Dealing with animals

EmLoo

Registered User
Apr 30, 2017
3
0
My grandmother hasn't been diagnosed yet and we are going through the process now. She's 84 years old and has a cat that she has become somewhat obsessed with she lives by herself 3/4 days out too the week and my uncle travels from Wales weekly to stay with her 3/4 nights a week. She over feeds the cat some wicked and has actually become a problem now. She also gets into a frenzy when the cat goes out and talks of people stealing him. She will often go from the front door to the back door simultaneously shouting at the top of her voice for her cat and will do it over and over and over for now the cat overeating is the biggest issue as he has been sick due to eating too much. She doesn't remember when he's been fed and doesn't take well to cat food not being there (hidden) she's nearly fully blind also which plays a big part in it too any advice? Thanks
 

Tin

Registered User
May 18, 2014
4,820
0
UK
Oh dear, the only answer I could find was to take over the feeding of mum's dog and did hide all the food, in my garage. Fresh water down everyday. I had to ignore all the repeated questions about where the dog food was, where the dog was. It took about 3 months for mum to forget about the feeding, but it was not easy, had to persevere - the dogs health was not great. Of course during this time she started giving food from our table to the dog - another thing to deal with so made sure the dog was well away from us in another room to stop this.

All the feeding issues have passed, but mum is still obsessed and this causes all kinds of anxiety problems for her, but not sure this will ever stop, at least the dog is healthier and no longer begs at the table.
 

meme

Registered User
Aug 29, 2011
1,953
0
London
Poor cat...I would think finding a new home for it was the kindest action to take. I do think pets can get a raw deal and should be protected fast in these situations.
 

LadyA

Registered User
Oct 19, 2009
13,730
0
Ireland
Thankfully, our three cats had always been my responsibility, and none of them over-ate. I was just able to leave their (dry) food down for them. However, I remember an elderly friend years ago who treated her cat exactly as you describe! The woman was almost blind too, and couldn't see the mess the cat sometimes made because her litter tray was too dirty and she wouldn't use it. Eventually the lady was moving to a type of sheltered flat, and realised that she wouldn't be able to keep her cat completely isolated from other people there, as she had been doing. She wouldn't have a cooker either, as there'd been one too many accidents when she'd been cooking fish for the cat! (Yes. Fresh fish every day!). So rather than "share" her cat, she had it put to sleep!

Pets really do draw the short straw when an owner gets dementia. It's a tough one, but the animals need protection too.
 

Tin

Registered User
May 18, 2014
4,820
0
UK
Pets really do get a raw deal when their owners have dementia. Fortunately for us, mum and dog moved in with me, my dog, cats and a few chickens and I think at the time I had a guinea pig. All of this did seem to help when it came to distracting mum from her dog. As her Dementia has gone on, she has never forgotten her dog, she just loves it and the dog these days looks to me for everything. Every few days mum follows the dog around and sometimes stands on guard looking after 'her baby'.

The only reason mum and her dog are still together is because I have been pro active, persevered and took over all the care of 'her baby'.
 

AlsoConfused

Registered User
Sep 17, 2010
1,952
0
Pets really do draw the short straw when an owner gets dementia. It's a tough one, but the animals need protection too

Couldn't agree more. I'm now on what I expect to be my last permanent dog, just in case dementia or physical limitations strike 10 years from now.

There are lots of animals needing short-term fostering. The charities organising such schemes presumably keep a beady eye on the fitness of their fosterers to care for one of their dogs or cats for a few weeks or months.
 

istherelight?

Registered User
Feb 15, 2017
128
0
Oh, the cat! Fortunately the cat never over ate despite, on some days, Mum's house being strewn with bowls of cat food. Other days I would arrive to a starving cat she had forgotten to feed.

Mum once refused to go on an outing with her "gentleman friend" because she was busy teaching the cat to use the cat flap. Her friend was quite upset. The cat, meanwhile, had been happily using the cat flap for eight years.


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