Possible dementia

[Cherrypies]

Hi all
I have a ginger girl, 17 1/2
Most of her life since rescue as a kitten, she has liked the outdoors, coming in to eat, more indoors in the winter.
About two years ago, she stayed in more, feeling her age, I suppose.
As I work at home, it's got to the stage that she is in all the time, makes a couple trips out to toilet and that's it. Not a problem I like her company.

But over the last few weeks she has got really vocal, crying out a lot of the time.

Worried it was pain, and her month was smelling bad, so off to vets. He checked her over, and temp, weight, heart are all fine. He suggested her teeth were not too bad, prescibed a course of antibiotics, see how she goes. I said could it be dementia and he said possibly.
She has got more vocal, sometimes sounding quite distressed. I usually call her, she comes for a stroke, calms down, until the next time.
The only medication she is on is for arthritis. Metacam.

My question is how long would you let this go on for, generally physically healthy, but mentally suffering a bit worse each day.
Its hard, she is the only one left out of 4 cats I did have.

Thank you.

I had a cat like this - 17 1/2 and she was put to sleep in May. She would wail suddenly and would have to be comforted. She eventually started to lose weight and not eat very much - took her to the vet who put her on an appetite stimulant and gave her a multivitamin shot. He said that he could do more investigations but that it didn't feel right with a cat of her age. He relied greatly on our insight of her behaviour. She rallied with that but basically turned into an eating machine - eat, toilet, sleep. She was still losing weight and we decided that we did not want this for her. We felt that (like humans) her body was beginning to say no. We didn't want to keep her until she started to lose control of bodily functions so made the best decision for her. It was sad but it was the right thing to do for her. I always think "better a week too soon than a day too late". So I would advise as long as she is eating and grooming normally then I would carry on but be observant. When the time comes you will know. I was in the vet's last week and there was an old lady sitting there with an incontinent cat on her lap. Now that was one of the saddest things. We have to be strong to step up and do the right thing for our babies. I know it is hard. I actually got a kitten more or less straight away as a companion for my other cat - I always think that the love we have for one cat opens our hearts to more. x

My last cat (I had 3, got 1 left) had Dementia. For the last year of her life, she used to wake me up about 6 times during the night, just meowing all the time. She'd also walk into a room, meow and walk out again. She was about 18 and over the course of 2 or 3 days really went downhill, off her food and lounging about all the time, we knew it was time.

My old boy now is deaf, has only got 1 eye, and has no fangs now, but he still loves to be cuddled, loves being in the garden, still eats well, uses his tray, and blood tests showed that his organs are all fine. He's 19.