Feline Hyperesythesia Syndrome/Twitch-Skin Syndrome?

mev13 · Aug 2, 2014

Hi everyone. I have a question that deals with my cat LuLu. About a day ago, my mom noticed LuLu was acting more distraught than usual; she's always been a on-edge/hyper cat. She kept grooming and furiously biting her tail, lower back, and back paws. When I took a closer look, I noticed her lower back and tail kept twitching nonstop. I checked her over for any fleas or ticks and brushed her, but didn't find any. I give all our outside cats tick baths almost every month and they each get their flea/tick/mosquito meds too. My mom googled her symptoms, and FHS popped up. She has all the signs for it, but there isn't a lot of information for diagnosis or test we could bring her in to the vet for, and not a lot of treatments. Although she didn't have any episodes today, I was wondering if any other cat owners had dealt with this before and is anyone has any tips for me on how to help her.

If anyone has any other opinions on what could be causing LuLu to do this, please let me know what you think. She just turned 1 on April 1st, so it's not to do with old age. I really don't like seeing her so upset when this happens.

Here's the link to the page my mom found:

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/skin/c_ct_feline_hyperesthesia_syndrome

Thanks in advance everyone.

ritz · Aug 3, 2014

Sorry LuLu isn't feeling her normal self.
RItz has FHS. Here is a brief article about FHS.
Here is an ongoing thread (among others) . (When I mentioned a vagus nerve problem to my vet he said, that that was the last thing he would think of....) This thread is a little older, but makes the excellent point that you should take LuLu to the vet to rule out anything else. What flea medicine did you use on LuLu? And ANY possibility she got into something outside she shouldn't?
The current thinking is that FHS is a neurological problem, of unknown origin, cause. It is also thought diet may play a role, in which case you want to feed a food that has the least amount of additives/chemicals/ingredients. Stress can play role, too. Ritz is a stressful, nervous cat (in part probably due to her and her litter mates being dumped when they were about four months old, in a very cold, record-breaking snow month of November). I try to keep her routine the same (which is easy for me to do as I live alone and am pretty set in my ways). I also have used Feliway plug ins and l-theanine (powder form, sprinkle on her food). I'm not sure how effective either are, but it's certainly worth a try. To reduce stress, I would also recommend regular play sessions.
I also put her on Prozac, but didn't like the side effects and eventually weaned her off of the drug. Her symptoms did not increase. I *do* think drugs can be useful in moderate to severe cases of FHS.
In Ritz case (and, again, this is my opinion for RITZ): There is a correlation between when she gets a vaccination (distemper, rabies) and when her FHS gets significantly worse. I've discussed this with my vet, and we agree to reexamine closely whether to vaccinate her for either the next time she is due for vaccinations. (Ritz is strictly an indoor cat.)

jcat · Aug 3, 2014

Our last cat had FHS, which in his case turned out to be aggravated by food allergies (soy and beet pulp, which were a real problem in such a kibble addict, and also contributed to eosinophilic granuloma). Eliminating them completely from his diet reduced his symptoms considerably, though they never completely disappeared. It might be helpful to discuss the possibility of allergies with your vet.

mev13 · Aug 3, 2014

Thank you both for your information about this. She has the right symptoms for FHS. She has grown up in a caring and stress-free environment, but has always been a very stressed out cat, even when she was a kitten. I really wish I could keep her inside for long-term, but both my mom and younger brother have severe allergies to animals (my mom was put in the hospital from allergies when we rescued a stray kitten that we kept inside before we found our cats we have now). They do stay in a room that branches off from our garage at night (It was used as a woodshop before we moved in, but was cleaned out and re-done to be suitable for our cats) I also think that bringing her inside now would only put more stress on her since she loves the outdoors and cries when we have to keep her in on hot or really cold days.

I would really like to take her to the vet, but I'm going to have to convince my mom since she has the money and thinks that we can handle LuLu without a vet trip.

I checked her over for anything she could have eaten or fallen into outside and I didn't find any signs of anything. I've been keeping an eye on her and go outside to visit her, and I haven't noticed any other episodes like the one I saw before. She is acting a little different, she is usually out hunting and bounding around, but the past couple days she has been laying out in the shade or on our porch. She seems happy though, she's letting me pet and brush her and she rolls around on her back to let me rub her tummy.

