Cat randomly hissing....

[DizBelle]

We have 6 cats. Hissing happens. Usually it's because someone gets too much in someone else's face. The standard human response (in our house) is to fuss first and ask questions later.

Here's the roll call:
Felix: the oldest, at least 18 years old by now
Spenser: second oldest, will be 18 in about a month
Trouble: around 15 years old
Pinkie: around 14 years old
Bailey: about 6 years old
Penny: about 2 years old

Felix will be laying on the bed, all by himself, peacefully grooming or something and all of the sudden he will hiss. No one else is near him so he can't be hissing at one of the other cats for some reason. He did this last night. I think it's been maybe 2-3 weeks since the last time I caught him hissing for no reason. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, just that there were not witnesses. It doesn't seem like a very frequent thing.

His latest report from the vet, after looking at his "numbers" from his full blood work up and other tests is that he has the numbers of a 10 year old cat. He's generally healthy. However, he does have a chronic urinary inflammatory problem and is on pulse therapy of prednisolone and zenequin to help keep it under control and keep him comfortable. He's had urinary problems for most of his life. The pulse drug therapy is a fairly recent thing. I think that maybe the hissing is his way of indicating he is having an "uncomfortable" moment in the urinary tract area - that's things are inflaming and maybe it's time to start the pulse therapy again. DH is not so sure. This last time I heard him do this random hiss thing (last night), and he's been on the pred and zenequin for a few days so I wouldn't think he was that uncomfortable but maybe it hadn't had time to have a real effect. General internet research isn't turning up anything on this behavior.

Do any of you have any experience with randomly hissing cats? Any idea what this might be? Is it anything to be concerned about or is it just what he does. He is a really old cat but he's very spry and really does behave like a cat half his age. He has no mobility problems. He keeps himself well groomed. He chases his tail. His weight is stable - he's been about the same weight for all of his adult life. Can cats suffer from dementia? Although, I don't notice anything else that I would categorize as dementia. He uses the litter box like he should. He finds the food and water dishes just fine. He's as affectionate as always. His overnight sleeping position is "spooning" with DH (what can I say, they both love it) and that isn't any different.

Is Felix just a weirdo?

 

[Disney Doll]

Maybe he was having a dream and hissed in his sleep? My dog used to occasionally bark in his sleep.

Or it oculd have been a momet of discomfort. Maybe he thought he saw something. Or maybe he is getting a little dementia...

 

[dakcp2001]

Haunted house? lol

 

[DizBelle]

Haunted house? lol

Dang, I hope not.

 

[Silent1CB]

Yes, feline dementia does exist. You can google that term. I don't recall hissing though. Meowing is one part of it.

You've got some well loved senior kitties there. Good for you. And them.

 

[DizBelle]

Maybe he was having a dream and hissed in his sleep? My dog used to occasionally bark in his sleep.

Or it oculd have been a momet of discomfort. Maybe he thought he saw something. Or maybe he is getting a little dementia...

Dream - at least not last night. He was grooming at the time. It went something like lick, lick, lick, stop.... HISS. Definitely not sleeping at the time.

Maybe he's just wackadoodle.

 

[DizBelle]

Yes, feline dementia does exist. You can google that term. I don't recall hissing though. Meowing is one part of it.

You've got some well loved senior kitties there. Good for you. And them.

Ah Ha! Maybe we are seeing the initial signs of feline dementia. He does do this loud meowing thing at night. But this is the ONLY symptom on any feline dementia symptom list (that I found) that he is exhibiting (at least that I'm noticing).

But then again, maybe the loud meowing is from urinary discomfort.

I'll be keeping an eye out for other dementia symptoms.

 

[OK!]

Ah Ha! Maybe we are seeing the initial signs of feline dementia. He does do this loud meowing thing at night. But this is the ONLY symptom on any feline dementia symptom list (that I found) that he is exhibiting (at least that I'm noticing).

But then again, maybe the loud meowing is from urinary discomfort.

I'll be keeping an eye out for other dementia symptoms.

I have an older male cat (almost 13) who has also had urinary problems. One of the ways he lets me know that he's having "issues" is a loud, howling kind of meow. It sounds much the same as the meow other cats make when they've caught a bird or mouse or something--very attention-getting.

 

[DizBelle]

I have an older male cat (almost 13) who has also had urinary problems. One of the ways he lets me know that he's having "issues" is a loud, howling kind of meow. It sounds much the same as the meow other cats make when they've caught a bird or mouse or something--very attention-getting.

Out of curiosity, what do you do for your boy's urinary problems?

 

[OK!]

Out of curiosity, what do you do for your boy's urinary problems?

Blessedly, he hasn't had problems in more than a year now, but he used to be on a special food; it was the Hills Prescription Diet c/d, I believe. Unfortunately, we discovered maybe a year ago that he has diabetes, so he's on diabetic food and insulin shots every night. But the UT problems have all but disappeared (knock wood)! The few times it got bad with him, he had to go to the vet and be catheterized. My vet loves my cat because he's one of the few who will let you do just about anything to him without any scratching or attitude problems, but BOY, the filthy looks Rowan was shooting the vet that day... He was not a happy guy.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

I have a cat like this. She hisses if somthing moves, If a sound is made, if something could move, if it moved in the next room, or has moved in the past year. Curently shes hissing at the bed since it (GASP) creaks! I never thought anything of my hissing buddy.

 

[torinsmom]

My cats, who range from 1 1/2-11 years old sometimes his at nothing that I can see. I think they think another cat is thinking about getting ready to get close to them, LOL. Three out of four also yowl for no apparent reason. They especially like to get into the tub and yowl, so maybe they like the sound of their voice.

 

[dakcp2001]

I cat sat for a year for a friend who had brought a cat back to Mass from Panama and when I opened the door and a cold breeze came in, he would hiss. If he felt cold or any kind of temp change it made him angry, he liked super warm and slept under the covers.