Feline Hyperesthesia or something else

The reason I'm thinking/hoping Ritz's symptoms aren't Feline Hyperesthesia is because the frequency and symptoms escalated after she had a rabies shot two weeks ago and seem to be somewhat correlated to eating.

Symptoms:  vertebra twitches (i.e., muscle spasms), sometimes her flank (thigh?) twitches and she chews that area.  She seems not to be able to control what or where her tail does.  Sometimes wide eyed.  Races back and forth from the room.  Doesn't meow a lot. Sometimes she'll sit quietly during these twitches, other times not. 

She had four such episodes yesterday, each lasted between 5 to 15 minutes. (Even around her anus the muscles were twitching.  I mention that because she is prone to constipation.)   One time yesterday started developing the twitches while on my lap and immediately got off; she does not want to be petted during these episodes. 

At all other times, she is fine with me petting her all over, including her tail.

Last year I noticed some similar symptoms, but they seemed to be more with her tail.  Now, the episodes are maybe two or three times a week. 

She has been on raw food for well over a year.  I have Feliway plug ins; recently added Rescue Remedy drops.  Her fur while silky is also dry/dandruff.  Ritz cannot be pilled.  My vet tends to blame stuff on my feeding raw.  It is traumatic for both of us to get her into a cat carrier (I do have pet insurance).

Any ideas?  I will take a video of the next episode.

Thanks.

A video would be good.  How old is she? 

Could it be related to the specific protein you are feeding her, since you said it seems to be associated to food?  since she had more "episodes" yesterday, was she eating something fairly new to her, or from a different store, maybe?  Do you freeze all your raw stuff for a few days before feeding it to her (to kill any pathogens that might be in it)?  

I just don't know....one of my guys gets the back ripple now and then, and also gets back end "shivers", but yet another of them does the tail thing, especially licking on it, often.  Enough so that I mentioned it to the Vet during our last visit.  She thoroughly checked them over and couldn't find anything at all wrong with either of them, and it would be very strange for TWO to have it in the same household (mine)

When this starts happening to Ritz, can you distract her to make it stop?  Some people say by making a loud noise sometimes that will bring them out of it if is IS Feline Hyperesthesia

For her skin, are you using a salmon or krill oil supplement? (500mg daily?) If so, I'd consider adding 500mg of Evening Primrose oil. I use 500mg daily for Chumley (it's supposed to be good for FIV kitties). (Oh, and that's in addition to 500mg of the salmon oil he gets daily).

I've stumbled across a number of discussions of feline hyperesthesia, and I'm seeing more and more kitties that were diagnosed with this condition finding it's resolved when put on a raw diet, so it seems to me it probably is something else, based on that, though that's anecdotal. :dk:

I have neuropathy and take a B6 supplement, which resolves the problem. But I know for sure that muscle twitches can be related to a B6 deficiency. I just googled, and found there are several others: http://www.livestrong.com/article/511834-vitamin-deficiency-with-muscle-twitches/

Are you feeding egg yolks and using a fish oil supplement? If not, could it be vitamin D? Cats don't synthesize vitamin D from sunlight, but must have it provided in the food they eat. ...And as she's prone to constipation, are you sure she's getting enough calcium?

Thanks for all your suggestions.

She is a little less than four years old. 

No new protein until yesterday, Beef Tripe (2 oz).  She liked beef tripe, didn't love it, liked it.

I do freeze protein before feeding it to her.

Although she has had similar episodes, they were only one a day, maybe twice a month if that.  The episodes have increased in frequency since her rabies shot. 

How do cats get a Vitamin B deficiency?  I feed a wide variety of protein, from goat to llama to pork/beef/chicken.

I am using a salmon oil for the Omega 3/6/Vitamin D, around three or four times a week.  Do all fish oils contain Vitamin D?  Should I give it to her every day?  I thought I didn't have to give egg yolk if I was also supplementing Ritz' diet with Omega 3-6.
I've started becoming more conscientious about making sure she gets enough calcium.

Sometimes--and I've mentioned this to the vet--her urine smells strong.  It's not spraying/marking.  Her PH level is a little high for a cat fed raw as is her protein level.  Vet didn't seem overly concerned, but did mention it.

I will try to distract her (after filming...) next time, but honestly, she seems really scared. 

OK - it's most likely the rabies vaccination. I'm finding a lot of reports of similar sounding issues after kitties had the shot. Here's one (though kitty also had bloody diarrhea): http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Cats/Possible-reaction-to-Rabies-shot/show/685470

Can you call the vet? I know you said she can't be pilled... any way to maybe get some benadyrl in her? :dk:

I can call the vet, but don't plan on taking her in until I get a video of her behavior--if then.  She received the rabies vaccination that is good for three years.

I will also start keeping a record/journal of food/episodes.

I'll increase the fish oil (Krill) in case it's a bad case of dandruff--she loves the stuff.  And see how she reacts when I pet her. I've tried distracting her by playing DaMouse; she wasn't interested.

She didn't exhibit these symptoms prior to my placing her on raw (October 2011).  But the symptoms were milder and sporadic until about two weeks ago, coincidentally(?) after her rabies and FVCPR shots.  Her anal glands were also expressed at that time (her anal glands typically need expressing twice a year, this was true pre-raw).

I may try to get her diet analyzed.

Again thanks for all your suggestions, concern.

I'll let you know what happens.

I wanted to check in on Ritz and her feline hyperesthesia. How are things going? Have you found a solution that stopped the episodes?

