I need advice & opinions, please.

Hi everybody, I am so glad I stumbled upon this site. You all sound so nice & very experienced in all things cats I am a cat lover & have been since I can remember. Through my experience with cats & kittens sometimes it's best to get advice from other cat owners. Versus paying an arm & a leg at the vets office What brought me here was googling(not sure that's a word. Lol) why my cat shivers when falling asleep. So that is my question to you all. First, I'll give you a little backstory. I adopted the kitten from a shelter. He came with an Upper Resp Infection & Feline Herpes So he's sick more than he's well and it absolutely kills me. I hate seeing him with a fever and sleeping all day when I know he should be ramsacking the house. I recently started him on Lysine treats. I'm not sure if they're helping though. It's not been enough time. Anyhow, he's about 7mos old now and for some reason he shivers when he's falling asleep. I wanted to know if you all have heard of it or maybe has a cat/kitten that does it. From my research he could have neurology disorder. Which I have ruled out bc he functions normally while awake. If it was a neurology issue I'd see other signs while he's awake. And the 2nd cause that I've found is a very high fever. That I thought could be the case bc he runs a fever quite often. But I've seen him shiver on days I know he's not running a fever. So it seems to just be his thing. He just does it. I hope somebody on here has a cat that does it. Or has atleast heard of it. It'll make me feel a whole lot better. Before I end this I just want to clear something up; when I say shiver, I mean shiver. Just like a human. He is not twitching, purring, or dreaming. He is 100% shivvering. Oh & I can also say, he's not cold either. That would be a logical explanation. But he's a long haired Maine Coon and it's always warm in the house. Sorry if the last couple sentences came off rude. I just get a lot of confusion when I bring this topic up with other ppl. They always jump to the conclusion that he's twitching or dreaming. Oh & one more thing. He does this while he's falling asleep. Once he's asleep it stops. & I've never seen or felt him doing it while awake or with his eyes open. Not sure if that helps but thought I'd tell ya. Any advice would be greatly appreciated Sorry I wrote so much. I just wanted to get as much detail as possible so you all would know. Thank you in advance for any advice given.

*****Anyone know what a good dose of Lysine for a kitten(7mos old) should be? I've been giving him 375-500mg a day. What do u give your cat/kitten? In case you were wondering or thinking about getting Lysine for your cat. I give him Vermont Pet Naturals Lysine Cat Treats. And he absoluteltly loves them. I order them from Amazon from $4-$8 a pk. The price varies.

Well, my first thought is, why does your cat have a fever often? That is NOT okay, the fact that he had an uri when you got him (by the way, herpevirus IS the upper respiratory infection)  So he didn't have 2 things wrong, just the one, herpevirus uri.

If he continually gets sick acting, he should be treated with a full course of antibiotics. Many times it will take 2 rounds as well, especially when there has been ongoing symptoms for quite some time, it often will take treating with antibiotics twice, meaning a solid 3 weeks or so on them.

Lysine takes time, plus the fact that your kitty's symptoms should certainly be settling down quite a bit now that he is older and his immune system is more developed.

Now, the shivering as he is going to sleep.

He may very well have a neurological disorder of some type. It's impossible to know unless he is taken in and given a neurological workup.

I will also add that since you said he behaves and is coordinated fine while awake, I don't think it's something to be seriously alarmed about.

Cats can also have Epilepsy, and this can actually be small seizures, but in Epilepsy, the cat will have this happen while fully awake, NOT asleep or going to sleep.

The fact you mention this happens AS he's falling asleep, sounds similar to 'restless leg syndrome' in humans.

Is it possible that he's ingesting a non-food item or toxic substance? If you have any houseplants, flowers, or cleansers he may have access to, this is also a possibility to consider.

Cats should not normally have fevers, whatever is causing his fever could be causing the shivering.  Has he seen a vet?  Had any bloodwork done?  My cat does these mini twitches when she is falling asleep sometimes, she has mild epilepsy as she's never had a full blown seizure, your cat could have something like that. 

Thanks for your help and replying. I really do appreciate it. I think there's something I should clear up. It's the whole fever thing. I'm not a hujdred percent sure he's actually running a fever bc I am not checking it with a thermometer. However, the vet told me I can tell by his ears. If his ears are warm it's possible he's running a fever. I used to think it was when they had a dry nose, but I recently learned that is not a good indicator. So that is how I have been checking. More like guessing. As for antibiotics, he has had two rounds of them. Each lasting fourteen(my numbers aren't working for some reason) days. He was on Clavamox, which I find to be a really good antibiotic. They helped at the time, but it's been a month or so since he's had any.

My boyfriend thinks I overreact when it comes to the cats but I feel like I just worry a lot. He thinks the cat is fine. I agree with him this last time. I think the cat was just having a flare up. Bc he was sick a cpl days & now he's better Thank God. Either that or the Lysine treats are starting to work. I'm not sure which. I don't really care either. He's better & that's all I'm concerned about.

As far as Non-food items goes, he's into EVERYTHING. Literally everything. We laugh about how he's more like a dog vs a cat. About a month ago he chewed completely through a charger that normally charges a helicopter. It was in three pieces. So he actually chewed through it twice. I found the cords and a little pile of copper & rubber beside it. He's little so he's very curious. Here lately he has learnedly how to get up on the counter and yesterday he chewed up a roll of paper towels & two styrofoam cups. He's weird bc he will smell & eat just about anything except human food. My other cat will eat chicken every now & then & he just smells it & walks away. I try to discipline him for getting into things but if I don't catch him in the act I don't do anything about it bc he wouldn't remember what he's in trouble for.

On a side note: He also doesn't meow. He squeaks. That probably doesn't make a lot of sense but you need to hear him to know what I mean. He squeaks and chirps. It's very strange. He ßuea

Whoops, I wasn't finished when I sent that. I was just saying he squeaks like a mouse & chirps like a bird. Throughout my 27yrs of having cats and kittens I've never heard anything like him. Have you heard of anyone that has a cat that doesn't meow? Just curious.

Thanks for replying. I'll take all the advice I can get. Yes, he's seen a vet. And no on the bloodwork. They didn't feel like they needed it at the time. But next time we take him(to get fixed) he's going to be tested for Feline Leukemia. So I imagine they'll probably do it then. Epilepsy is a possibility, if I had to guess, I'd say that's probably what it is. Thanks again for your help

I'm glad your cat likes the lysine treats.  I have a cat who needs lysine regularly but hates the treats!  

My cat Zoe didn't meow at all when we got her as a kitten.  At first she'd open her mouth and nothing would come out at all.  Then she started producing this little squeak that was the cutest thing I'd ever heard!  It's a little louder and a bit more normal sounding now (she's 4 now) but it's still mostly a squeak.     

It's a Maine coon trait the chirps and squeaks. The females tend to have a slightly better meow but the males don't they can only squeak. It sounds so funny coming from these big cats, you would expect them to have a deep big meow from the look of them. All three of my boys squeak :lol3:
Good luck with your boy and I would love to see some pictures of him

Thanks, that's good to know. I've never heard a cat squeak b4 but then again, I've never had a Maine Coon either. You're right though, it is cute. I crack up laughing everytime he does it. And every now & then he'll really get into it & he'll just keep doing it over and over. It's adorable. My other cat just looks at him like WTH are u doing? Speak up. LOL.

I'm not sure I know how to get pictures on here. I'm using my Kindle and I've never tried to upload pictures on it b4. I'll give it a try & see what I come up with. Hopefully it'll work. If I'm not successful, he is solid black and furry