Age-Related Dementia

How to tell if your cat is getting senile — and what to do to slow the process.

Does your 12-year-old cat seem, well, a little different than she did when she was younger — perhaps not seeming to recognize you or other familiar people, or unable to maneuver around obstacles she used to find easy to navigate? Is she less interested in interacting with you, or perhaps more clingy, or anxious? She may have feline cognitive dysfunction, the cat equivalent of Alzheimer’s disease. And if she does, she’s not alone.