DizBelle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2003
- Messages
- 6,514
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?
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?