Man Makes The Most Horrific Discovery Under The Bed Of A Woman With Alzheimer's

#1 About Alzheimer’s Disease

The most common form of dementia in patients is Alzheimer's. The loss of cognitive and memory abilities in the brain is so severe that it makes it impossible to lead a normal life. Simply forgetting where you left your keys does not mean you have dementia, but if you fail to remember the names of your friends or loved ones, it might be. Anywhere from 60-80% of people who suffer from dementia actually have full-blown Alzheimer's.

#2 Alzheimer’s Is Not A Disease Of Old People

While it is true that the risk of Alzheimer's increases as you get older, research shows that more than 200,000 American's develop "early onset" Alzheimer's before the age of 65 years. But, the majority of Americans who are diagnosed are over the age of 65. This is called "late-onset" Alzheimer's.

#3 Alzheimer’s Does Get Worse Over Time

Alzheimer's is a progressive condition. It gets increasingly worse over time. When initially diagnosed, most patients have mild symptoms like occasional memory loss or confusion. But, as the mind begins to deteriorate, the sufferer will eventually be unable to hold simple conversations or carry out the simplest of tasks.

#4 Alzheimer’s Limits Our Life Spans

The sad truth about Alzheimer's is that, if you contract it, you are basically living on borrowed time. It is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. alone. Many sufferers count this as a blessing since they know they will not be able to take care of themselves once they are in full blow Alzheimer's. The average lifespan after diagnosis is between four and 20 years. The survival rate depends on age and other conditions in which they suffer.

#5 There Is No Cure

Unfortunately, even though there are many groups diligently working on it, there is no cure or even the expectation of a cure anytime soon. One of the hardest parts of this disease is that it can take up to eight years after the disease develops in a person for them to even be noticeable to others and a diagnosis to be formed.

#6 Why Does This Matter?

The story we are about to tell is about an elderly woman with Alzheimer's disease. It must be clear in your head, no matter what, that what happened here is not her fault. Alzheimer's has severe impacts on a person's behavior, and she was not able to determine her actions through life. Alzheimer's will disorient, cause confusion, mess with your sense of time and place, alter moods, cause angry and erratic periods, create unfounded suspicion, and in some cases people will even struggle to swallow or walk.

#7 Most Importantly, Alzheimer’s Patients Struggle To Remember They Have A Problem

By far the saddest and most disturbing thing about Alzheimer's and dementia is that the patients have no idea that they are even suffering. That ends up being a fact long forgotten, and they have no idea that they are becoming more and more irrational. This makes it incredibly hard on friends and family to understand or relate to their behaviors. This will cause the patient to become isolated as they get cut off from their support sources when their actions become more erratic. It is a vicious cycle that no one can really be blamed for.

#8 The Visit To The Lady’s Home

The lady we are about to discuss lives in Pittsburgh and has not had a visit from any of her relatives in quite awhile. Her conditions worsened during this period and she was not taking good care of her home or herself. We can guess that when her visitor finally came that he felt quite guilty about not coming sooner as she surveyed the mess that her home had become. He began to do some deep cleaning...

#9 The View Under The Bed

Her visitor did a great job cleaning the rest of her home, and he finally came to the bedroom and began to work in there. When looking under the bed he thought he had found the world's largest dust bunny and was terrified of what else he may find. It took him a few moments to compose himself before tasking himself with removing said dust bunny. What he ended up pulling out from under the bed was truly astonishing.

#10 It Was The Lady’s Cat

Obviously, if she cannot take care of herself, she had no capacity to take care of a pet. The poor woman was at a point where she could not fathom the depths of her condition and forgotten that she had a cat which appeared to have been neglected for a very long time. The dust bunnies that the man thought he had found were pounds and pounds of dirty, matted fur attached to a cat in desperate need of medical attention.

#11 The Cat Gets A New Name

The poor lady had even forgotten the name of her cat, so the man named it "Hidey" since it was found hiding under the bed. Hidey was taken to the nearest rescue shelter. To the shelter, it was apparent that the cat needed immediate attention and they had to remove the massive bunches of matted hair from its body.

#12 Time To Shave The Cat

The cat basically had some super thick dreadlocks which are impossible to be conditioned and combed out, so they had to be shaved off. There was no other option for Hidey. They prepared to shave Hidey bald.

#13 Everything Turned Out OK For Hidey

Not only was Hidey the hairiest cat that they ever saw, he also was the fattest cat they ever saw under all of that matted mess. The rescue said that his weight contributed to the development of all of his matted hair. He was too fat to groom himself or even move properly. Since his owner was not capable of taking care of what he couldn't, he just progressively built up more and more matted fur due to lack of care.

#14 Paul Russell Speaks About Finding Hidey

The man who visited his relative and found poor Hidey is Paul Russel. He said finding the cat was like something out of an Alien movie.

He said, “Out from under a bed it darted. At first, I thought it was a cat that had a blanket on top of it. The next day I went into the creepy old cellar and it was hunkered in a corner. I thought, ‘My god this is a cat.’ ”

#15 A Message From The Animal Rescue League

"The companionship of a pet can bring many positive benefits to the elderly, however, owning a pet is a large responsibility. If a family member, friend or neighbor owns a pet, please help them to make sure there is a support system in place if/when mental faculties begin diminishing. Also, open door shelters such as Animal Rescue League Shelter and the Western PA Humane Society do not turn any animal away if there are no other options for the pet,” said their CEO Dan Rossi.