The reason I am asking is because I, too, decided to analyze Boo's diet to check for possible allergies causing his hyperesthesia. I keep a log, as well, of what I feed him daily and when the episodes occur and the severity of the episodes. He was already on a grain free diet, so I started out "easy" by eliminating other non-meat allergens, such as flaxseed, kelp and beet pulp. No improvement. It's been about a week since I decided to eliminate chicken. Much to my surprise, the episodes have lessened in severity quite a bit. I have now categorized them from severe to mild.

Anyway, I just wanted to see if you had any luck with your cat's diet in relation to the feline hyperesthesia.

Thanks for asking.  I'm glad Boo is feeling better.

The only correlation I found is possibly Green Tripe (I fed raw).  Which is strange because GT is a really good type of beef.

Ritz has been on Prozac for three weeks and she still sleeps much more than usual, has no interest in playing, not as interested in bird/chipmunk watching, and decreased appetite (I don't think she has lost weight--last weigh in was 10.9 pounds).  Per the vet's advice, I decreased the dosage from 1.0 ml to .7 ml; she wants me to drop it to 0.5 ml but I'm afraid she'll have a rebound effect.  I have to balance symptoms with drugs.

Her symptoms have decreased somewhat; she still licks herself frantically once or twice a day, but doesn't run back and forth trying to escape ??? as much.  She still twitches somewhat, sometimes they bother her, sometimes they don't.

I miss my Ritzy, she kind of lost her personality.  Though she loves her belly rubs and sleeps with me.  I *don't* mind her constant begging for food.

When we had to put Spooky on a relatively high dose of elavil, she basically slept for three weeks, and then seemed to adjust to the meds. I don't know if that'll happen with the prozac or not.

It's tough, those decisions.

Thanks for letting me know your experience with the effects of Elavil.  That was the first drug the vet suggested, but based on some research, she changed it to Prozack. 

The side effects in Elavil/Prozac are similar. Ritz did not experience side effects from antibiotics or anti-nausea meds (Reglan, Flagyl, some others), so I'm somewhat surprised the Prozac is affecting her as much and as long as it has.

Her urinating only once a day (albeit in an appropriate amount) concerns me.

Thanks for providing an update. I don't know much about Elavil or Prozac, as I never had to give any of my cats those drugs...yet. I'm sorry I can't be of much help in that regard. I miss my Boo, too. Boo still talks to me and will rub against my legs, but he really doesn't want to be touched anymore. He used to love to be petted, especially when I gave him a back massage. I've been avoiding touching his back because it would spark an episode. I guess I will wait a little longer to see if the non-chicken diet continues to help. I'll try petting his back this weekend and see what happens.

Another thing that I forgot about (didn't write it down in the log!) was that I stopped giving Boo Miralax last week for his chronic constipation. I was instructed by the vet to give it to him long term. He's been on it for probably about a year. It wasn't working anymore anyway, so I decided to stop it and experiment with other non-bulking fibers. So now I know that I stopped giving him chicken and Miralax at the same time, so I guess it could be either one of those things. It didn't even cross my mind that the Miralax could've been the problem. I was not too keen on giving Boo Miralax since it is synthetic and considered "powdered poison" to some. I tried to do some research and all I get is articles related to humans. However, I found this one article interesting (http://www.gutsense.org/gutsense/the-role-of-miralax-laxative-in-autism-dementia-alzheimer.html). If it's so bad for humans, who knows how bad it can be for our little furry guys. In a quick search, I found at least six consumer ratings reporting possible neurological/muscular side effects of Miralax, such as tremors, tics, leg cramps, muscle spasms/twitching in neck/back, increased arthritic pain, etc. Any thoughts?

Perhaps I'll stick with the no chicken and no Miralax for a month. Then I'll reintroduce chicken and see what happens.
 

That seems like a good plan--no more Miralax and reintroduce the chicken and see what happens.  Thankfully, Ritz still likes to be petted, especially on her belly.

One reason I decided to try Prozac was I didn't want the behavior to become a habit.  And, her symptoms escalated dramatically after several stressful situations.

Ritz bowel movements remain normal, but she is only urinating once a day.  The amount is normal, the frequency is not; but she is eating less, so maybe that's why?

I don't know whether to 'push through' with 0.7 ml or decrease the dose to 0.5, as the vet suggested.

ritz how are the episodes recently?

A friend with a kitty with hyperesthesia is using this - and it's working. A "treatment" for hyperesthesia? :dk:

Acetyl-L-Carnitine 50mg/kg every 12 hours (best taken with choline, which he was already getting via EYL)
Ubiquinol 1mg/kg every 24 hours
Riboflavin 50mg every 24 hours
Vitamin E 20 IU/kg every 24 hours
Taurine 250mg every 24 hours
Vitamin C (as calcium ascorbate) 100mg every 24 hours
500mg krill oil every 24 hours

Later: added 1 capsule (cat portion) Canna Companion every 24 hours.

This is what she said about it:

"Those helped a lot, and the head tremors pretty much ceased within... 2 or 3 weeks I think? He still had occasional skin rippling, and the obsessive licking near meal times. BUT then we started Canna Companion, 1 #4 capsule once a day, and no more head tremors, or skin rippling, and the obsessive licking diminished. I very very occasionally see a ripple over his shoulders now, but it is rare."

I don't know if you've read up on Canna Companion or not, but here's a link: http://www.cannaforpets.com/

Thanks for asking. Her FHS episodes have increased recently (as has her hunger), perhaps due to Hercules (new foster/adopting?).
I will run this by the holistic vet I'm using for Ritz. Ritz needs to return to the vet for further testing on her thryoid level. And, Jackson Galaxy's Stress Buster isn't working. We were waiting to see if the Stress Buster was working before changing meds for FHS. Interestingly, she does most of her frantic licking after she eats.