Senior cat question

yayi

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Do cats get less confident as they grow older?
My senior Joji (maybe going on 15) calls me when she wants to go to my bedroom. At exactly 8:30 p.m she meows wherever she is and I have to carry her to the room. She stays there until 4 a.m, waking me up for the morning chores.
She is also going deaf.
Is there any way to make her more secure or sure about herself? Thanks!
 
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yayi

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12+ years. When I moved to my house she was already living in the garden. She's always been very independent and not a lap cat. Last vet check up was about 3 months ago. Everything okay.
Could she be just fed up with all the cats in the house? She never got along with them and maybe she wants to avoid them on her way to my bedroom?
 

happilyretired

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I lost my female companion this spring when she was almost 20, and she exhibited similar behaviors at about age 16 or 17 when she was also going deaf. She became very attached (as a former stray who adopted me, she was very aloof when younger) and wanted a firm schedule--e.g., she monitored my bedtime, and was clearly upset if I didn't retire when she expected. She was an only cat, but if you have other cats, I would suspect that your senior now wants no part of them. My girl's "world" seemed to get smaller and smaller, beginning at about age 17.

My vet was wonderful with providing information about how to make her final years as comfortable as possible, and you might want to talk to yours about these issues.
 

saundby

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Originally Posted by yayi

Do cats get less confident as they grow older?
My senior Joji (maybe going on 15) calls me when she wants to go to my bedroom. At exactly 8:30 p.m she meows wherever she is and I have to carry her to the room. She stays there until 4 a.m, waking me up for the morning chores.
She is also going deaf.
Is there any way to make her more secure or sure about herself? Thanks!
Yes, my experience is that cats do get less confident as they grow older, particularly in interactions with other cats. Sometimes it can be traced to a specific event that sort of breaks their spirit to some degree. Other times, they just can't take the horseplay that's normal interaction with younger cats, either it hurts them more, or they just mentally don't have the patience for it any more.

Changes like going deaf can definitely affect a cat this way.

When our girl Zyelena went deaf at about 16, she found a place she liked in the house where she could see everything going on around her as well as feel us moving around because the floor bounced the most there. Once we rearranged the furniture, and she went away and hid for two days until we put her couch back so that she could sit in her favorite place again. She also had to be able to see the path between her place and the food and water, so I had to move a table as well. Otherwise she'd just sit there and get dehydrated because she couldn't be sure if one of the other cats might be around (there was only one she'd tolerate having near her there, a boy who was a year older than she was and just as intolerant of horseplay.)

At least you're aware of the loss of hearing, once we realized what was up with Zyelena we were able to look back and realize she'd been going deaf for over a year.

Doing your best to meet the cat's needs, and being sensitive to what those are, is the best recommendation I can make for helping Joji feel better. Even if she's not a cuddler, a routine of giving her a little extra attention or TLC in some way will help, whether it's a bit of play at her speed or just sitting nearby for a little while each day, or whatever.

We have one cat whose "comfort activity" is sniffing the mail thoroughly when I bring it in each day, for example. It's a little bit of time where she gets to feel special. If I skip it, she'll get standoffish at first, and worse if I let it go for any length of time.
 

mews2much

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Last year when I got my Oreo I caught her trying to nurse on Coco. Coco loves the other Cats even know she is old. She would hold Oreo down when she tried to play with her and get mad. She is to old for that. I have notice if I hold her up high she tries to grab on to me and is scared she will fall. She is also afraid to jump off the counter in the bathroom if i sit her there.
 
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