Cat growls at nothing, fights w/herself, etc.

Hi, I have three indoor cats, two females, one male, all neutered. The oldest cat (about 10) has begun to exhibit bizarre behavior. She can seem perfectly normal one minute and act very irrationally the next. She growls very, very viciously at nothing at all. She sits somewhere under something or behind the curtain and growls and growls and growls. She is very angry and upset during these times. She runs around, completely frantic, as if she is trying to get away from something. Sometimes she whirls and writhes in a ball, just like two cats in a terrible fight, only it's only her. She tries to bite her own tail, but this isn't a game, she is really trying to bite it and has succeeded at least once. It was a bad cut. At this point, I took her to the vet and at the time, thought that one of the other cats had done this to her or that she had somehow caught it in something. I realize now she probably did it to herself. I tried to describe this behavior to the vet and he looked at me as if I were crazy and couldn't suggest anything. I take this to mean that he hadn't heard of behavior like this. I wondered if mites could be causing it, but she doesn't have mites. Doesn't have fleas. Has anybody heard of this before? I've wondered if her mind has deteriorated in some way. Degas

I would take the cat to another vet and ask for a senior panel to be run. Cats when they get into the double digits can experience dementia, have strokes, or other problems and you need a baseline bloodtest so you have something to go on.

I would also reccomend a blood panel, and I would have the vet check her anal glands. I have seen some very weird behavior exhibited when anal gland are full.

Hissy, what's a "senior panel?" (What tests do they run?)

Degasduncan, I was going to suggest looking into dementia or maybe a seizure disorder (it's OK, they are treatable). A more responsive vet and bloodwork chould help determine the problem, I'd think. Because of her age, I wonder if it's dementia.

Poor kitty literally doesn't know what has her.

My vet's senior panel:

Complete Chemistry and Electrolyte Panel, CBC, Chest x-ray, Thyroid panel, urinalysis, EKG, check for Glaucoma and BP