There has been a reported increase in "elder abuse"

as well as "domestic violence".  I have put quotation marks around both those things because, for me, these things are criminal acts. 
I hope, even when I sometimes want to scream at the Senior Cat for doing something stupid - like trying to pick up something from the floor when he is not sitting down,  I will never be guilty of abusing him or hurting him or stealing from him or failing to provide something he needs to keep him warm and comfortable and safe. 
   "You live at home with your father?" people ask me suspiciously.
I say, "Yes" and leave it at that. Perhaps though I should say, "As the unmarried child I moved back in to care for both my parents so they could stay in their own home. "  It was a decision two of my siblings and I made. It was the right decision even though we would have preferred it was not necessary.
My mother died almost twenty years ago but she was not well and quite incapable by then of caring for herself and the Senior Cat. The Senior Cat, much as I love him, has absolutely no idea about  cooking or many other household tasks. He is of the generation when boys simply did not do these things. On the other hand  he was once outstandingly good about all the outdoor things and the wood chopping and water pumping and the maintenance. He has taken his turn, more than taken his turn. In "retirement" he did such things not just for us but for neighbours, church members, friends and a women's shelter. It would be utterly wrong if he did not now get the help he needs especially when he once gave it so freely.
But perhaps the problem elsewhere is that some people have moved back home for other reasons. They want to try and save money, a marriage has broken down, they are escaping a situation of domestic violence, or no longer have a job. All those things, and more, would make for a different sort of relationship. I can imagine abuse occurring.
There are other sorts of elder abuse too. There are demands on parents to do school runs and care for the grandchildren in school holidays...."if you don't do it then you don't love us and you won't be able to see them" is elder abuse. There are financial demands "because we are going to get it eventually".  
I have sometimes been told, "I suppose your father pays you."
No, he doesn't. He doesn't pay any of my expenses either. I pay my own health insurance and medical bills. I buy my own clothes and I pay a fair share of the household expenses. He would do all this, indeed keeps telling me this, but it would be all too easy to let that happen...and then the next thing... and the next thing. I am there to look after him because he is my father not because I am a paid carer.  
And I am not doing it for "nothing". I do get something from it. I get something which money really cannot buy. I get his love.
I wonder if those involved in elder abuse really have that?