holy crap

[rwx]

my cat is 15 years old. she's also very affectionate because i let her out of her carbonite encasement today. kitty kitty kitty, she shot greedo first.

it's sad, you know. i've been plotting the amount of time she spends awake during the workday and there's a lot of noise, but it seems to hit zero about two years from now. It's weird that only when I go to burning man do i realize how much the cat is aging, otherwise she's in a sort of eternal summer where she slowly turns from brown to grey with no effect.

but now it's warm and she's nestled up in the rubber ducks and happy.

Comments

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

she's nestled up in the rubber ducks and happy.

GIF! GIF! GIF!

I mean...awwwww.

Gwydion is thirteen, near as we can figure (he was about 9 months old when I got him in 1996, I think). He's still pretty spry but the last year or so seems to be more easily confused than usual. Do cats get dementia?

[lexica510.livejournal.com]

Do cats get dementia?

They do indeed.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh now believe half of all cats over the age of 15 and a quarter aged 11 to 14, are suffering from "geriatric onset behavioural problems".

Nemo is 18 this month, and does occasionally show some of the signs they describe. Overall he's doing remarkably well, though. His energy's good, he's affectionate and companionable, and he doesn't show any signs of distress that I can detect. The occasional hairball and my litterbox isn't clean so I'm going to pee on the bathroom floor editorial comment, but that's about it.

These days I'm doing my best to consciously appreciate every day he's still with us.

And yeah, GIF!

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

Gwydion definitely asks for attention more than he used to, and occasionally forgets that there's food in his bowl and demands it from me instead. He's also very occasionally shown signs of not recognizing his surroundings.

He still seems pretty happy with life generally, though.

missysedai's Schiller lived to the ripe old age of 20 and had a massive attitude all the way to the end. Whatta cat.

[dporowski.livejournal.com]

forgets that there's food in his bowl and demands it from me instead.

I am convinced this is not "forgets", but that this is "No. Dumbass monkey. That's STALE. I want NEW food." as I have seen it regularly from young cats as well. They're doing it on purpose.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

He's done that too, but this sometimes happens not long after I put the food down.

It's either that, or I've inadvertently conditioned him to come make demands of me before he even checks whether there's anything in there.

[mediavore.livejournal.com]