Felipedia

Feline Cognitive Disorder
(C) Dr Shawn Messonnier, http://home.ivillage.com/pets/cats/0,,mm2n,00.html

Alzheimer's disease is a devastating progressive neurological disorder of older men and women. A comparative disease occurs in dogs and cats and is called canine and feline cognitive disorder (doggie and kitty Alzheimer's) respectively. As in people, it is most commonly seen in older pets. It is estimated to affect 10 million to 15 million pets in the U.S. alone. Microscopically, beta amyloid plaques within the brain and its blood vessels are seen (as in people with Alzheimer's.)

Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative brain disorder that impairs memory and ability to learn, reason, make judgments, communicate, impairs ability to walk, perform daily activities and disorientation (Includes forgetting location of home). Eventually, this disease causes changes in personality, behavior such as suspiciousness, anxiety, agitation, and delusions or hallucinations. During the final stage, various body functions, such as swallowing, and excretion process affected.

Many researchers believe Alzheimer's is the result from an increase in the production or accumulation of a specific protein (beta-amloid protein) that leads to nerve cell death. In the brain, the loss of nerve cells causes a deficit of neurotransmitters, which are the brain's chemical messengers. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia (Afflicting about 12 million people worldwide.), subsequently restricting daily activities and leads to long - term care. Often Dementia is diagnosed after the age of 65, and increases the frequency of diagnoses in the years that follow.

Most felines that reach the age of seven years old, considered seniors and geriatric by twelve. In 2006, a study published in Journal of Feline Medicine, scientists at the Universities of Edinburgh, St. Andrews, Bristol and California, discovered or identified a key protein, which accumulates in the nerve of cells of cat's brain cause mental deterioration, known as Alzheimer's in humans (Feline Alzheimer's in cats, kitty Alzheimer’s or Feline Cognitive Dysfunction Disorder). Also, diagnosed in dogs known as doggie Alzheimer’s. The confirmation of this brain malfunction in cats, discovered during a post-mortem examinations. Researchers identified a thick, gritty plaques on the outside of elderly cat's brain cells, which are similar to those found in humans diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Recently, the drug Anipryl has been approved for treating cognitive disorder in dogs. While effective in some patients, the drug can have rare side effects. If effective, Anipryl must be used for the life of the dog. Since the medication is expensive, a less expensive option might be preferred.

One safer, less expensive alternative that I have been using in my practice for many years is the B vitamin supplement CholodinR. CholodinR contains the B vitamin choline, phosphatidylcholine, methionine and inositol.

Some cats age "better" than others, and never experience more than a gentle slowdown into dignified seniorhood. Others starting as early as 10, but usually well into their teens, show increasing signs of cognitive disorder, including:

Lack of awareness of their surroundings
Wandering, disorientation in familiar environments
Extreme lethargy, lack of energy
Litter box mishaps
Sleeping much more than usual
Radical changes in sleep/wake cycles
Occasional or frequent inability to recognize familiar people
Forgetting to eat or drink
Staring at walls or into space for long periods
Howling and wailing, especially upon awakening suddenly
Your senior cat should see her veterinarian at least twice a year anyway, but these signs, especially in combination, merit a special visit. Your veterinarian can suggest dietary changes and prescribe medications than can help slow down (though probably not stop or reverse) cognitive decline. Some cats have experienced dramatic improvement with the drug Anipryl.

Meanwhile, provide a stable, predictable, stress-free environment, gentle exercise and grooming assistance. A tidy coat and trim claws will help your senior feel more like her old self. Ease her life and salve her dignity with several litter boxes in convenient locations. The soft burbling of a "cat fountain" near her food bowl can remind her to drink and eat more often. And remember: Old friends are best, even if they don't always recognize you.

The science of cognitive dysfunction

The role of the hippocampus in memory has long been appreciated. Over forty years ago, severe amnesia in a patient following removal of this brain region for seizure control was reported. More recent reports have suggested that a functional hippocampus is needed for a specific cognition process termed declarative, explicit, or relational memory which requires conscious reflection in contrast to reflexive memory which is not dependent on conscious awareness. Surgical removal of the temporal lobe, including the hippocampus, is associated with deficits in declarative memory in humans, and hippocampal volume is correlated with declarative memory performance.

Mood disorders are frequently associated with hypercortisolemia, and an associated finding is impaired information processing and memory loss. The hippocampus provides negative feedback to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). In a recent review, the suggestion was made that changes in the hippocampus, secondary to stress, may be central to the development of depression in vulnerable individuals. One possible mechanism of injury to the hippocampus is corticosteroid exposure. Animal data reveal that an excess of corticosteroids causes both reversible and irreversible changes in hippocampal structure and cognition. Thus, an excess of corticosteroids and resulting hippocampal damage could contribute both to further cortisol elevations through impaired negative feedback to the HPA axis, and cognitive impairment in depressed persons.

In animal models, exposure to high levels of corticosteroids has detrimental effects on both associative learning and spatial memory. Administration of corticosteroids accelerates the extinction of a shock avoidance response, a measure of associative learning. Spatial memory, assessed using mazes, is impaired in a dose-dependent manner with corticosterone administration in rats. However, corticosterone administration also restores defects in spatial memory secondary to adrenalectomy, suggesting biphasic effects of the hormones in animals