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My 94-yr-old mom claims her cat speaks to her. He is now using complete sentences. She gets furious if I act skeptical and says I think she's just a crazy old lady. She claims that she IS NOT and that in fact she is far smarter than me. This must be the onset of dementia? Should I just go along with the talking cat phenomenon, or try to keep her from falling further down this slippery slope?

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what is the cat saying to her? in the bible GOD has used animals to
tell people things............but if its just random conversation do not just go along with it or any other situation u may feel lying is best... LYING & GO ING ALONG WITH THIS KIND OF THING DOES NOT HELP THE SITUATION...........Cats don't speak, You know this, I know this & she Knows this, Soon she will be telling others that in fact it is"YOU" that are talking with the cat....... The Devil is in the Details with DEMONTIA!
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UTI isn’t the only major issue with mental hallucinations or failure to thrive symptoms, google HOT Parathyroid. It’s missed way to often in elderly...what may not be dementia and is always correctable....this isn’t thyroid disease, this can be sudden onset of mental issues, weight loss, loss of interest, overall not feeling fell...simple blood test.
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Felines are smart! They will be able to have the sixth sense to know when their "purrson" is unwell, i.e. exhibiting behaviours like lying beside them in bed, akin to a nurse. There also have been factual stories that a human's cat could tell that their person had cancer, even before their human knew!
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CM and Send, I see a future in animal communication classes for you. Wouldn't that be an interesting class to configure and teach?

Or perhaps Cesar the dog trainer might consider adding animal communication to his programs.
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LighteningRod: Anything could be happening. You mentioned several other delusions that are red flags-thinking people are stealing her cheeses, paranoid about you, men having crushes on her. I have learned a lot over the past year about how things can happen suddenly, or how much an elder person can cover up for their confusion. I also learned that if a person refuses any doctor’s visits or even going in an ambulance, they have the right to do that unless there are other circumstances. Adult Protective Services were even called, they made some visits to my Dad. They told us that sometimes family cannot make that person do anything against their will. They told us sometimes you just have to wait for some “fail”. Also other health care social workers, nurses and doctors said a person has a right to make bad decisions.
I know there are loving caregivers on here that have been able to accomplish things others (like my family) got nowhere trying. My Dad knew all his rights and is very sly and can put on a good show for short periods of time.
It took a lot of drama and a collection of really bad decisions before we were able to get guardianship and get him the care he needed.
I know how hard it is, but sometimes all you can do it wait.
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LOOOOOOOL 🤣 Send!
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How can you handle this?
Try humor. Not making fun of her, humor. You could say: "The cat told me you should be drinking more water".

My cat does talk to me. She used to speak only one word when I first got her 9 days ago.
She said: "Meow".
Now, she does talk in complete sentences: "Meow, mureeowww, meow, meow, meow."

I answer, "We don't have any Meow Mix, but would you like some Merrick kibble?"
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Hi Lightingrod,
While I don't have any experience with dementia, I have lots with cats. And the way I see it is, in choose talking to my cat over most of the people I know.....So much for the *superior species*.😉

If at 94 Mom wants to conversate with the cat, hey she's earned it....

Seriously tho, it sounds like Claudia is talking through the furball. Pay attention......remember the old saying...."I have this friend....."

Keep a sense of humor, check for a UTI and good luck to you both!
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As long as she's healthy (no UTI, etc.) then let her believe the cat is talking. You can ask her what they talked about today, etc. She might like sharing this with you. :-)
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CM, interesting. I wonder if we could learn to communicate with animals by mimicking their sounds. I recall that a certain tone of "meow" would bring the neighbors' cats closer to my house. After a while though, they just ignored me. Maybe they expected a reward for their efforts. Maybe a mouse or two?

There was an interesting program on one of the PBS channels about people who communicate through a form of chirping, and whistling. I found this interesting article:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170525-the-people-who-speak-in-whistles

It's quite lovely and soothing to hear.
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Hi LightingRod. You are so very Blessed to have Your beautiful Mother live to 94 years and in near perfect health up until now. UTI's can cause delusions, and I found when Caring for my own Mother R I P, that sleeping tablets caused this to happen also hence I stopped giving Mom a sleeping tablet after discussing this
with Her Doctor and there was no more delusions. I would advise
not to diagnose or analyse Your Mom but just go with it but certainly ask for a Doctors advice.
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'Deed they do, Garden; and what's more, humans are a lot better at understanding animals' tone of voice than they realise they are. They did one of those vox pop type surveys, playing people sound recordings of dogs and asking them to say what they thought was happening - whether the sound was a warning, excitement, anxiety or what have you - then showing the audience what had actually happened. The humans got it right impressively often.
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In some sense animals do try to communicate with humans. The tones and types of their meows or barks, hisses or growls, change depending on their needs. I think people can learn what their animals are trying to express (such as a dog barking at the door).

And who knows? Maybe your mother does have the ability to interpret what her cat is trying to convey. There's a lot that we humans still have to learn about interspecies interaction . Think, for example, about people who get too close to wild animals and fail to interpret the anger signs - warning signs for the human invaders to stay away.
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Go with the flow - however monitor how you are speaking with your mom - we can fall into a tendency of not tell thing bad news etc but also to talk at them not with them - she may just want to talk about things other than 'did you finish your juice yet?' or ' did you have a bowel movement today?' or similar - maybe she just likes conversation for its own sake & kitty helps her do that
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Tell her she is lucky to have that ability.
Explain that you do not have it. So could she translate to you what the cat says.

That way you will have an insight and a 'heads up' into her mind.

