CAN CATS GET SENILE DEMENTIA?

Here we are - back from our amazing trip to the Outer Hebrides. Honestly, you have to see these islands to believe them! They are incredibly remote and rustic. The houses are set out randomly, mostly single storey, all facing different directions and often a couple of hundred metres or more from their nearest neighbour. And that neighbour could be half way up a mountain or on the opposite side of a loch. To give you a better insight into these and help you put them into perspective, we were told that 29,000 people inhabit the islands as a whole. That sounds like a lot. Until you realise that 2,000000 people inhabit the borough of Croydon and in excess of 6,000000 inhabit Greater London. When we reached North Uist a small boy boarded our coach outside the hotel and introduced himself as John. When asked by one of my fellow travellers whether there were any shops, young John replied enthusiastically "Loads. There's a Spar that way and the Co-op that way." Then he beamed proudly as we gave him a standing ovation. It really gives you an idea of how it must be for these people. Their island is their whole world. During our tour we saw mobile libraries, banks and even a rolling cinema. There is just one ice cream van to serve all the islands - and we visited ten during our fortnight there.

We were incredibly lucky with the weather considering how late in the season we went. If it rained at all it was, considerately overnight or whilst we were on the coach. A couple of days even saw us walking in the sun. Not bikini-sun but no-jacket-required-sun, which suited Hubby and I fine since neither of us are sun-chasers. There was a wealth of characters in our party of 38, too. Like Gurning Man, Big-Hair Lady, Ray'n'Rosemary and Canada-Lady, to name but a few. Then there was Eddie our driver who is also a writer, so he and I had a lot of common ground and became good buddies.`

For all the fact we had such a great time and a lovely break, were overfed and swamped with so much fresh clean air we felt almost drunk. it was still lovely to get home. The cat was extremely pleased to see us, twirling and howling around our legs as if we'd been gone a year at least. She then followed me round the house almost continuously for the next three days, including into the loo. My theory is that she thought I'd disappear again if I was out of her line of vision for anything more than ten seconds. By the Monday just gone she had obviously realised I was back and decided now was the time to punish me for abandoning her in the first place. She was almost as remote as the Outer Hebrides for the next 24 hours, acknowledging my presence only with a chilling glare from across the room before turning tail and strutting off with her nose in the air. Thankfully by last night we were back on our usual terms, although she is still showing some signs of bizarre behaviour which made me wonder of cats can suffer from Feline Dementia.

Around 8pm yesterday evening, she maneauvred herself into the tightest, tiniest corner of the living room, behind the TV/DVD/SKY BOX stand, then sat there as if she'd conquered the Cairn Gorm at the very least. It was such a tight spot though that she couldn't get out so had, in effect, got herself trapped. I had to move one of the surround-sound tower speakers to free her. I later found her sleeping on the doormat inside the garden door - possibly the draftiest place in the house. And I have noticed how, on the odd occasion, she appears to have a momentary lapse of concentration as she daintily licks her paw, sitting in a pose that would do any pointer dog proud, with an almost dreamy expression on her face. Mind you she is 17 years old in human terms ( and 85 in cat terms) so I suppose I shouldn't worry. Not too much anyway. Is there a vet in the house by any chance?