5, 2003)

*Boj*

I just had a look at her picture - she looks so cute. I can't believe she's 20. I hope those tips from Meowmie will help her - keep us posted.

seashell


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

Not necessarily. It can be a sign of obsessive-compulsive behavior, which is not always caused by stress, and it can also be a sign of allergy. Allergy can appear totally unexpectedly at any age and in cats it can be very hard to track down. It can be caused by food and/or environmental factors. 
One other thing that can cause this behavior is pain. Pain from arthritis and/or other physical problems for instance. 

Try to think of anything and everything that might be different in the home and in the diet. Changes in the home, your and other family members' schedules, etc, etc, etc. Perhaps you can find a stress factor.
If there is anything new in the diet, take a look at that also. 

Whenever you see her chewing her legs tell her very gently to stop, put your hand between her mouth and the area she is chewing on and spend a few minutes stroking her and talking to her to help her relax.
Discourage the chewing every time you see it. 

Also, experiment with touching/stroking other areas on her body, the neck, the spine, the belly, the back legs. Try to cover every area inch by inch. See if she starts chewing on her front legs when you do that. If she does, that's a clue. 

And keep a careful eye on how she walks, see if you can detect even the slightest limp. 
Touch, feel the joints, check if any joint feels warm or swollen.
Also check her paws very carefully. 

In short, try to do as much investigative work as possible to find a cause for this new behavior. You may or may not be able to figure this out but it's definitely worth a try. 

One strange thing I've noticed in older cats is that they don't always lick or chew the area that's really bothering them. Sometimes they will just lick or chew the area that's closest to their mouth. 
You can rule out this possibility with some careful probing and observing her behavior while you are doing that.


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

PS:

Another thing you'll want to check on. When she grooms herself, try to see how much work she does on hard to reach areas. One more possibility is that she doesn't make much of an effort and settles down to concentrate on her front legs instead. 
If you notice that, again, just discourage the activity.


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## sallyann1969 (Feb 7, 2006)

WOW Meowmie, you're excellent. Thank you so much for taking all this time for me, I appreciate it so much.  
I will do some investigative work and let you know what I find. 
I noticed the patches on her legs but I haven't as yet seen her doing it. There hasn't been any changes that I can think of that could have upset her routine. Infact for the last year it has got calmer for her if anything. I used to do night shift but I stopped doing that over a year ago now.
She's not limping in any way and she does manage to groom herself reasonably well. Her teeth are not up to scratch but at 20 it's a miracle she has as many as she does. She had some work done to them last year but with her age my vet is unwilling to put her under to do anymore.
With regards to her food, I like to vary the flavour and also the make as much as I can so she doesn't get bored of it. Although having said that she will eat anything anyway and lives for her food, she even stole a carrot from my plate the other day and tried it. She has both meat twice a day and biscuit down all the time. 
I will post anything else I can think of after I have observed her for a while.
Thanks again Meowmie
sallyann


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## AnoKukoko (Feb 5, 2006)

wow, your cat's a centaurian, whats your secret?

btw, those who dont know what centaurian means, it means when a cat has reached the age of 20, they are know as centaurian 20 cat year old = 100 human year old

My g/f's dad has a tortie cat which is more than 20 years old, he seems like hes out of it, always giving a creepy stare, but is active like a normal cat should be. Except diet is different than the other cat at the same house, he put meds in the food, i guess its what making her normally active. Other than the creepy stares, hes a hardy cat. But he's smaller than yours. Maybe size makes a difference when it comes to the old age?


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