We feed her and our other cats Meow Mix, should I try getting her another brand or other type of food? What would you suggest? They get fed a small scoop of food in the morning around 8 am, and they nibble at it throughout the day, and then they are given another scoop in the evening around 4-5 pm. I am planning on giving her more attention and play time. I don't know if my mom will be willing to bring her to the vet, but I can research the plug-ins and other items you suggested.

Thank you so much!

angelsrwatchin · Aug 3, 2014

Mev13 said:
Hi everyone. I have a question that deals with my cat LuLu. About a day ago, my mom noticed LuLu was acting more distraught than usual; she's always been a on-edge/hyper cat. She kept grooming and furiously biting her tail, lower back, and back paws. When I took a closer look, I noticed her lower back and tail kept twitching nonstop. I checked her over for any fleas or ticks and brushed her, but didn't find any. I give all our outside cats tick baths almost every month and they each get their flea/tick/mosquito meds too. My mom googled her symptoms, and FHS popped up. She has all the signs for it, but there isn't a lot of information for diagnosis or test we could bring her in to the vet for, and not a lot of treatments. Although she didn't have any episodes today, I was wondering if any other cat owners had dealt with this before and is anyone has any tips for me on how to help her.

If anyone has any other opinions on what could be causing LuLu to do this, please let me know what you think. She just turned 1 on April 1st, so it's not to do with old age. I really don't like seeing her so upset when this happens.

Here's the link to the page my mom found:
http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/skin/c_ct_feline_hyperesthesia_syndrome

Thanks in advance everyone.

angelsrwatchin · Aug 3, 2014

Mev13 said:
Hi everyone. I have a question that deals with my cat LuLu. About a day ago, my mom noticed LuLu was acting more distraught than usual; she's always been a on-edge/hyper cat. She kept grooming and furiously biting her tail, lower back, and back paws. When I took a closer look, I noticed her lower back and tail kept twitching nonstop. I checked her over for any fleas or ticks and brushed her, but didn't find any. I give all our outside cats tick baths almost every month and they each get their flea/tick/mosquito meds too. My mom googled her symptoms, and FHS popped up. She has all the signs for it, but there isn't a lot of information for diagnosis or test we could bring her in to the vet for, and not a lot of treatments. Although she didn't have any episodes today, I was wondering if any other cat owners had dealt with this before and is anyone has any tips for me on how to help her.

If anyone has

angelsrwatchin · Aug 3, 2014

Jackson Galaxy is a cat behavioralist. He did a show called "Cats from Hell" where he treated hyper cats and things of that nature never met a cat he couldn't help you can find him on Facebook

ritz · Aug 3, 2014

Regarding food, I would read labels. Look for the fewest ingredients, one with "limited ingredients" and or grain free. They are more expensive, but cheaper than a vet visit. I really do think she needs to see a vet to rule out more serious conditions, illnesses. FHS isn't life threatening generally, but distress for the cat and owner. Note too if her symptoms escalate, under what conditions. And if she starts to self mutilate (bites tail).

mev13 · Aug 3, 2014

Ok. I will look at the label of the bag we have now, and the next time I go to the store I will look at others. I'll have to tell my mom that too. LuLu did really well today, she chased some butterflies and played a tiny bit, but generally stayed close. I didn't see any other signs today, but I will keep a close eye on her. I know my mom will definitely take her in to see the vet if her symptoms start to get worse.

Thank you so much! I will post updates if I see any changes good or bad. (Hopefully they'll all be good.)

ritz · Aug 4, 2014

We like good updates too!

mev13 · Aug 7, 2014

Hi everyone! just wanted to give a small update.

Everything has been nice and calm with LuLu this past week. She's been able relax and be calm. She hasn't ventured out in awhile like she usually does, but just lays out on the porch and purrs whenever anyone comes by. Although she is still a little jumpy she hasn't had any symptoms show up. I'm hoping she might not have FHS, but if I see her starting to act up again I'll take her to the vet.

Thank you again for all the advice and help with this!

Feline Hyperesythesia Syndrome/Twitch-Skin Syndrome?

mev13

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ritz

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