Well known in humans, Alzheimer's disease can also occur in cats even if the clinical entity that is close to it does not have the same name and is not totally similar.
Senile degeneration is not only observed in human medicine: it also exists in dogs and cats and is even relatively common in aging individuals. In these species, it is known as disorders of aging, a term that encompasses various pathological entities, including confusional syndrome, the disease that is closest to Alzheimer's disease in humans, and involution depression. They generally appear around the age of 12 years and increase as the animal ages. As in humans, their appearance is not systematic in the elderly cat.
Not obvious to recognize
These cognitive disorders are easier to recognize in dogs since they are characterized by behavioral disorders that are not necessarily as obvious to detect in cats, an animal that naturally has less marked social interactions with humans and is not subject to the same learning process as dogs.
Because one of the symptoms of these diseases is precisely the loss of learning. In cats, this can manifest itself by the appearance of uncleanliness. The animal is also less inclined to groom itself and this has an impact on the quality of its coat.
Decrease inactivity
We note a decrease in activity with a cat who sleeps more, asks less to go out, isolates himself more. He is less precise in his actions. Other behavioral disorders are possible: bulimia, exacerbation of licking, aggressiveness, spatial disorientation ...
Treatments are possible, but they only aim to delay the appearance of new symptoms and improve the quality of life of the cat suffering from dementia, without any possibility of a cure.
The appearance of behavioral disorders in an aging cat must therefore systematically motivate a veterinary consultation that will allow to highlight a possible organic affection that could be at the origin or to confirm senile dementia and to propose measures to manage it in the best possible way.