13 y/o female sudden howling cat

by Alannis
(New York State)

My cat is a spayed 13 y/o female; I had the vet examine her last week because she was suddenly (overnight change) and LOUDLY howling her head off all over the house and acting jittery and afraid of me and my son. Vet did not have any ideas why she's doing this. For the last two weeks she has simply howled and run off under a bureau or table and stayed there all day. No fever, no infection, good litter box use, same eating pattern, no odd odors; vet said physically she's in very good shape. We can't discover anything new in the house that changed her routine. No new people, no trips we've taken, no other animals have visited. This is both strange and worrisome.

Answer by Kate#
Hi well this could be a symptom of a mental illness perhaps due to her age although she is not terribly.old.

Cats like humans can suffer from a forms of dementia just like humans and this can cause the cat to have periods of confusion. Some of the symptoms are yowling, strange behaviour and non recognition of their owners. I have a web page about this here https://www.our-happy-cat.com/senior-cat.html

Unfortunately if this is the case I don't think there is much that a vet can do, but it is always worth asking if they think this could be the cause.

best wishes Kate

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