New symptom - possible/probable vascular dementia

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DM has been in hospital/rehab/care home for three years. She is crippled with osteoarthritis and is completely unable to move. Her hands are curled up and she can't straighten her fingers or move her arms even enough to scratch her nose.

I have been visiting twice a week and I have seen her deteriorate a lot - each bout of illness leads to a step back and she never fully recovers. She has very little language left but still smiles, still enjoys the odd treat such as jelly or mousse.

For a couple of visits she refused all the treats we had for her but last week she was keen to have the jelly. However when it came to feeding her she didn't seem to understand that she had to open her mouth. We struggled to get the spoon in.

While we were visiting two carers came in and both of them asked how we found feeding her as they are finding it harder. They are having to feed her with a teaspoon because she can't open her mouth properly. Has anyone else experienced the same with Vascular dementia?

My stepdad has vascular dementia. Still fairly with it most of the time, but has a massive problem with anything mouth related.

It's the first thing to go when he's at all tired or having an off day - he'll look at food with utter bafflement and have to be talked through each mouthful step by step - pick up, bite, chew, swallow - with confused shrugs and constant questions about what he's meant to do and what the point is. And not just food - drinks, tablets, mouthwash ... anything that he has to put in his mouth.

It's as baffling to him as if you'd asked him to put a Higgs boson on his head or subtract the concept of purple from triangles.