[Josh Journey]

I love my cat, however in her old age she is becoming increasingly greedy for attention (way more than your average cat). Sometimes I wonder if she forgets that I pet her recently for 15+ minutes . For a while I've tried to reduce the amount of times per week but still keeping them at a decent duration. Any suggestions on how to deal with this? She literally waits at my door to claw me for attention and thinks I'm her petting servant.

[DIYSteve]

She has imprinted you as her mother, and as she ages she reverts more and more to kitten mode. Have you consider pheromone therapy, e.g., Comfort Zone pheromone diffuser?

[AlpineRose]

Josh by now you do realize you live in her house. You ARE her mom-servant, so do what she wants. Seriously, though, their little lives are so short and precious, give her as much love as you can. Appreciate that she still has the energy and health to demand your attention. I too am the parent of an aging kitty. Here are some ideas: Try some vigorous play periods followed by food, which hopefully will be followed by long periods of sleep. Provide a warm place for her to rest, i.e, on top of a heating pad, or under a desk lamp (with regular bulb), where she can watch you go about your business. Have you heard of Music for Cats? I'm not a fan of Kickstarter campaigns, but I plunked down my Visa for this CD. The charge has posted, so hopefully I'll receive the CD some day soon. Provide lots of lap time while you read, work on your computer, watch TV or videos.

[contour5]

Cats are itchy fuzzballs: they need constant grooming to remove all the loose hair and dander. They're also lazy, and prefer to be catered to by humans. Fortunately, there's a mechanized solution:

[mike]

Put her furry demanding ass out. Works for us

[zephyr]

[AR]

Yeah...that cat petting machine is going to give me F**king nightmares.

[cdestroyer]

I have recently lost my 15 year old male snowshoe siamese cat to kidney disease. I wish I had spent more time petting him. He loved to be brushed and looked forward to his treat afterwards. In the end he started biting and rubbing againist me very hard which I took to mean he was in great pain and wanted me to fix it. I have lost pets over the years but none that I ever had for such a long time nor any that had endeared itself to me so closely. If you have an aging cat or dog you need to spend as much time with it, letting it know you are there for it.

[tmatlack]

Ditto cdestroyer. For animal lovers, the circle of life gets really difficult towards its inexorable completion. I put down my loyal hound two years ago and I still miss her big hound eyes watching me from one of her four comfy beds waiting for that morning noodle and her egg burrito. She was a bit spoiled. Tom

[cartman]

What AR and cd said. My guy is going on 18 and is still in good health (with meds), active and engaged with life. I consider myself incredibly fortunate. Tips: Play time. Keeps them mentally and physically active and interested. Lots of attention. Keeps them happy and content, and pays good health dividends for you too. My cat also wants to be petted more than before, and I indulge him plenty including lap time. It's easy to multi-task with my cat on my lap while I'm on the computer, or next to me while reading. A bed they really like. I found after I left it out one day that Bubba absolutely loves my down sleeping bag to curl up on (or sometimes in). So I left it out. If a cat finds a spot where they feel super comfortable and secure, it improves rest time and health. Make sure your cat gets her annual exam. Cats are notoriously good at hiding illness, and an annual blood test will catch many problems--like my guy's overactive thyroid. Also, older cats need better food as their kidneys start to fail, so he gets prescription food only--has less protein and is easier on his kidneys. Cut out any human food, it's not good for them at that age.

[cdestroyer]

My 5 year old black burmese female, normally boisterous and demanding has been unusually silent coming out of her hiding place only at night to feed and use the litter box. The last couple of days she just sits silently or roams from room to room. Their personalities were as different as night and day. I guess she feels the loss as much as I do. Now she will get all the attention she so demanded before.

[wolffie]

Bacon. I thought you would've known that by now. Somebody built a tennis-ball-throwing robot for dogs. I am sure some evil genius has devised computerized cat/dog robot toys with behavior unpredictable enough so the animal doesn't get bored with it. A remote-controlled toy car is the ultimate puppy toy; imagine one with an electronic brain. Welsh corgis are famous for their vacuumicidal hysteria (mine is full of tooth marks), so I wish I has a Roomba -- a robotic vacuum cleaner that prowls around the house randomly, avoiding obstacles, and eventually so thorough it gets 3% of the dog hair.

[Josh Journey]

[AlpineRose]

Re: desk lamp. A normal bulb throws off plenty of heat. It's why they burn out. I have desk lamps in two locations, and my kitty will curl up under the bulb when I'm near the lamp reading, eating or on the computer.

[Josh Journey]

Thanks AlpineRose for the thoughtful reply about healthy food for cats. How far away do you recommend the lamp bulb from the cat bed? 12 inches? Just trying to get an idea of what to look out for for optimized kitty comfort. I'm super broke at the moment, however next month should have more money. As for everything else, I saved a link to the website as well as your post when the time is right (as in when I get more money). I recently started eating way healthier myself (almost purely veggies and fruit) but am glad to have encouragement for my cat as well.