As long as she harms no-one and keeps herself safe, she is doing no harm, I think.
Get her a little treat for her and for the cat, as a "sorry I did not accept the fact you can talk WITH your cat"

Good luck
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First of all, what medications is she taking? Many of them for an elder can manifest into hallucinogenic thoughts, e.g. such as "cat talking, seeing objects that aren't there, etc." Speak with her geriatric physician.
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I’m the sort of person who says “bless you” to my animals when they sneeze. And I have a Maine Coon cat who says “oh, Ma!” when he wants to eat. And like Claudia, my mom’s delusions were in high gear. I couldn’t keep track of all them, but also like Claudia, she was desirable, at the age of 92, to all men. Funny part was, she loathed and feared men.

I agree with not arguing with her. However, monitor what the cat says. If it starts telling her to harm others or herself, it’s time for the doctor for Claudia, like it or not.
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My Mom was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia. She continues to hallucinate about a cat that comes to her room to visit. She also sees and converses with long dead people. She also has delusions and paranoid thoughts most of the time. At times she is cognizant and in reality and at other times she is really in another dimension. It is an ever changing and confusing disease..........
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If it is dementia, then this is her reality. No use trying to convince her otherwise unless the cat starts telling her to make monetary or health decisions that are unwise. Otherwise, you might try complimenting the cat once in a while just to gain mom's confidence. I know it sounds silly, but accept this is her reality.
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My mother who has dementia talks to her pussycat all the time the only problem is we don't have a pussycat but it seems to keep her company so I just ignore it but before I ignored this I made sure that she didn't have a urinary tract infection and was not having a reaction to this little bit of medication she takes. So my advice is try to get her to the doctor and if everything turns out okay then consider yourself lucky that she found a friend you got to have a sense of humor lol
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My sister's cat (no dementia at all) communicated clearly to my sis until the cat's death, but only thru' a pet psychic. :) The cat's vocabulary was VERY sophisticated, too! I was impressed. I teach at the university level, and some of my students aren't as articulate as the cat. Maybe your mom has developed psychic abilities? And I LOVE Lucy in the sky's suggestion of letting her know what the cat is saying to you! I do love this site.
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I love it. Made my day. Not trying to trivialize. My cat often looks at me as if he's secretly plotting.
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My mother told us a large frog had appeared in her room and was talking to her and it had come up through the toilet. She also would tell us she could see family members who were not there. This was when she lived on her own and was driving, etc. The hallucinations did not appear to bother her. We figured out several years later that she had Lewy Body dementia. She also was incredibly sensitive to many medications and this would sometimes make the hallucinations worse. As she declined she hallucinated almost non-stop. It seemed to comfort her. Lewy Body is very strange in that the person can have moments of complete clarity and speak normally in between being non-verbal and not even knowing who you are. It's also very under-diagnosed, especially in older patients. Another sign is frequent falls, hand shaking and rigidness in the body as well as imposter syndrome (once when I was visiting for several hours she told me brother after I left "that was NOT my daughter"). Your mother's clarity around the cat speaking seems a bit out of the ordinary. I would have her checked.
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This obviously sounds like a delusion or hallucination. Since your profile said she’s in IL with depression...this doesn’t add up. Get her checked. If being skeptical or denying her makes her angry then just go with it and make life easy on yourself. Usually they tell people who care for patients with things like this to live inside their reality. Arguing doesn’t help at all as they can’t see reason and to them this is real
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Yes ....as others have said..."just go with it."

Look @ this harmless behavior to figure out what your Mom is really thinking & feeling as it seems she has decided its easier or "safer" to communicate through her cat.

You could join in .....for instance.....kitty is so tired & he wants to take a nap with you now...am pretty sure that's what he said....kitty is having lunch now & thinks you should too...etc etc. Try to have fun with it if Mom allows....it might work in your favor.

Unfortunately you as the primary CG will always be the "bad guy." Only in fleeting moments of clarity will your efforts be acknowledged & appreciated. Remember it's not really your Mom but the aging process & disease talking. She's lucky to have you.
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LightingRod, there are some cats that have the ability to parrot words, but it takes a lot of training which needs to start when they are in the kitten stage. It's constant word association. I've trained two cats over the past 40 some years. It only works if the cat can make a variety of sounds. Only one cat could do a sentence, it was short 3 worded one, and nothing more.

So unless your Mom had spent years training the cat, that cat doesn't say words... but Mom might think the cat does, sometimes our ears can trick us. Just play along with Mom, as this isn't really hurting anything.
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It might be no bad thing to call in a professional opinion. If only so that you can establish beyond all doubt that this is not a case of your going round the bend.

Could be dementia, could be something more acute and more treatable, could be an exacerbation of, or a stretching of, my mother's bedtime ritual where she had an earnest goodnight "conversation" with her toy cuddly elephant. To her, harmless fun. But it set my teeth on edge - I can't tell you how wildly I detested this behaviour. Completely unreasonable on my part, I confess, but it quite turned my stomach.

But in any case, how can it hurt to check?
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You handle it with kindness and gentleness. Does your mother live alone? All the more reason for the cat to be talking with her. Loneliness truly sucks.

I imagine my animals talking to me all the time - there's no harm in it. Some "looks" just call for interpretation.
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If everything is alright physically. I see no reason not to go along with the cat talking.
My Husband and I had a dog for many years and I would "make the dog talk" and we had some very funny conversations. Even after the dog had died we would often bring up "What would Rinny have said about that" (German Shepard that we had for 16 years)
As long as what the cat is saying is not causing any anxiety I see no harm in playing along.
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I would think it's past time for a doctor's appointment,an get that evaluation...will make your life a little more easier for the both of you...it will be a good start. The best to you an mom💝
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