In an article from Alzheimer's Reading Room, Elaine Pereira recounts how sudden and significant changes in her 16-year old cat's behavior led her to believe pets can exhibit symptoms of dementia in ways very similar to people.
She first noticed the difference in her cat, Snoopy, when he began to howl loudly and unceasingly for seemingly no reason at all. After doing some online research about cat howling, Pereira discovered that the cause was cat senility, which is essentially a kind of dementia in pets.
“Cats, just like people, can suffer from a form of mental confusion, or cognitive dysfunction, as they age. They become disoriented and often cry plaintively for no apparent reason, especially at night.”
Read more: Our Pets Get Dementia Too
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