Why do cats isolate themselves to die? They don't.

This is my opinion, essentially, based on common sense and a general understanding of feline and animal behavior, although I did a bit of reading up on it before putting pen to paper. Cats don't decide to 'isolate' themselves to die. It's the wrong word. Firstly, in my opinion, domestic cats don't know that they are dying. They are not making a rational decision to go away to die on their own. 

They do know that they cannot defend themselves against a predator because they are injured. And they do know they have to find a safe place to protect themselves from predators. The domestic cat is behaving as a wild cat. They don't recognise the fact, under the circumstances, that they have a human home to go to for help (when the injury occurs outside the home).

Why do cats isolate themselves to die? Photo in public domain.

And so domestic cats find a safe place to protect themselves when they are badly injured or very ill. 

There is a complication here because if a domestic cat is very ill, they will normally be treated by a veterinarian with their owner's help. There is no opportunity to find a safe place to hide. The concept of finding a safe place to hide really is about indoor/outdoor cats and the cat being outside and getting into trouble. Or they live in a household where the owner is absent and unconcerned, perhaps even negligent.

They don't do the same thing if they are dying of natural causes in my opinion. Domestic cats will find a safe place for protection if they are seriously injured but not if they are dying of natural causes, but it depends upon whether they are dying of old age (general failure of the body's organs due to old age) or of a specific illness in my opinion.

I think this is a correct assessment because, as mentioned above, they don't know that they are dying (disagree with me? Please leave a comment). And therefore, if they don't feel pain, they don't feel vulnerable and if they don't feel vulnerable there is no need to find a safe place to protect themselves. Under these circumstances they will simply stop breathing wherever they are. 

This is why you read stories of domestic cats dying of old age anywhere in their owner's home. It might be in their favourite place or in the kitchen or on their owner's lap. They suddenly pass away perhaps during the night and their human caregiver simply discovers them.

But if they are injured, they will do their best to find somewhere safe which affords them protection, to allow themselves time to gain their strength and to heal themselves. They are not predicting into the future that they will be able to heal themselves. It's all instinctive. They just instinctively know that they need to have time in a safe place to try and get back to good health. They may well pass away at that place and often do.

They do not go away 'into isolation' to hide from associates (friends) but from predators. Although I would appreciate the views of others. I did a quick search of the Internet to see what other people thought and, by and large, the general mood is as I stated on this page.

Queen Elizabeth II refused to send a card to a domestic cat celebrating their hundredth birthday!

This is an interesting royal story concerning a cat (which is rare) and it requires a bit of explaining. Rachel Thomas, of Barmouth in North Wales found out that Queen Elizabeth II (the UK's monarch), sends cards to UK citizens who have reached 100-years-of-age. Rachel wisely understood that her 18 year old cat, Sindy, who was 18 years of age at the time, had reached the human age of 100. In fact she had surpassed that age. So Rachel wrote to the Queen asking for a special card from her majesty to celebrate her cat's hundred-year birthday.

Rachel Thomas and her cat Sindy. Photo: Rachel Thomas.

Now, in these instances the Queen does not reply personally unless the letter is exceptional or a response is required in her role as the monarch. She has assistants to help and I suspect it is the assistants who do all of the work including reading the letters and writing the responses. But they are written on her behalf so I think we can fairly say that you are getting a response from the Queen, indirectly.

RELATED: Queen Elizabeth II bans cats from Sandringham estate.

At the time Rachel was 10 years of age. She is now 44. And the response from the Queen was that she couldn't send a card to a cat. Rachel was very happy to receive a response anyway. She went back to her school class and told everybody that she had received a letter from the Queen.

Personally, I would have been a little bit disappointed because there is no reason why you can't send a card to a cat 😊. The Queen knew the address and the cat's name. All they had to do was pretend they were writing to an infant human and it would have worked out just fine. I guess the person who replied was a little too straight-laced to have the imagination to play that game. Anyway it was great to reply.

RELATED: Why doesn’t Queen Elizabeth II have a cat?

I think the letter was written by the lady-in-waiting to the Queen or someone of that standing. The Queen receives 300 letters daily I'm told by The Mirror newspaper. So she needs an army of helpers particularly now as she is 95 years of age. A remarkable age at which to continue working and serving the country.

A hint of Harrison Ford in the face of Nutmeg the then oldest cat who died at 32

The snarl on Nutmeg's face is one aspect of it which provides me with a hint of Harrison Ford but perhaps my imagination is running riot. The photograph was taken when he was 31 but he lived for an extra year, approximately, dying at the ripe old age of 32. He died of heart failure after being taken to a veterinarian with breathing difficulties. His death was reported in the news media on 14 September 2017. His owners were Liz and Ian Finlay of Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, UK. The Harrison Ford snarl is probably dye to teeth issues!

 A hint of Harrison Ford in the face of Nutmeg the then oldest cat who died at 32. Photo: Reddit.

Mrs Finlay said at the time: "I feel as though my heart has been ripped out. He was a huge character who was dearly loved."

Cats are living longer thanks to better medical care, better nutrition and better monitoring of cat welfare although of course these benefits are not universal. It depends where you live and it depends upon how good the cat caretaker is. Nutmeg's age was actually estimated because he was adopted as a stray and taken to Cat Protection who estimated his then age as five based upon the condition of his teeth. Mr Mrs Finlay owned him for a further 27 years.

You probably know that the oldest domestic cat ever was Creme Puff who died on August 16, 2005, 38 years and three days after his birth. She lived in Austin Texas with his owner, Jake Perry. The approximate average for a domestic cat is about 15 to perhaps 18 years.

Note: videos on this site are typically made by people other than me and held on YouTube servers or the servers of other businesses (not the server storing this website). Sometimes the videos are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Do cats get dementia?

Yes, as you may well know, domestic cats can suffer from dementia but we are unsure how commonplace it is because not enough studies have been carried out on domestic cats (although see below). It can be quite difficult to tell whether a cat is suffering from dementia because they compensate so well for disabilities. Vets call this condition Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome (CDS).

My beloved cat who suffered from mild dementia when at the end of her life. Photo: Michael

One reason why we might be seeing it more often nowadays than before is because domestic cats live longer lives thanks to better nutrition and health care. Spotting behavioural changes is the way to detect feline dementia symptoms. You may see CDC in cats older than 10 years of age.

Domestic cats with CDC can become disorientated, interact with people in different ways than normal, have alterations to their sleep-wake cycle, urinate and defecate inappropriately, have lower activity levels, and they may howl at night due to confusion.

Domestic cats with early-stage dementia may show confusion, anxiety and restlessness, irritability, a decreased desire to play, forget their usual routines with which you will no doubt be familiar, groom less often, have a loss of appetite leading to anorexia, vocalise more often including as mentioned above howling at night and changes in their sleep cycle.

A study found that almost 1/3 of cats between the ages of 11 and 14 showed one behavioural symptom caused by CDS. For domestic cats in the age bracket 15 over, it is believed that 50% will suffer to some degree from cognitive dysfunction.

The observant and conscientious cat owner will be able to deal with their cat if they do have dementia. It simply requires greater sensitivity and awareness of their cat's needs and to meet those needs. A diet supplemented with omega-three and antioxidants such as vitamin E and C, selenium, flavonoids, carotenoids like beta-carotene and carnitine may be recommended by your veterinarian.