This is why I use plenty of towels when I groom a senior cat. They rest on soft surfaces. If they’re not heavy, I even support their body while bathing them. The little things count.
Category: seniors and cats
Parent with dementia? Sad, but they can be a danger to cats.
In the paper today, a man with dementia put stain remover into coffee instead of sugar. He died. His wife will recover. Obviously not his fault. He’s mentally ill. We hate to think of senile/dementia/Alzheimers parents and grandparents as being dangerous. They’re lucid sometimes, right? It’s not like they’re drooling and yelling, right? They wouldn’t hurt anyone, right?
Wrong. Leaving a cat or a dog in the hands of a senile parent, even if they’re often lucid, is wrong. You’re putting the animal in harm’s way. What if the parent tries to lovingly give the cat’s a bath, but uses ammonia instead of water? It’s happened.
Yes, but what if the parent loves the animal and would miss her if she were taken away? That’s heart breaking. Maybe offer to keep the pet and bring her on each visit, or if there is a nurse, have the nurse become the cat’s care taker, if the nurse doesn’t mind. Pay the nurse a little more to help out with the cat.
Do you want to visit your mother’s house and find the cat writhing in pain because she’s eaten poison?
It’s a sad situation, but we can’t let mentally ill people be in charge of defenseless creatures.
